Phang Nga Bay

What you are actually looking at

The bay is a drowned karst landscape. The limestone towers were formed on land, then the sea rose and flooded the valleys between them, leaving islands with sheer sides and, at their bases, caves and collapsed chambers.

Those collapsed chambers are the hongs — enclosed lagoons open to the sky, reached only through a cave at low tide. Getting into one by kayak is the single best thing to do in the bay.

The whole area is protected as a national park and, since 1981, as a Ramsar wetland site. Much of it is best seen from the water; the islands themselves are small.

James Bond Island, and the honest verdict

Ko Tapu — the leaning rock pinnacle that appeared in a 1974 Bond film — is the bay's most famous sight and its most crowded. It is genuinely striking in photographs and, in person, genuinely mobbed.

The island it stands beside has a beach, a souvenir market and a great many people. If you want the photograph, go; if you want the bay, go somewhere else in it.

The best approach is to treat James Bond Island as one stop on a longer boat trip rather than the destination, and to make sure the itinerary includes a kayak through a hong.

The hongs and sea caves

Sea kayaking is how you get inside. Inflatable kayaks with a local paddler are the standard, launched from a support boat and steered through cave entrances that are sometimes low enough that you have to lie back to pass.

The timing depends entirely on the tide. At high water the cave mouths are impassable; at dead low tide the kayak may have to be carried. A good operator plans the day around the tide table, and a cheap one does not.

Ko Hong and the caves around Ko Panak and Ko Pak Bia are the usual routes. If your trip advertises "sea canoeing" and a specific hong, that is a better sign than a generic island-hopping list.

Koh Panyee, and the other inhabited islands

Koh Panyee is a fishing village built entirely on stilts over the water, founded by Malay-Muslim settlers and now home to a few thousand people, a school, a mosque and a floating football pitch.

It is on most boat itineraries, and it is a real community rather than a set — but it is also where the tourist boats stop for lunch, so expect crowds and prices to match.

Panyee and the surrounding islands are predominantly Muslim. Dress a little more conservatively than you would on a Phuket beach.

How to visit, and when

Trips run from both sides of the bay, and the choice matters for how much of your day is spent in a minivan.

• From Phuket — the port at Ao Po is on the island's north-east, close to the bay. This is the shorter transfer.
• From Krabi — around an hour and a half to the bay by road, usually combined with a longtail boat.
• From Phang Nga town or Tha Dan pier, for the shortest distances of all, if you are not staying on either island.
• November to April is the dry season and the best weather. From May to October the bay can be rough and trips are sometimes cancelled.
• Overnight trips on a boat or on Koh Yao Noi give you the bay at dawn and dusk, when the day boats have gone. This is the single biggest improvement you can make to the experience.