A hong islands tour Krabi takes a boat from the Krabi coast to a small island group. The trip centres on a lagoon surrounded by limestone cliffs. There is time to swim and snorkel.
The sections below cover where the islands are, the stops, piers, boats and activities in the water. They also cover the seasons, safety, GetYourGuide listings and common questions. To plan trips elsewhere in the country, start from the Thailand Tours homepage.
What does a hong islands tour Krabi cover from pickup to return?
A hong islands tour Krabi means a day on a boat, sailing out of Krabi towards the Hong Islands. One listing gives the day as 7 hours 30 minutes. It runs in six steps: pickup, crossing, lagoon, lunch, snorkelling and return.
Step one is pickup. Another listing picks guests up at Ao Nang at 8:30 am and transfers them to a local pier. A third listing says the boat crew gives a short introduction and information about the trip.
Step two is the crossing. The speedboat on a hong islands tour Krabi departs from 9:00 to 9:30 am, says the first listing. The Ao Nang listing says the boat passes the Royal Palace and Klong Muang on the way.
Step three is the lagoon. The first listing starts at Hong Lagoon, where limestone cliffs surround the guests. One guide lists the beach as the first stop of a hong islands tour Krabi instead.
Step four is lunch. The first listing has guests eat lunch on the beach at Hong Island, and its package lists a buffet lunch. The Ao Nang listing places lunch at the Hong Island national park office. It lists a snack, fresh fruit and drinks as included. A third listing serves lunch at the twin bays of Koh Hong.
Lunch is part of other Andaman Sea island days too. The Koh Lanta Koh Rok tour guide lists the food that comes with the day.
Step five is snorkelling. The last island stop on the first listing is Lading Island. There, guests snorkel and swim to see sea creatures in their natural habitat. On a hong islands tour Krabi, that same package includes snorkelling equipment rental and life jacket rental.
Step six is the return. On the first listing, guests are back at their hotel in Krabi between 3:00 and 3:30 pm. The Ao Nang listing heads back to the hotel at 3:00 pm.
Times and order can change on the day. Local conditions, traffic and weather can alter the itinerary, the first listing warns. Compare what each hong islands tour Krabi package includes on our Thailand tours page.
Where does a hong islands tour Krabi go, and which park protects the islands?
A hong islands tour Krabi visits limestone islands about 6 km off the coast north of Ao Nang. They belong to Than Bok Khorani National Park, and Koh Hong is the largest of the four you can visit.
Close to Krabi’s shore in southern Thailand, the Hong Islands sit in the Andaman Sea. A tourism guide places them in Nong Thale Subdistrict, Mueang Krabi District. The same guide says the group is also known as Ko Hong or Ko Lao Bileh. One writer calls it Mu Koh Hong.
Small islands and islets make up the group. One travel writer says four can be visited: Koh Hong, Koh Lao Lading, Koh Pakbia and Koh Rai. Wikipedia and a tourism guide both also name Ko Lao Riam. A tourism guide calls Ko Hong the largest island in the southern part of the group.
The islands on a hong islands tour Krabi are limestone karst. Karst is a landscape formed by the dissolving of soluble rock such as limestone. One tourism guide says seawater, wind and erosion shaped the cliffs, caves and lagoon openings over a long period. Wikipedia says the park’s karst topography features high cliffs as well as caves.
Hong means room in Thai. One guide also calls the lagoon Thale Nai, or the inner sea.
One guide warns that two islands go by Koh Hong, and tour listings mix them up. Check that your hong islands tour Krabi names the Krabi island, not the one in Phang Nga Bay. Than Bok Khorani National Park holds the Krabi island within its borders.
Krabi province is home to Than Bok Khorani, a marine national park. Wikipedia gives its founding as nineteen ninety-eight. Its total area is 103 square kilometres, made up of land sections and islands in the Andaman Sea. The park headquarters is about 48 km north of the town of Krabi.
Nature in Krabi province is not only about the sea. What else can you learn about the elephants at an elephant sanctuary near Krabi, beyond feeding and bathing? Its guide answers that.
