Short answer
Maya Bay, the beach from the film The Beach on Phi Phi Leh, is open for most of the year, but not the way it used to be. The national park closes it every year from 1 August to 30 September. The rest of the year boats stop at a floating pier in Loh Samah Bay on the other side of the island, visitors walk in on a boardwalk in rounds of up to 375 people an hour between 07:00 and 18:00, and swimming in the bay is not allowed.
Maya Bay is open most of the year, with a two-month break
People who search for Maya Bay usually want one thing: to know whether they can still stand on that beach. The answer is yes, for ten months of the year. Maya Bay belongs to Hat Noppharat Thara–Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park in Krabi Province, and the park closes it every year from 1 August to 30 September. In September 2026 Thailand's Department of National Parks described the closure in the same words it uses every year: time for the reef and the beach to recover naturally, and safety for visitors during the south-west monsoon.
The closure is not only Maya Bay itself. When the park announced the same dates in 2024, Pattaya Mail reported that Loh Samah Bay and Lo Ko Bay, the two coves at the back of Phi Phi Leh, closed with it. That matters because Loh Samah is where the boats land. In practice, from August to September a Phi Phi day trip still sails past Phi Phi Leh, but nobody walks onto the beach.
Why the beach was closed for almost four years
Maya Bay became world famous after The Beach, the film with Leonardo DiCaprio released in February 2000. Wikipedia notes that the bay was receiving an estimated 5,000 visitors a day before it was closed; Euronews put the figure at close to 6,000. Boats anchored in the bay itself, and the anchors, the crowds and the sunscreen took their toll: Euronews reported that up to half of the coral in the surrounding water had been destroyed.
The Department of National Parks closed Maya Bay on 1 June 2018. A closure first announced for four months became open-ended once surveys showed how much damage there was, and the beach stayed shut through the pandemic. It reopened on 1 January 2022 under new rules, which are the ones that still shape a visit today.
How a visit works now: Loh Samah pier and the boardwalk
Boats no longer enter Maya Bay. When the park prepared the reopening in December 2021, it listed what it had built: a floating pier in Loh Samah Bay, a raised walkway across the island, toilets, benches and a viewing deck, and buoys that keep boats out of the water in front of the beach. You step off at Loh Samah, on the opposite side of Phi Phi Leh, and walk through to the sand in a few minutes.
The same announcement set the numbers: 375 people per one-hour round, from 07:00 to 18:00, eleven rounds a day, booked in advance through the park's queue system. Euronews, reporting on the first week, described the beach as a one-hour visit. On a tour you do not book the slot yourself; what you notice is that the guide times the stop and that the boat waits for you at the pier, not in the bay.
Why you cannot swim at Maya Bay
This is the rule that surprises people most. The park's 2021 announcement says it plainly: the new Maya Bay does not allow swimming, both for the safety of visitors and to keep the coral from being damaged. Euronews added that snorkelling in the bay was banned too. You can walk on the sand, stand at the water's edge and take the photograph, and that is the visit.
The swim on a Phi Phi day happens elsewhere. On the Phi Phi and Maya Bay speedboat tour the water stops are Pileh Lagoon, the green lagoon between the cliffs of Phi Phi Leh, and Bamboo Island, a white-sand beach with a reef close to shore. If swimming is the point of your day, plan it around those two stops, not around Maya Bay.
The sharks are the reason the closure stays
Blacktip reef sharks are the clearest sign that the closure works. In December 2021 the Department of National Parks said that about 161 blacktip sharks, adults and young, had been living in front of the beach while it was closed. In September 2026, during that year's closure, the park's marine research centre counted up to 278 adult blacktip sharks near the beach in the early morning of 2 September, the highest count of its 2026 surveys.
The same report gives a detail that explains the timing. Over fifteen drone flights the team saw by far the most sharks at dawn, an average of about 252, against about 57 in the evening, and it also found young sharks under a metre long in the shallows. The park says the annual closure cuts the disturbance from tourism and gives the animals the bay to themselves. Blacktip reef sharks are timid and keep their distance from people.
