Maya Bay, Phi Phi Leh: The Beach

It's impossible to stay in Phi Phi without taking a dip in the crystal clear waters of the famous Maya Bay beach. Located on the other small island of Phi Phi Leh, this nature reserve can only be reached by longtail boat from Ton Sai Bay. Maya Bay lives up to its name, offering idyllic scenery hidden by the high cliffs that surround the bay.

If Maya Bay is so fascinating, it's because of the myth that surrounds it: a well-kept backpacker secret, the story of a paradise beach, invisible to the naked eye, completely protected from the outside world by a rocky arch. A little piece of paradise on earth that everyone talks about, but no one has ever seen.

This is the plot of Alex Garland's novel ("The Beach"), adapted for the screen by Dany Boyle and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Richard, a young English backpacker eager for new experiences.

In reality, Maya Bay is not completely enclosed. An opening in the rock allows boats to slip through and dock on the beach. The view is striking and truly unusual. The turquoise water seems to be trapped by the rocky peaks, forming an arc and giving a strange feeling that is both reassuring and disturbing: isolation... but we quickly pull ourselves together: from 9 o'clock the organized tours from Phuket pour in their stream of tourists and places on the sand become scarce.

You'll have to get up early to enjoy the secret myth of "The Beach"... or give it up altogether because it's just too much, too much, too much. Even in low season, the thin strip of sand is saturated with bathing towels and dozens of motorboats spoil the landscape... it's a far cry from the picture postcard.

If you're still looking for a little paradise on earth, run for your long tail and escape to, say, Bamboo Island (Koh Phai)...

No hotels are allowed on the small island of Phi Phi Ley, which has been declared a nature reserve. Camping was allowed at Maya Bay until 2012, but is now prohibited. The only way to see the sun rise over the rocky cirque for which Maya Bay is famous is to spend the night on board a boat!

The boat leaves Tonsai Harbor at 3 pm, making a detour to the Viking Cave and stopping for an hour at Pileh Bay for an optional swim, kayak and snorkel. We arrive at Maya Bay just as all the tourists are getting ready to leave. Explore the beach, enjoy a barbecue, listen to music and swim the night away! Return to Phi Phi Don at 10am the next day.

All-inclusive: return boat trip, sleeping bags, dinner (barbecue), breakfast, alcoholic beverages (1 bucket free), water, soft drinks, fruit, snorkeling equipment (fins, mask, snorkel), kayak, entrance fee to the nature reserve.