Maya Bay in Phuket: How to Visit, Open Status & Entry Fees (2026)

Maya Bay in Phuket at a glance

Is Maya Bay Open Right Now? 2026 Status and the August to September Closure

Short answer for today: Maya Bay is closed. The Thai Department of National Parks shuts the bay every year during the monsoon so the reef and the marine life can recover, and in 2026 that window runs 1 August to 30 September. The beach reopens on 1 October 2026. This is not a one-off. Since Maya Bay came back in 2022 after its long restoration, the two-month low-season break has been an annual fixture.

You can still cruise past. Phi Phi day tours from Phuket keep running right through August and September. Boats sail into the mouth of the bay so you get the cliffs and the water from the deck, but there is no beach landing until the bay reopens. If your dates fall inside the closure and standing on the sand is the whole point, move the trip to October or later, or swap in the stops that stay open year round: Phi Phi Don, Pileh Lagoon, Bamboo Island and the snorkel reefs around them.

For the bare-head background on the closure, the restoration and the reopening rules, see our Maya Bay open-status and rules guide. This page stays focused on visiting from Phuket.

How to Reach Maya Bay from Phuket

There is no road to Maya Bay. It is an island beach on Phi Phi Leh, so every route from Phuket is by boat. From the main Phuket piers it is roughly 45 km and 45 to 60 minutes on a speedboat, a little longer if the sea is choppy or your tour makes snorkel stops on the way.

The route, step by step

• Depart Phuket. Most tours pick up from your hotel and leave from Chalong, Rassada or Royal Phuket Marina between about 07:00 and 08:30.

• Cross to Phi Phi. The speedboat runs southeast to the Phi Phi group, usually stopping at Pileh Lagoon or a snorkel reef before Maya Bay so you arrive after the first big crowds.

• Enter at Loh Sama Bay. Boats no longer beach on the Maya Bay sand. They tie up at the floating pier in Loh Sama Bay on the back of the island, and you walk a short boardwalk through to the beach.

• Your hour on the beach. Entry is slot-managed, so you get roughly an hour before the next group rotates in. Then it is back to the boat for the rest of the islands.

Ferries also run to Phi Phi Don (about 1.5 to 2 hours), but the passenger ferry does not go to Maya Bay itself. A speedboat day tour, or a private long-tail once you are on Phi Phi Don, is the practical way in. For the full breakdown of piers, transfers and timings, see how to reach Maya Bay.

Entry Rules and National Park Fee

Maya Bay sits inside Hat Noppharat Thara to Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park, so there is a national park fee on top of your boat tour. Foreign visitors pay 400 THB per adult and 200 THB per child, which is about Rs 1,150 and Rs 575 at the August 2026 rate of roughly Rs 2.87 to the baht. Reputable Phuket operators bundle this fee into the tour price, but always check, because a cheap headline fare sometimes leaves it for you to pay at the counter.

The rules that catch people out

• No swimming. Since the 2022 reopening you can wade knee-deep at the shoreline, but swimming off the beach is banned to protect the recovering reef and the blacktip reef sharks that use the shallows.

• No boats on the sand. All boats dock at the Loh Sama Bay floating pier. There is no anchoring on the beach any more.

• Slot-limited entry. Visitor numbers are capped and timed, so you get about an hour before rotating out. Arrive early or late in the day for thinner crowds.

• No drones without a permit. Filming permits are separate. Do not fly a drone over the bay on a standard visit.

Timings are 07:00 to 17:00 when the bay is open. For the current fee, timings and any counter changes, our Maya Bay entry fees and timings page is kept up to date.

Best Time to Visit Maya Bay

The bay is at its best from November to April, when the Andaman Sea is calm, the water is clear for snorkelling and the crossing from Phuket is smooth. February and March are the sweet spot: dry, warm and slightly past the peak-season rush. From May the southwest monsoon builds, seas get rougher and some days are bumpy, and then the annual closure takes August and September out entirely.

Whatever the month, aim for the first boat out or a late-afternoon slot. The middle of the day is when every tour converges on the bay at once.

What You Will See: Maya Bay, Pileh Lagoon, Monkey Beach and More

Maya Bay is short (about an hour on the sand), so a day trip from Phuket strings it together with the other Phi Phi highlights. Here is what a typical run covers.

If you want to slow down instead of day-tripping, base yourself on Phi Phi Don and take a short long-tail out to Maya Bay early. For the wider list of what to pair it with, browse places to visit in Phuket and things to do in Phuket.

Maya Bay Tour Prices from Phuket (THB and Rupees) and How to Book

Because there is no independent way onto the beach, a Phuket-based Phi Phi day tour is how almost every visitor sees Maya Bay. Prices swing with the boat type and group size. The bands below are per person from Phuket and usually include hotel transfers, lunch and snorkel gear; confirm whether the 400 THB national park fee is included before you pay.

Rupee figures use the August 2026 rate of about Rs 2.87 to the baht and are a guide only. Rather than piece a boat together yourself, our Phuket desk builds the islands into a single trip. See the Phi Phi and Maya Bay tour from Phuket package, which pairs a Phi Phi day (Maya Bay included when the bay is open) with Krabi and Phuket, transfers and stays handled. You get one itinerary, verified operators and no counter surprises.

Why Maya Bay Was Closed, and What It Is Like Now

For years Maya Bay took the full weight of its own fame. After the 2000 film The Beach put it on every Thailand itinerary, footfall climbed toward 5,000 people a day, boats anchored straight onto the sand, and the coral and fish that made the cove famous were being wrecked. In 2018 the authorities closed it completely to let the bay heal.

It reopened in 2022 a stricter, better-managed place. Boats now dock at the Loh Sama Bay pier instead of the beach, swimming is off-limits, visitor numbers are capped and timed, and the two-month monsoon closure gives the reef an annual rest. The upshot for you: it looks close to how the film made it famous again, and the blacktip reef sharks are back in the shallows, but you visit on the reef's terms, not the crowd's. That trade is why the beach still exists to see.

Verified by our Phuket desk

“During the August to September closure we still run the Phi Phi loop, we just swap the Maya Bay landing for a beach stop on Bamboo Island so guests are not disappointed,” says our Phuket desk. The prices, park fee and closure dates on this page are checked by our Thailand team against the national park notice and live operator rates.

Maya Bay rewards a bit of planning. Pick a month outside the August to September closure, go early, budget the 400 THB park fee, and let the boat handle the crossing. When you are ready to turn this into a trip, our Phi Phi and Maya Bay tour from Phuket ties the islands, transfers and stays into one booking.