Maya Bay, on the uninhabited island of Koh Phi Phi Le, is open to visitors from 1 October to 31 July and closed every year from 1 August to 30 September. Boats can no longer enter the bay: you land at a pier on the other side of the island and walk in on a boardwalk, swimming is forbidden, and visits are limited to timed slots of about an hour. It reopened for the new season on Thursday 1 October 2026.
The bay became world-famous after the 2000 film "The Beach", and by the late 2010s the small beach was crowded from morning to evening, with boats packed into the bay and the coral badly damaged. The national park closed it completely in 2018. When it reopened in 2022 it came with a new system built to keep the recovery going, and that system is what this page explains.
Maya Bay is part of Hat Noppharat Thara–Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park. For the islands as a whole, see our Phi Phi Islands guide.
Maya Bay at a glance
- Location
- Koh Phi Phi Le, Krabi province
- Season
- Open 1 October – 31 July; closed 1 August – 30 September every year
- Hours and slots
- 07:00–18:00 in 11 rounds of up to one hour, maximum 375 people per round (park rules announced in 2024)
- Park fee
- 400 baht foreign adult, 200 baht child aged 3–14 (October 2026); usually included in tour prices
- Access
- Boats land at the Loh Samah pier on the back of the island; walk in on a boardwalk
- Swimming
- Not allowed
The yearly closure: August and September
Maya Bay closes to visitors every year from 1 August to 30 September. The Department of National Parks gives two reasons: to let the coral reef and the beach recover, and to keep tourists safe during the southwest monsoon, when the sea around Phi Phi Le is at its roughest. In 2026 the closure ran on these dates as usual, and the bay reopened on 1 October.
The closure applies to Maya Bay itself. Boat tours to the Phi Phi Islands continue in August and September, but they stop elsewhere, for example at Pileh Lagoon, and sea conditions can cancel any trip in those months. If seeing Maya Bay is the reason for your trip, plan it between October and July, and check the park's latest notice before you travel, as weather can close the bay on individual days.
The rules at Maya Bay
When the park reopened the bay for the 2024–25 season, it published nine rules for visitors and boat operators, and they remain the basis for a visit. In short:
- Do not collect coral, sea fans, shells or any sea creature.
- Do not bring or use sunscreen containing chemicals harmful to coral.
- Do not bring or use foam containers.
- Do not drop litter.
- Do not feed the fish.
- Do not fly a drone without permission.
- Boats must not drop anchor on the coral.
- Do not swim in Maya Bay.
- Boats must land passengers at the Loh Samah pier, then move to the moorings set by park staff.
The park also applies a zero-waste rule across the whole park, which bans single-use plastics and foam. Take a refillable water bottle and a reusable bag, and bring every piece of rubbish back with you.
Swimming in Maya Bay is still forbidden. Many older blogs and some tour adverts still show people swimming in the bay. The ban remains in force in the 2026–27 season. Park officers are on duty at the bay, and the rules require visitors to follow their instructions.
How you get in: the Loh Samah pier and the boardwalk
Boats no longer drive into Maya Bay or pull up on the sand. Instead they go round to Loh Samah Bay on the opposite side of Phi Phi Le, where the park has a landing pier. You step off there and follow a wooden boardwalk across the island to the beach, a short walk. When your time is up, you walk back the same way to meet your boat.
This arrangement is the main reason the bay looks so different from photographs taken before 2018. The water in front of the beach is free of boats, and the beach has a fixed number of people on it at any one time.
Visitor limits and time slots
For the 2024–25 season, the park divided each day into 11 rounds between 07:00 and 18:00. Each round lasts no more than one hour and is limited to 375 people, which gives a maximum of 4,125 visitors a day. In practice you do not book a slot yourself: tour operators and boat drivers are allocated times, and your guide tells you how long you have. The park has not published a change to this system for 2026–27, but it reviews the arrangements each season, so treat the numbers as a guide.
The park now sells entry through an electronic ticket system. If you join a tour, the operator handles the ticket and usually includes the 400-baht fee in the price. If you hire your own longtail from Phi Phi Don, ask the driver how the fee is paid before you set off.
