KOH PHI PHI, THAILAND – Visitors to Koh Phi Phi in 2025 were met with record crowds, rising prices and tighter environmental rules that sharply contrasted with the island’s postcard image.
Arrival at Tonsai Pier shatters the island dream
The Tonsai Pier served as the hectic gateway to the island, with hundreds or even thousands of people spilling at once over the concrete jetty as ferries and longtail boats docked and departed by the minute. Instead of tropical calm, the pier functioned primarily as a noisy logistical hub where goods, staff and tourists were constantly moved. First impressions were busy and loud, far removed from the romantic island ideal many first-time visitors expected.
Fees and the cost of mass tourism
Before setting foot properly on the island, every visitor had to pay a 20 baht fee, around 0.55 euros, officially earmarked for waste disposal and maintenance of tourist infrastructure. The amount appeared small, but with daily visitor numbers in the thousands, it added up significantly and signalled that tourism on Koh Phi Phi was tightly organised and consistently monetised. Food and accommodation prices lay well above the Thai average, with simple Pad Thai dishes often costing 150 to 200 baht and basic dorm beds around 500 baht, while mid-range rooms frequently started near 3,000 baht.
Logistics, smells and strains on infrastructure
With no cars on the island, wooden handcarts dominated the streets as hotel staff pushed heavily loaded trolleys through the narrow lanes around the pier, often with little regard for pedestrians. Tourists were frequently left to carry their own suitcases, dodge handcarts and stop and start in what felt like a chaotic choreography that quickly tested patience after a long journey. In Tonsai Village, intensive smells of hot frying oil from food stalls mixed at low tide with a sulphurous odour from the sewers, underscoring how the infrastructure struggled with wastewater and rubbish in the tropical heat.
Maya Bay: strict rules for a controlled paradise
The famous Maya Bay was open again but tightly regulated, with boats no longer allowed to enter the bay itself and instead docking at a floating pier on the far side before a wooden walkway led visitors to the beach. Each group was granted exactly one hour before making way for the next, making the visit feel more like a timed museum stop than a relaxed beach day. Swimming remained largely banned in 2025, with tourists permitted only knee-deep in the water to protect returning blacktip reef sharks and recovering corals, under strict supervision by rangers with whistles.
National park fees weigh on family budgets
Access to Maya Bay and other islands in the national park required foreign adults to pay 400 baht, about 11 euros, with children charged half that amount. These fees were added on top of boat costs, turning the entrance price alone into a noticeable item in the holiday budget for a four-person family. According to the report, this often led to discontent among travellers who felt the charges acutely.
Wastewater, water shortages and visible rubbish
Behind hotel facades, the island grappled with wastewater treatment, as existing plants were often undersized for peak-season crowds and at times allowed untreated water to enter the sea. As a result, water quality in Tonsai Bay could fluctuate, posing concerns for environmentally conscious visitors aware of their impact on a fragile balance. Freshwater was scarce on the limestone island, forcing hotels in the dry high season to buy or desalinate water, leading to weak shower pressure and explicit guest appeals in some accommodations to save water.
Garbage piles and the limits of disposal
Because the island lacked its own waste incineration plant, all rubbish had to be shipped to the mainland. Until collection, rubbish bags often piled up in backyards or at central collection points, sometimes in plain sight. Despite efforts to cut plastic use, single-use bottles and packaging remained ubiquitous, and visible litter along paths significantly tarnished the island’s paradise image.
Nightlife at Loh Dalum and sleepless centres
After sunset, Loh Dalum Beach turned into a vast open-air disco where fire shows lit the night and heavy bass thundered from towering speakers across the water. Alcohol flowed in buckets, with the atmosphere described as loud, wild and uninhibited, a haven for party seekers but a nightmare for those seeking quiet. The music from beach bars was so loud that it penetrated the thin walls of most central hotels until two or three in the morning, leaving many guests unable to sleep without earplugs unless they stayed far from the beach or up on the hillside.
Cannabis rules tightened after liberal phase
Following a period of broad liberalisation, the state took a tougher stance again in 2025, even though cannabis shops still existed. Public smoking on the beach or on the street was strictly banned, with offenders risking heavy fines. The aim was to prevent nuisance from smoke, a change that many families and non-smoking tourists welcomed as a return to more order and consideration.
Speedboat safety and limited medical care
Transfers between islands were carried out almost exclusively by speedboat, which could hit the water hard in heavy seas and pose risks for passengers with back problems. While safety standards were monitored, overcrowding still occurred, and travellers were advised to put on life jackets immediately and avoid trips in poor weather. Medical care on the island covered only basic cases in small clinics, with serious accidents requiring costly and difficult transport to Phuket, particularly at night or in storms.
Day trippers and the burden of “hit-and-run” tourism
The report identified mass day-trippers from Phuket and Krabi as a major strain, often more problematic than overnight guests. These visitors arrived in large numbers for only a few hours, crowding beaches while spending relatively little money on the island. This “hit-and-run” style of tourism placed maximum pressure on infrastructure without delivering sustainable benefits for the local economy, a trend many residents viewed critically.
Coral recovery and lingering underwater damage
There were some positive signs beneath the surface, as reefs in protected zones slowly recovered. Divers reported more fish schools and healthier corals than five years earlier. Yet many reefs in main swimming areas remained dead and trampled by thousands of feet, with regeneration expected to take decades and every careless fin stroke threatening painstaking progress.
Laem Tong’s quiet luxury and the overall verdict
Those with sufficient funds could find a different world in the north at Laem Tong Beach, home only to luxury resorts and tranquility, accessible exclusively by boat. This part of the island showed how beautiful Phi Phi could be once removed from mass tourism, though prices there were out of reach for many average earners. Overall, the report concluded that in 2025 Koh Phi Phi offered breathtaking scenery at a high financial and ecological price, satisfying partygoers but disappointing those seeking untouched nature and demanding both compromise and a well-filled wallet from visitors.
Editor’s note on data and regulations
The information described corresponded to the situation in December 2025, based on an exchange rate of about 36.5 THB to 1 euro. Local laws and rules, including fees and cannabis regulations, were subject to change at short notice. Travellers were urged to check current provisions before departure.