The park answers to the Thai department for plant conservation, wildlife and national parks. Wikipedia places the park in Ao Luek and Mueang districts. One writer adds that a ranger station stands on Hong Island. So a hong islands tour Krabi takes place inside a national park, under that department’s care.
Which stops does a hong islands tour Krabi make?
A hong islands tour Krabi stops at Koh Hong for the lagoon, the beach and the viewpoint. Boats also call at Koh Lao Lading and, depending on the tour, Koh Pakbia. One guide counts four or five places on a tour, and Koh Hong holds three of them.
Koh Hong is the base of the trip. Operators plan the order of the stops around the tide table, so the sequence changes from day to day.
Koh Hong also holds the lagoon. One source describes it as a wide hall in the middle of the sea, ringed by high cliffs.
Boats enter through a single natural opening when the tide allows. Tide, sea conditions and the skill of the boat operator decide whether a hong islands tour Krabi enters the lagoon. One guide says tours give 20 to 30 minutes inside.
The beach is a curved stretch of white sand in front of the island. A floating jetty makes landing easy. One writer says boats arrive at the southern end, while the northern end stays clear for swimming and snorkelling. A park shop and toilets stand near the beach.
Koh Lao Lading lies next to Koh Hong. It has a jetty and a short walk between limestone cliffs to a small beach. One guide lists it as a lunch stop on tours. Two sources also call it Paradise Island.
Koh Pakbia is a tiny island with no jetty or facilities. At low tide a sand bar can appear off its shore. Depending on the tour, boats also stop at Koh Rai. It lies so close to Koh Pakbia that you can see both at once. Swimming and sunbathing there depend on the tide.
Other Krabi boat days also stop at small islands. A 4 islands tour in Krabi guide answers whether it matches a Hong Islands trip. Another explains how sleeping on Phi Phi Don is unlike a Phi Phi island tour from Krabi.
Stop times depend on the operator. One guide gives about two hours for Koh Hong on a group tour, enough for the climb and a swim. Ask what a hong islands tour Krabi allows at each stop.
Where does a hong islands tour Krabi leave from?
Group boats for a hong islands tour Krabi depart from the Ao Nang pier called Nopparat Thara. The islands lie about 6 km off the coast. One guide puts the crossing at 20 to 45 minutes, depending on the boat and the sea.
Nopparat Thara Pier lies in Ao Nang Subdistrict, in Mueang Krabi District. It is about 17 km from Krabi town. One guide says the pier serves all boat trips out of Ao Nang, so it gets very busy.
A hong islands tour Krabi with hotel pickup begins with a minivan. Its minivans, says one operator, serve hotels at Tubkaek Beach, Klong Muang, Ao Nam Mao, Krabi Town and Ao Nang. It collects Railay Beach guests by speedboat instead.
One guide lists three departure points: Ao Nang beach, Nopparat Thara pier and Railay. At Railay, longtails and certain speedboat tours pick up guests at a floating pier. Tours that collect guests from Krabi Town, Klong Muang or Tubkaek drive them to those points first.
Another guide says a private longtail can be hired from Ao Nang beach or Klong Muang beach. It adds that tours from Phuket and Koh Yao Noi exist, but these are not so frequent.
Every hong islands tour Krabi depends on the sea for its timing. One guide says sea conditions and tides make a crossing faster or slower. A second guide quotes a longtail ride of around 30 minutes, starting at Ao Nang or Krabi Town. It says speedboat tours are faster.
Guests on one operator’s hong islands tour Krabi are fetched from hotels between 8:00 am and 8:30 am. The exact pickup time is stated on the voucher. At 9:00 am the operator’s guide welcomes the group down at the pier.
Two operators ask guests to reach Nopparat Thara Pier 30 minutes before departure. At the pier, the guide takes the group to a waiting spot while the rest of the guests gather. Then the guide leads everyone across the beach to the boats. A block of toilets stands next to the waiting area.
One guide lists a shared speedboat hong islands tour Krabi day from 9:15 am to 3:30 pm. The same guide says the majority of Hong days with hotel pickup take six to nine hours door to door.
Which boats and formats does a hong islands tour Krabi offer?
