Ko Phi Phi was one of those places that surprised me – in a good way. I had expected a very small island, packed from one corner to another with tourists. Ok, so there were tourists, a lot of them, and most of them ridiculously drunk as soon as the street sellers started selling their buckets of hard liquor every evening. But it was surprisingly easy at the same time to get away from that and wander into the nature with a lot of hidden trekking spots.

Another trick is to be out somewhat early in the mornings and you will have the streets all for yourself, although many places will then be closed. This trick will not work that well on most of the beaches though as the low tides (2 per day) really makes a big negative effect exposing the flat dirty bottom of the – in daytime beautiful – Phi Phi beaches.

Even with the beautiful (but limited) nature together with a few local gems which the main stream didn’t find, or more probably didn’t care about, I would say that Phi Phi island is mainly a party island. Depending on what you want to do on Ko Phi Phi there are different areas to live in. The central-north area is for the party people, the east-north for high-end sun worshipers and finally the south-east for couples and families. Now it’s up to you, what kind of island life do you want to live?

The two sides of the ocean meats on a very narrow land area, which is also the city center of Ko Phi Phi.

Tourists comes back after a day trip on one of the modern 3 engine speed boats.

Almost all the beaches on Ko Phi Phi are really shallow. This one is in the Loh Dalum Bay, probably the most popular and dirty beach in the center-north.

Lady picking mussels on the beach to sell to the restaurants.

Monkey on Monkey Beach. If you go there, go early before big groups of people start coming in.

Low tide on one of the south side beaches near the harbor.

Breakfast. Fruit salad with yogurt and honey.

Fire show in the party area (center-north side).

Buckets sold for 200 BHT (less than 7 USD) – sometimes 2 for the price of 1.

Boats in the harbor, most of them used for tours or taxi.

Fotball match.

Can you spot the climber?

Taxi boat with very individual prices.

Local board game.