Sunscreen and the other rules on the beach
Thailand's marine national parks ban sunscreens containing four chemicals: oxybenzone, octinoxate, 4-methylbenzylidene camphor (4-MBC) and butylparaben. The ban was announced in August 2021, and the fine can reach 100,000 baht. The park's own announcement for the Maya Bay reopening repeated the request to avoid sunscreen with these substances. A mineral sunscreen based on zinc oxide is the simple way to stay within the rule.
The rest is common sense: stay on the boardwalk and the beach, do not take sand, shells or coral, and take your rubbish back to the boat. In October 2026, opening the Andaman season, Thailand's environment minister asked visitors to follow the rangers' instructions, not to drop litter and not to damage coral or marine life. Anything specific to the day, your guide tells you at the pier.
A Phi Phi day trip in August and September
Nothing about the closure cancels a Phi Phi day. On our tour from Phuket, Maya Bay is seen from the boat during the closure, and the rest of the route stays the same: Pileh Lagoon, Viking Cave from the water, Monkey Beach, lunch on Phi Phi Don and Bamboo Island. Wikipedia describes Viking Cave as a place where edible bird's nests are harvested; the tour sees it from the water.
August and September are also the middle of the south-west monsoon, when the sea between Phuket and Phi Phi is rougher and boat trips are sometimes moved for weather. That is the other half of the park's reasoning. If Maya Bay itself is the reason you are going, choose dates from October to July; if you just want the islands, the monsoon months are quieter and still worth it on a calm day.
How to plan Maya Bay on a tour from Phuket
The speedboat leaves Royal Phuket Marina at about 9:30 and is back at about 5:30–6 pm; hotel pickup is between about 7:00 and 8:30 am. The guide changes the order of Maya Bay, Pileh Lagoon and Bamboo Island around the tide and the other boats, so do not worry if your day starts at a different island from the program. The national park fee, 400 baht per adult and 200 per child, is collected in cash on the tour.
The rest is simple. Wear swimwear under your clothes for the later stops, shoes you can walk in for the boardwalk, and keep your phone in a dry bag, because the boat lands on beaches. If you want the calmest sea and the clearest water, November to April is the season. And if you are still choosing between this day and Phang Nga Bay, read our comparison of Phi Phi and James Bond Island.
Practical checklist
- Check your dates against the closure from 1 August to 30 September before you book a Phi Phi day for Maya Bay.
- Buy a mineral sunscreen without oxybenzone, octinoxate, 4-MBC or butylparaben.
- Keep 400 baht in cash per adult and 200 per child for the national park fee.
- Plan your swim for Pileh Lagoon or Bamboo Island, not for Maya Bay.
- Pack a dry bag for your phone and shoes you can walk in on the boardwalk.
Questions and answers
Can you swim at Maya Bay?
No. Since the beach reopened in January 2022 swimming in the bay has not been allowed, for the safety of visitors and to protect the coral. You can walk on the sand and stand at the water's edge; on a Phi Phi tour the swimming stops are Pileh Lagoon and Bamboo Island.
Is Maya Bay open in August and September?
No. The national park closes Maya Bay every year from 1 August to 30 September, together with Loh Samah and Lo Ko bays. Phi Phi tours still run in those months and see Maya Bay from the boat.
How long can you stay at Maya Bay?
The park organises visits in one-hour rounds of up to 375 people between 07:00 and 18:00. On a tour the guide times the stop for you.
Are there really sharks at Maya Bay?
Yes: blacktip reef sharks. The park counted up to 278 adults near the beach in September 2026, during the annual closure. They are timid and keep away from people; the park's own counts are highest at dawn.
Is Maya Bay worth it if you cannot swim?
For most people, yes. The view of the bay from the sand, between the cliffs of Phi Phi Leh, is the picture people come for, and the swimming on the same day happens at Pileh Lagoon and Bamboo Island.