When you visit Krabi you must put visiting the beautiful islands and beaches off the coast at the top of your must do list. They are some of the most stunning beaches in the world! You can do this in two ways: 1) Speed Boat tour or 2) Traditional Long-tail boat tour. A long-tail boat is native to Thailand and it is a long wood carved boat, slightly resembling a canoe with a large canopy. The boat is powered by a single engine on a long pole to turn the boat.  We decided to try both types of tours, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. There are many islands to visit off the coast of Krabi so we were able to go to completely different spots with each type of boat.

Speed Boat Tour

With this boat tour, we visited Phi Phi islands and got to see the famous Maya Bay (where the movie “The Beach”) was filmed. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stop here as it is currently closed off due to over-tourism. We visited a stunning lagoon to snorkel in as well as Phi Phi island which is a very busy island packed with eating places, restaurants and even a few hotels. The cost of this tour was 1575 baht per person which is approximately $66 Canadian.

Advantages:

• The speed boat tours are well-organized tours where you get to meet lots of cool and interesting people. Good for people that are highly social. Our son bonded with a twenty-something traveller that he thought was way cool!
• The tour guide has lots of information about each place that you stop at which is a great learning experience.
• The boat ride is much faster so you can visit more places and get there quickly.
• A full buffet lunch is provided plus water and snacks on the boat ride.

Disadvantages:

• The engines are extremely loud, making it difficult to talk to one another.
• There is a strict time schedule so you feel very rushed at each location making it not very relaxing.
• There are lots of people on the boat so it feels like you are being herded like cattle everywhere.
• There is limited space on the boat with many people packed in like Sardines.

Long-tail Boat Tour

For this tour, we chose to see Hong Islands, visiting 4 locations including 3 beaches. These were quieter islands than Phi Phi islands and we could have stayed in a couple of spots forever. We felt like Kings for the day visiting the islands on our own time setting the pace and just chilling out. This cost us 2000 Baht for the day which was only $84 Canadian.

Advantages:

• We hired the boat privately so we had it all to ourselves, giving us a lot of space and freedom.
• We chose our own schedule, choosing how many islands to visit and how long to stay at each one. This made for a far more relaxing day and we timed it to stay longer at a couple of the islands waiting for the crowds on the other boats to leave.
• It was a cultural experience in a traditional Thai boat, each crafted out of wood and uniquely painted and decorated.
• Far less expensive than the Speed Boat tour.

Disadvantages:

• There wasn’t lunch provided so we had to pack our own food. We did have water and fresh pineapple which was amazing!
• These boats can’t go as far as the speedboats as they are slower but they were definitely good enough to reach the amazing sites that we went to.
• They wouldn’t be very good in bad weather and rough waves so thankfully the weather cooperated for us.
• There wasn’t snorkel gear provided but we already had our own. I’m sure you would be able to rent some gear in advance.

Even though our favourite boat tour was the long-tail boat, we really enjoyed both and would recommend trying each type of tour if you have the time and budget. I think our kids liked the speed boat better as they liked the fast speed and meeting other people. Want to see the amazing scenery? Click here to watch our YouTube video of our experience on the speed boat and long-tail boat.