Bangkok and the Andaman coast are the classic first Thailand trip, and this one adds Krabi so you get both kinds of island. Phuket is the base for the Phi Phi speedboat day; Krabi is longtail boats and limestone. What follows is what decides whether the eight days work: season, paperwork, and a few rules that changed recently.

When to go, and why September is the worst month

Phuket and Krabi sit on the Andaman coast, which runs its southwest monsoon from May to October. The window for this trip is November to April, with December to March the calmest and clearest.

September is the month to avoid outright, for three separate reasons: it is the heaviest rain and the roughest sea of the year, Maya Bay is closed every year from 1 August to 30 September, and ferry and speedboat cancellations peak. Box jellyfish are also most common from July to October. If your dates are fixed in the monsoon months, tell us and we will move the coastal leg rather than sell you a wet week.

Before you fly: the visa and the arrival card

Two separate things, and travellers routinely miss the second.

Nepali passport holders need a Thai visa approved before departure. There is no visa on arrival and no exemption for Nepal, so arriving without one is not an option. Applications go through the official portal at thaievisa.go.th. The passport must be valid more than six months, and the application asks for photographs, a bank statement, confirmed accommodation in your own name, a travel plan and a return ticket. Processing takes a minimum of seven working days and in practice seven to fourteen, so apply four to six weeks out.

Second, the Thailand Digital Arrival Card, which replaced the old paper form and has been mandatory for every non-Thai arrival since 1 May 2025. Submit it free at tdac.immigration.go.th within the seventy two hours before arrival. Any site charging for it is not official. Since March 2026 the data feeds the automatic gates, so a mismatch with your passport slows you down at the barrier.

The Phi Phi day, and what you can and cannot do there

This is the day people book the trip for, and the rules have changed enough that older listings are now wrong.

You cannot swim at Maya Bay. Swimming and snorkelling there are banned. Boats do not land on the beach; access is by a floating pier at Loh Samah on the far side and a short boardwalk, with a cap of roughly three hundred and eighty visitors on site at a time and about an hour per group. Where you actually swim is Pileh Lagoon, which is the better swim anyway. Viking Cave is a photo stop from the water, with no landing permitted. Monkey Beach and Bamboo Island round out the day, with lunch on Phi Phi Don.

One honest warning about the crossing. Phi Phi is forty to fifty kilometres offshore and a speedboat covers that at speed, slamming through the swell for the better part of an hour. Seasickness is common and the ride is hard on backs and necks. If anyone in your group is pregnant, older or prone to motion sickness, ask us for the larger ferry instead: it takes about two hours but it is far gentler.

The Krabi four island day

The four stops are Phra Nang Cave Beach, Tup Island, Chicken Island and Poda Island, run by traditional longtail boat. One small correction to the marketing name: Phra Nang is a beach on the Railay peninsula, not an island. It is reachable only by boat, because limestone cliffs cut Railay off from the road.

Phra Nang has a cliff shrine that surprises unprepared visitors. It is a fertility shrine filled with hundreds of carved wooden phalluses, left as offerings by fishermen for calm seas and by couples hoping for children. It is an active place of worship rather than a novelty, so look, photograph if you like, but do not touch or move the offerings or pose crudely with them.

At Tup Island a sandbar surfaces at low tide and links it to the neighbouring island, and that is the photograph everyone wants. It is tide dependent, appearing for a couple of hours a day on a schedule that shifts, so we time the boat for it where we can but nobody can promise it.

National park fees apply on both island days and are usually collected at the pier. They are not part of the package price.

Bangkok: the flights and the free day

Bangkok has two airports and this trip uses domestic flights twice, so it matters. Full service carriers fly from Suvarnabhumi, the low cost carriers mostly from Don Mueang, and the two are an hour to ninety minutes apart across the city. We confirm which airport every domestic leg uses when we ticket, so nobody discovers a cross city transfer on the morning of the flight.

On the free day, one practical note about Jim Thompson House: the main house can only be entered on a guided tour, tours run until five in the afternoon, and walk-in visitors who plan to wander through on their own get turned back. Budget an hour to an hour and a half.

If you want to explore Krabi independently on the free morning, Railay is the obvious target, but it is boat access only from Ao Nang, the longtails leave when they are full, payment is cash, and at Railay West there is no jetty, so you wade in knee deep water to get on and off. Fine on its own; awkward with luggage or small children.

Laws that catch travellers out

Vapes and e-cigarettes are completely illegal in Thailand, to import, sell, possess or use, including nicotine free and heated tobacco devices. Fines run to tens of thousands of baht, devices are confiscated and airport screening picks them up. Leave them at home.

Cannabis was recriminalised on 25 June 2025 and is now medical only, with foreign prescriptions not accepted. Buying without a Thai prescription or smoking in public carries a fine and possible imprisonment. Most content online still describes the open period from 2022 to 2024, which no longer exists.

Smoking is banned on two dozen Thai beaches, Patong among them, with serious penalties. Designated smoking areas sit further back from the sand.

Insulting or defaming the Thai royal family is a criminal offence carrying years in prison and is enforced against foreigners, including for social media posts and for defacing banknotes, which carry the King''s portrait.

At temples: shoulders and knees covered, shoes and hats off, do not point your feet at a Buddha image, and never pose with your back to one. Taking a newly made Buddha image over twelve centimetres out of the country needs an export permit, which catches souvenir buyers.

Staying safe on the water

Thailand is safe for tourists; the risks here are water and boats, not crime.

Red and black beach flags mean what they say. Phuket alone records dozens of drownings a year, concentrated in the May to October monsoon, and almost all follow someone ignoring a flag. If you are caught in a rip current, swim parallel to the shore until the pull releases rather than fighting straight back in.

Box jellyfish are a real hazard in these waters, most common July to October, with stings reported near Bamboo Island and around Ao Nang. Obey any posted warning, use the vinegar stations at guarded beaches, and consider a rash guard on the island days.

The other is the jet ski scam: you return the craft and the operator points to pre-existing damage and demands a large sum. Photograph the whole machine before you ride, and book through your hotel rather than a beach counter. Tourist Police, who speak English, are on 1155.

Money, connectivity and practical basics

Thailand uses the baht. Cash still rules for street food, markets, longtail boats and the smaller islands; cards are fine in malls and hotels. ATMs charge a flat foreign card fee per withdrawal, so take out larger amounts less often, and decline the offer to be billed in your home currency.

Two mobile operators matter now, AIS and True; DTAC merged into True in 2023. Tourist SIMs and eSIMs are sold at the airports and in 7 Eleven, and your passport is needed to register. Tap water is not drinkable anywhere in Thailand, though ice in established restaurants is factory made and fine.

Who this trip suits

Travellers who want a city and two different coasts in one week and do not mind two internal flights and a coastal transfer. Families do well on it because the island days are broken up by beach time. If the speedboat crossing worries you, say so and we will put you on the ferry instead. And if your dates fall in the monsoon, ask us before booking.