A hong islands tour Krabi runs on a speedboat, a longtail or a catamaran. Formats include shared groups, small groups, private charters, half-day trips and sunset trips. One guide puts shared speedboats at 25 to 50 seats.
One guide says shared speedboats seat mainly on benches and run near capacity in the high season. Park rangers check that no boat carries more than its licence allows. The least bumpy seats are near the back. The open front deck has the views but gets bumpy and hot. One operator caps its speedboat groups at 45 guests.
Group longtails on a hong islands tour Krabi are normally 40-seat boats, says the same guide. One speedboat operator includes kayak equipment only if you book the kayak option.
A private longtail gives your group a boat to itself, says one guide. It has four benches under a sun cover and an open area at the front. The driver stands at the back and controls the long shaft and propeller. Another guide lists a whole longtail from about 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, on your timing.
Whatever the boat, the state of the sea matters too. For the months that bring calm seas across Phang Nga Bay, see the James Bond Island tour guide.
On a private hong islands tour Krabi, a speedboat charter lets you design your own timetable, says one operator. Another operator lists 4 hours on a 41-foot speedboat for up to 20 guests. A small-group day works differently: one operator offers a semi-private speedboat day with only 12 seats.
A catamaran is the third boat type. One operator caps its catamaran at 25 guests per trip. It lists shade, a sun deck and restrooms on board.
Half-day versions of a hong islands tour Krabi are sold too. One guide puts half-day longtail trips at four to five hours. One operator lists a morning half-day and an afternoon half-day. Another listing sells a morning half-day or a sunset half-day by luxury longtail.
Sunset departures of a hong islands tour Krabi run from the afternoon into the night. One listing sails by longtail at 1:00 pm and serves a BBQ on Pakbia Island. It ends with a night swim at Koh Raeng, where glowing plankton light up the water.
The same listing heads back to the pier at 7:10 pm and arrives at 7:40 pm. Another listing departs at 2:00 pm and puts the plankton swim at 7:00 pm. That operator says the swim depends on the weather and the moon.
What can you do in the water and on the beach on a hong islands tour Krabi?
A hong islands tour Krabi offers snorkelling in the sheltered shallows off Koh Hong beach. You can also swim in the lagoon when the tide allows. Kayaking is an option, and a stairway of more than 400 steps leads to a 360-degree viewpoint.
One operator describes a small bay on Koh Hong where rocks jut out into the sea. It calls the water sheltered and clear, with no waves, and suited to snorkelling off the beach in the shallows. It adds that small fish are always there. A travel blog says snorkelling at this beach works when the tide is high.
Other stops add more snorkelling to a hong islands tour Krabi. One operator says the rocky side of Koh Pakbia has water clear enough to float around and snorkel. The same operator lists Daeng Island on its longtail charter, with reefs for snorkelling off the boat. The boat skips that stop if the water is too rough.
Sources list different marine life. One guide names parrotfish around the outer reef. Another names clownfish and sea turtles. A third lists shallow and deeper coral reefs among the features of the group.
Snorkel stops add an underwater side to a boat day. Readers who bring a phone can find out whether it works on a Similan Islands tour from Phuket.
A hong islands tour Krabi can include a lagoon swim. One operator says swimming there is possible on certain days. A travel guide says it depends on the tide. Another guide says that at lower tide you can see the lagoon floor and spot fish swimming around. Koh Lao Lading has clear water suited to swimming.
One operator offers a kayaking option with its longtail trip. Certain tours include kayaks in the price, says one travel guide, and you can also rent one on the island. That guide says rental kayaks are limited, so there is a chance none are left.
Check the viewpoint climb before you book a hong islands tour Krabi. One guide says the climb is not part of every itinerary. The stairway has more than 400 steps, and one travel blog puts the hike at 15 to 20 minutes. Another guide says shade covers the walkway for much of the way.
The top of the climb gives panoramic views over the islands and the Andaman Sea. An easy, mostly flat nature trail also runs around Koh Hong, for anyone who skips the stairs.
Which season suits a hong islands tour Krabi?
