Introduction
Ko PP is a really great island with a relaxed atmosphere: no cars,
coconut trees, great beaches, etc... Of course, this also means
everybody wants to go there so there are a lot of hotels and tourists.
I don't think it'll get better once Leonardo Di Caprio's new film "The
Beach" will be released, since it was filmed at Maya Beach (PP Leh).
How to get there
That's easy, only by boat. There are different boats going to PP
- From Krabi at 10.00 and 14.30, price 150 Bht
- From Ao Nang and Rai Leh (same boat): 9.00 and 9.30, price 250 Bht
- From Phuket 8 am and 13.30, price 250 Bht.
- From Lanta 8 am, price 170 Bht.
This is the schedule for high season, in low season some of these boats are cancelled.
Accommodation
Introduction
As you can expect, rooms are
expensive, and in high season also hard to get. For the cheapest rooms,
go inland, there are also bungalows on the west side of the harbour for
about 400 Bht.
If you want a bungalow on the beach, prices
go up very quickly: count on 1000 Bht for a fan room and the double for
an AC room. Not much room for bargaining here.
For budget accomodation, have a look at the ITIS website.
PP Princess Resort
This is a fancy place, often fully booked. Cheapest price is about
2.100 Bht for a double AC. Book through internet if you want to have
it.
PP Pavillion
This is where we
stayed, but I don't really recommend it. The one positive point is that
the bungalows are set in a very nice coconut garden and not too close
together, and the beach is very nice and quiet. However, they have a
problem with the water during dry season with the water turning
brownish at some time due to a lack of water in their tank. The
bathroom was sometimes smelly, and the fan next to the bed hadn't been
cleaned in years. The floor of the bathroom was damaged in several
places. The room is cleaned daily, and room with fan costs 1.200, with
AC 1.800 Bht, but the AC was very noisy.
Next door is Charlies Huts
They
look not as nice from the outside, but someone who stayed there said it
was OK, and they didn't have a problem with their water. They charge
900 Bht for a small bungalow with bathroom and a fan next to the bed.
If you stay there, you get 50% off in their restaurant.
Viewpoint Resort
Is a bit out of the way from the beach and the action, but then you
have a nice view. The place looked a bit badly maintained with bricks
in front of the office building. Price is 500 Bht for a fan room, 1.500
Bht for an AC room.
PP Hotel
This hotel
is in a 3-storey block away from the beach. It has AC, bathrooms, TV
etc. for 1.500 Bht for a double. You can book on the internet.
Restaurants
: Italian restaurant in the main street. good pizza's for 140 Bht.
Nearby is a Thai food restaurant. The food is good, 70 Bht for a main course, but their chicken curry is very spicy even if you ask not to make it spicy.
French and Italian bakery is popular for breakfast.
What to do
Walking to the viewpoint
We went to the viewpoint on the East-side of the island. This is the one you see on postcards. There are 2 ways:
-
Either take the steps which is technically easy, but physically quite
hard. To get to the steps, turn right from the pier towards the East
side. Take the first street left (there are 2 big diving centers on
both sides of the beginning of this street). Walk all the way down,
till there are no more shops, then the path will go right. Then, on
your left side, the steps start and you can't miss it.
- Either
go to the Viewpoint Resort, go up till you see a sign "viewpoint to the
right". This sign is actually 10 metres above the actual path. After
100 metres, you'll see a house surrounded by rubbish. Then continue and
follow the muddy path up crossed with roots of trees. After 500 m
you'll come to another house and a concrete path. Here you join the
first path up to the top.
The view is very nice, but we were a bit unlucky with lots of clouds.
Boat trip
You
will find the same boattrip all over Ko PP. It's a daytrip costing 400
Bht for a small boat (max. 8 people), and 600 Bht if you want a (safer)
bigger boat for 20 people. Book this trip in your hotel, because then
you'll get 10 % off (3/99).
The trip itself is OK, but the
sea can be rough, so make sure your boat has life vests (most of them
have it), or else take the bigger boat.
This is what you'll do:
- Viking cave with the bird's nests.
-
Visit a bay at PP Leh. The snorkeling is not too good here, so you
might get out of the water here for a 5 minutes walk to Maya Beach
where "The Beach" was filmed. You'll see that it's nothing special.
- Some boats will then go to Maya Beach from the sea, but ours didn't (I don't know why).
-
After an hour by boat, you'll stop for snorkeling at Long Bay. Take
some food like pine-apple with you to feed the fish. Quite
spectacular.
- Then you'll stop at Bamboo Island for lunch. On postcards this looks great, but in reality it's not.
-
At 2 pm you go back to Ko PP and stop at Shark Point. This is actually
the best snorkeling point I saw with a lot of fish and nice coral. You
can also get there without boat by swimming from the shore. Best time
to see the harmless shark is in the morning. Still, in general the
snorkeling was quite disappointing.
Getting away
Travel agents can offer you combined tickets to almost everywhere.
Going to Ko Samui takes almost all day (departure 9 am, arrival 17.00)
and costs 440 Bht both ferries included.
There are boats to:
- Phuket at 9 am and 14.30, price 250 Bht
- Lanta at 14.00, price 170 Bht
- Krabi at 9 am and 13.00, price 150 Bht.
- Ao Nang in the afternoon (around 15.00), price 250 Bht.
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