About Phang Nga Bay (off the island)
Mind the map: the trip leaves from Phuket, but the bay lies off the island, between it and the mainland, in Phang Nga province. It covers about 400 km² of sea with limestone cliffs, caves and mangroves, much of it protected since 1981 as Ao Phang Nga National Park and recognized as a Ramsar Convention wetland in 2002. The best-known pair, Khao Phing Kan and Ko Tapu, became James Bond Island after the 1974 film The Man with the Golden Gun.
Full-day tours take around 7 hours, with hotel pickup. A typical itinerary stops at the cave temple Wat Suwannakhuha, has lunch in the stilt-house fishing village of Koh Panyi and ends among the leaning rocks of Khao Phing Kan.