The best time of day to visit
The first slots of the morning and the last of the afternoon are the quietest. Most day tours from Phuket and Krabi leave their piers in the morning and reach Phi Phi Le around the middle of the day, so late morning to early afternoon is typically when the beach is fullest and the light is harshest. Staying on Phi Phi Don gives you the best chance of an early or late visit, because a longtail from Tonsai takes a fraction of the time a tour boat needs from the mainland.
Early morning also has a wildlife bonus. The park's drone surveys find the most blacktip reef sharks in the bay at dawn. On 2 September 2026, during the closure, researchers counted up to 278 adult sharks near the beach, the highest figure of the year, and earlier surveys confirmed newborn sharks only 30 cm long in the shallows, which is why the park calls Maya Bay an important shark nursery. Blacktip reef sharks are shy and rarely a danger to people on the beach; watch them from the beach and never chase or feed them.
How tours reach Maya Bay
There are three common ways to get there. Speedboat day tours from Phuket and from Krabi or Ao Nang combine Maya Bay with other stops such as Pileh Lagoon, Viking Cave and Bamboo Island; they are the easiest option but the most crowded. Larger boat tours are slower and cheaper. Longtail boats hired from Phi Phi Don are the most flexible, and our older article on staying on Phi Phi Don gives an idea of what a half-day or full-day longtail costs.
The park fee is charged per park per day, so one ticket covers all the park stops on the same trip. When comparing tours, check the stated time at Maya Bay, the group size and whether the fee is included. Our guide to Krabi island tours compares Phi Phi trips with the alternatives, and if you want to stay rather than visit for the day, our guide to where to stay on Phi Phi helps you choose a base. Getting to the island yourself is covered in our guide to ferries from Phuket and Krabi.
Visiting responsibly
Most of what makes a visit responsible is in the rules: stay out of the water, take nothing, leave nothing and keep to the boardwalk. Beyond that, choose operators that do not promise swimming or "private access", that keep to their time slot, and that carry rubbish back with them. If you want to snorkel, do it at the stops where it is allowed on the same trip, wear a rash guard instead of sunscreen in the water, and keep your fins off the coral. Our guides to jellyfish and rip currents cover the sea risks around the islands. For the wider region, see our guides to Phuket and Krabi.
Frequently asked questions
Is Maya Bay open now?
Maya Bay reopened on 1 October 2026 after its annual closure and is open until 31 July 2027. It closes every year from 1 August to 30 September. Weather can still close it on individual days, so check with your tour operator before you go.
Can you swim at Maya Bay?
No. Swimming in Maya Bay is prohibited under the national park's rules to protect the coral and the young sharks that use the bay. You can look at the water from the beach, but do not go in beyond the water's edge, and follow the instructions of the park officers on duty.
How much is the Maya Bay entrance fee?
Foreign visitors pay the Mu Ko Phi Phi national park fee of 400 baht for adults and 200 baht for children aged 3 to 14 (October 2026). Most tours include it in their price, and one ticket covers all park stops on the same day.
When is the best time to visit Maya Bay?
Go between October and July, ideally from November to April when the sea is calmest. On the day, the first morning slots from 07:00 and the late afternoon are the quietest, and early morning is when the most blacktip reef sharks are seen in the bay.
Sources
- Department of National Parks – Maya Bay survey during the 2026 closure, 14 September 2026 (Thai) (checked October 2026)
- Department of National Parks – Shark Watch Project at Maya Bay (Thai) (checked October 2026)
- Department of National Parks – Hat Noppharat Thara–Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park: e-tickets and zero waste (Thai) (checked October 2026)
- Government Public Relations Department, Krabi – Maya Bay reopening, time slots and nine rules (Thai) (checked October 2026)
- Time Out Bangkok – Maya Bay reopens October 1 after annual closure (checked October 2026)
- Kapook – National park entrance fees and special zones, citing the Department of National Parks (Thai) (checked October 2026)