James Bond Island Tours: Every Phang Nga Bay Day Trip

James Bond Island is the nickname of Khao Phing Kan, a small limestone island in Phang Nga Bay, north-east of Phuket, and of Ko Ta Pu, the nail-shaped limestone pillar standing in the water beside it. Almost everyone visits on a guided day trip from Phuket, Khao Lak or Krabi, and the tours differ mainly in two things: the boat, and the town the van leaves from.

What James Bond Island is

Khao Phing Kan is the island where the boats land. You step onto a short beach lined with souvenir stalls and look across the water at Ko Ta Pu, a rock about 20 m (65 feet) tall whose Thai name means “nail island”. Nobody may land on Ko Ta Pu and boats are meant to keep their distance, so the classic photo is taken from the beach. The island appeared in the 1974 film The Man with the Golden Gun, which gave it the nickname.

Both islands sit inside Ao Phang Nga National Park, run by Thailand’s Department of National Parks. The park’s Ramsar wetland listing counts 42 islands, most of them sheer limestone towers fringed with mangroves. Several hide hongs, collapsed cave chambers open to the sky that you reach by canoe when the tide allows. A day trip usually pairs the James Bond Island stop with two or three of these cave islands, a lunch stop and a swim.

Choose your boat

The boat decides how the day feels, how many stops you make and what you pay.

Big boat

A slow, stable two-deck boat that carries inflatable canoes and launches them at the cave islands. Oh-Hoo’s big boat and canoe tour is the lowest-priced tour we review, from $45 per person from Patong, Kata or Karon (checked November 2026), and it is rated 4.7 from 4,190+ reviews on GetYourGuide. A crew paddler steers your canoe at Ko Panak and Ko Hong, and lunch is served on board. The drawbacks: the park fee is extra, and James Bond Island comes after lunch, while plenty of other boats are still there. Read our review for the full day. We earn a commission if you book through our links, at no extra cost to you.

Longtail

A narrow wooden boat with a car engine on a pole: loud, low on the water and built for the short crossings from the Phang Nga side. Thrilling Thai Tours’ longtail, sea canoe and Monkey Cave tour costs from $46 per person and adds the cave temple of Wat Suwan Khuha, lunch on Ko Panyi and about an hour and a half on James Bond Island. Your guide paddles the canoe. Its listing allows up to 2.5 hours of driving each way, and the park fee is paid in cash on the day. The longtail boat tour page compares every longtail day.

Speed boat

Faster and able to fit in more islands, but bumpy when the sea is choppy. The 7 Wonders of Phang Nga Bay tour visits six islands from Boat Lagoon with the park fee included, from $80 per person and rated 4.8 from 2,830+ reviews, though drop-off can run well into the evening. The speed boat tour page also covers the early-bird departures.

Sea canoe specialists

Here the canoeing is the main event. Amazing Canoeing’s Phang Nga Bay tour on Viator is the most-reviewed listing in our data (5,460+ reviews, rated 4.9), from $96 per person, with canoeing at Ko Panak and Ko Hong from a big sightseeing boat. Entrance fees are extra, and the listing does not say whether you paddle yourself. The sea canoe tour page explains how the hongs work.

Twilight and plankton

Late starts that reach the cave islands after the morning boats and finish after dark. Discova’s bioluminescent plankton and sea canoe tour leaves Boat Lagoon at 2:30 pm by speedboat, from $123 per person, with dinner at sunset and a look for glowing plankton, which the operator warns depends on water and weather. Hong by Starlight is an evening sea-cave trip that skips James Bond Island altogether. Both are on the bioluminescent plankton tour page, and the cruise boats with lounge decks and a buffet dinner are on the sunset cruise page.

From Phuket, Khao Lak or Krabi

Where you sleep decides the drive. Phuket tours leave from piers on the island’s north-east coast (Ao Po, Royal Phuket Marina and Boat Lagoon), roughly an hour by van from Patong or Kata and less from Phuket Town. Some Phuket longtail tours drive north to the Phang Nga side first, which adds road time. The tours from Phuket page sorts them by pier and pickup zone.

From Khao Lak the van takes about an hour to the Phang Nga piers, and most tours continue by longtail. Bigcountry Andaman’s longtail tour costs from $73 per person and is rated 4.7 from 2,420+ reviews, though its listing does not say whether the park fee is included. See the Khao Lak tours page.

From Krabi and Ao Nang the drive to the Phang Nga side takes about 80 minutes. Koh Tour’s longtail tour leaves from Surakul Pier with the park fee included, from $66 per person, but has only 60+ reviews so far (rated 4.4). Anda Krabi Seatour’s premium speedboat trip crosses from the operator’s own pier at Ao Thung, from $116 per person, with the park fee extra and a first bookable date of 20 November 2026. The Krabi tours page compares them. If you have not booked a room yet, where to stay near James Bond Island weighs each base against its drive.

What a day looks like

Most James Bond Island excursions follow the same rhythm. A shared van collects you from your hotel in the morning, often stopping at several hotels, and drives to the pier. After a safety briefing the boat heads into the bay, usually to Ko Panak and Ko Hong first, where you move into canoes for the caves and hongs. On Oh-Hoo’s big boat each cave stop lasts about an hour; on several speed boat tours the Ko Hong canoe session is about 30 minutes.

Lunch comes next, on board on the big boats or in Ko Panyi (Koh Panyee) on most speed boat and longtail tours. Ko Panyi is a Muslim fishing village of around 1,600 people built on stilts in the bay. Then James Bond Island. Most boats arrive around the middle of the day, so expect a busy beach. Depending on the tour you get from about 30 minutes to an hour and a half there. Many tours end with a swim at a beach such as Naka Island before the run back.

Plan for a long day. Oh-Hoo lists about 10 hours, and on the 7 Wonders tour the boat is back at the pier around 5 to 5:30 pm, with drop-off taking up to another hour and a half. A good share of the day is van and boat transfer. If the midday crowd matters to you, Siam Adventure World’s early-bird tour (from $122 per person) sets off early to reach the island ahead of the midday boats, though it runs on a speedboat and is not suitable for children under 3 or adults over 70. Twilight Sea Canoe on Viator (from $117 per person) reaches the island after most boats have left; its listing does not mention plankton.

When to go

Tours run through most of the year, and the Andaman dry season, roughly November to April, usually brings calmer seas. At the Phuket weather station September and October are the wettest months and February the driest, according to the Thai Meteorological Department’s 1991–2020 normals. Wet-season tours still go out, but some days are cancelled when the sea is rough. Ao Phang Nga National Park does not close for the monsoon months the way the Similan Islands do.

Park fee and what to bring

The Ao Phang Nga National Park fee is reported at 300 THB (about $9) per foreign adult and 150 THB per child. Some tours include it, and many collect it in cash at the pier or on the boat, so read the inclusions of the listing you book. Our James Bond Island entrance fee guide explains who pays and how.

Pack swimwear and a towel, sunscreen and a hat, a dry bag for your phone in the canoe, and cash for the fee if your tour does not include it. If your tour stops at Wat Suwan Khuha, bring something that covers your shoulders and knees. The what to wear guide goes through clothes, shoes and kit.

Still deciding? The best James Bond Island tour guide picks one tour for each kind of traveler, from budget to private group. When you are ready, check dates and prices for the big boat and canoe day or browse every tour review.