Between mid-fifth month and mid-October, a hong islands tour Krabi runs into the southwest monsoon. Four guides place the calmer months between November and April. Arriving before 10:00 generally means fewer boats.
Wikipedia says rain in southern Thailand peaks in September on the western coast. One guide says the southwest monsoon brings rougher seas and frequent rain from the fifth to the tenth month. It says a hong islands tour Krabi can be cancelled or shortened in that period. Another guide says tours still run in the rainy season.
One guide says to check sea conditions with your operator the evening before departure. It also says to read the cancellation policy carefully before paying.
Guides give different windows for calm seas. One names December to April for the Hong Islands. Another names November to February. A third ties calmer seas and more predictable visibility to December through February. A fourth calls November to April the more favourable period but says no month guarantees calm seas every day.
One guide expects more crowds on a hong islands tour Krabi in the peak season from December to April. One guide says it can get very hot in the fourth and fifth months. Jellyfish can appear in the warm shallow water then.
The time of year shapes a day on the coast. Inland, a zipline in Chiang Mai over the forest has its own answer on which season suits it.
One guide lists group tours from Ao Nang as leaving between 8:30 and 9:30. It gives arrival at the island as 9:00 to 10:30. It says Hong Island is quietest in the early morning. By mid-morning, the beach and lagoon see the highest concentration of visitors.
A hong islands tour Krabi that lands before 10:00 generally meets fewer boats, says one guide. Late-morning and early-afternoon arrivals overlap with departing groups. The rhythm then evens out.
At low tide, one guide says the lagoon floor is shallow enough to stand in. At high tide the water deepens noticeably, and the sand disappears quickly in places.
The Thai government’s seasonal closure notice for national parks says dates are specific to each park. It says local weather patterns mainly decide them. As the notice tells tourists, verify the status of your destination in advance of any hong islands tour Krabi.
Which gear do you pack for a hong islands tour Krabi?
For a hong islands tour Krabi, pack swimwear, a towel, water shoes, a dry bag, reef-safe sunscreen and cash. An entry fee applies, and tour quotes rarely include it. Keep a life jacket on the whole time.
One travel site lists swimwear, a towel, a dry bag, drinking water and personal medicine. For the viewpoint, the same list includes walking shoes, sunglasses and a sun hat. Another guide says a dry bag keeps your phone safe.
The landing at Koh Pakbia is rocky, so one guide says water shoes help. The viewpoint steps get slippery after rain, so the same guide wears shoes with grip. Pack both pairs for a hong islands tour Krabi that climbs the viewpoint.
Inside marine national parks, Thailand’s parks department prohibits sunscreens that contain four chemicals. Those chemicals are oxybenzone, butylparaben, octinoxate and 4-methylbenzylidene camphor. Marine national parks were told to enforce the ban strictly. Guides also tell visitors to wear reef-safe sunscreen.
One park guide lists the rules for visitors. Never stand on coral, touch marine animals, collect shells or leave waste behind. Do not bring foam containers or single-use plastic into the park. Take all your rubbish with you after a hong islands tour Krabi.
Pay the park entry fee in cash, at the gate or to your guide on arrival. Check whether your booking covers it, because tour quotes rarely do. Keep the ticket with you for the whole day.
Thailand has national parks in the north as well. A Doi Inthanon national park tour guide says whether you can stay overnight inside the park. Farther north, the Chiang Rai day trip guide shows what the Black House adds.
One operator strongly advises wearing a life jacket during the entire boat trip and when snorkelling. A park guide says water activities follow the instructions of park officers, guides or boat operators. In rough water, snorkelling close to the cliffs can be dangerous.
Operators differ on non-swimmers. One operator calls its snorkelling tour unsuitable for non-swimmers and recommends basic swimming skills. A double-decker cruise listing says vests and calm water make it accessible for non-swimmers. Ask before you book a hong islands tour Krabi.
Age rules differ too. One operator asks for an adult with every child, and infants sit on a lap. One listing is not suitable for children under 2. Another listing is not recommended for pregnancy, spinal injuries or poor cardiovascular health. Accessibility information is limited, so contact the operator before booking if you have mobility needs.
