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If you've spent any time looking at island tours from Phuket. The question most travellers get stuck on isn't whether to spend more, it's whether spending more actually changes anything that matters.‍ Here's an honest answer.

A great family day on the water requires a bit more thought than a tour for two adults.

It's the most common question we get from travellers planning their first island day from Phuket: Phi Phi or James Bond Island? Both are iconic. Both are genuinely worth seeing. Both depart from the same marina on the same type of boat.

If you've been looking at island tours from Phuket and wondering what actually happens on the day from the moment you're picked up to the moment you're back at your hotel this is for you.

Phi Phi Islands offer some of the best snorkeling in Southeast Asia; warm water, remarkable visibility, and reefs that shift character from site to site. Whether you've never worn a mask before or you've been diving since you could swim, there's a version of Phi Phi's underwater world that will hold your attention.

Maya Bay is one of those places where the reality matches the reputation. The curved cove, the limestone walls closing in on both sides; the water going from deep blue to impossible turquoise as the seabed rises, it genuinely looks like that. Standing there, you understand why it became famous.

Most people say "Phi Phi Islands" as if it's one place. It isn't. The name covers two very different islands sitting side by side in the Andaman Sea and understanding the difference between them makes your visit make a lot more sense.

Phi Phi Islands rewards you most when the timing is right. The sea is calmer, the visibility underwater is extraordinary, the sky sits clear above the limestone and the whole day unfolds the way it should. Get the timing wrong, and you're fighting swell, grey skies, and the kind of morning that makes you wonder why you bothered.