Which GetYourGuide packages cover a hong islands tour Krabi?
A hong islands tour Krabi on GetYourGuide takes 5 to 8 hours across the nine listings we checked. Each of the nine lists pickup, and every one wears a free cancellation label. The main listing is a 7-hour speedboat day trip with lunch, rated 4.6 from 4,904 reviews.
Krabi: Hong Islands Day Trip by Speedboat with Lunch is the main listing. Its description names the Hong lagoon, a viewpoint and a kayak option. The labels add Pakbia, Lao Lading, white-faced gibbons and giant monitor lizards on the beach.
Ao Nang: Hong Islands Full-Day Tour with Lunch and 360° View runs 6 to 6.5 hours. Its 715 reviews give a 4.5 rating. The text lists a viewpoint, Koh Lao Lading or Paradise Island, and a buffet lunch.
Krabi: Hong & Paradise Island Odyssey by Speedboat takes 7 hours. This hong islands tour Krabi listing has a 4.6 rating from 539 reviews. Its text adds reef snorkelling, hikes to viewpoints and a mini buffet lunch.
The 8-hour day is Krabi: Hong Islands Speedboat Tour with Lunch & Snorkeling. It has 139 reviews and a 4.5 rating. The text lists snorkelling in Hong Island Bay, a cruise through the lagoon and lunch on the beach. A private option is available.
Three listings put a longtail boat in the title. Each hong islands tour Krabi day among them lasts between 6.5 and 8 hours. Krabi: Hong Island Longtail Boat & Kayak Tour with Lunch lasts 7 hours. Its 310 reviews average 4.5, and the text adds a natural lagoon, a mangrove forest and kayaking.
Krabi: Hong Islands Snorkeling with Lunch by Longtail Boat takes 6.5 hours. Only 65 reviews sit behind its 4.3 rating. It promises snorkelling over corals and tropical fish. Krabi: Hong Islands Day Tour by Premium Longtail Boat runs 7 to 8 hours. Its 136 reviews average 4.2. Both list a private option.
Krabi: Hong Island & Ko Pak Bia Tour with Sunset Dinner lasts 6 to 7 hours. Its 680 reviews give a 4.5 rating. The text lists a sunset barbecue dinner, snorkelling at different locations and bioluminescent plankton. If dangerous weather makes the Marine Park or authorities halt departure, guests get a free reschedule or full refund.
Krabi: Hong Islands Sunset, Bioluminescent Plankton and BBQ is the shortest day, at 5 to 6.5 hours. A score of 4.3 rests on 48 reviews. This hong islands tour Krabi listing offers a speedboat or a longtail boat.
What do travellers ask before booking a hong islands tour Krabi?
Travellers ask about overnight stays, island food, vegetarian meals, English-speaking guides and booking ahead. Four guides agree on the key fact. A hong islands tour Krabi is a day trip, because the islands have no accommodation.
Can you stay overnight on the Hong Islands?
No. One guide says it is not possible to stay overnight on Hong Island, which is uninhabited. Another guide says the park asks anyone who wants to stay overnight to contact it in advance. During opening hours, the only people there are park rangers and restaurant staff, says the first guide.
Can you buy food and drink on the islands?
Yes, at two stops of a hong islands tour Krabi. Another says a small store at Koh Lao Lading sells smoothies and other drinks.
Can vegetarians join a tour?
Yes, with notice. One listing says vegetarian, vegan and other dietary options are available if you tell the operator 24 hours beforehand. Another listing says to indicate a vegetarian or halal meal request on the booking page. Say so when you book a hong islands tour Krabi.
Do the guides speak English?
Yes, if the listing says so. One guide says tours are offered in English, Thai and Mandarin. It says to look for an English-speaking guide among the inclusions. One listing names an English-speaking tour guide as included. Check the language before you pay for a hong islands tour Krabi.
Do you need to book ahead?
Yes. Book a hong islands tour Krabi ahead, especially in the high season. One guide recommends booking tours online in advance. Its benefits include reading reviews and securing your spot on a specific date. Another guide calls the high season the busiest time and says to book in advance.