Boat trips and island days from Koh Lanta

If it is your first time and you want the famous one, take the 4 Islands and swim into the Emerald Cave. If the snorkelling itself matters most, go to Koh Rok and Koh Haa, where the visibility is the best we see all year. If you want the postcard, go to Phi Phi. Tell us who is coming and how confident everyone is in the water and we will say honestly which one fits.

A longtail is a traditional wooden boat: slower, fewer people aboard, and you sit close to the water. It suits a relaxed day and nervous swimmers, and it is the cheapest island day we run at THB 1,000. A speedboat covers far more ground, which is the only way to reach Koh Rok, Koh Haa or Phi Phi and still be back the same day.

No. It is a government charge collected at the islands, not something we set or keep. It differs by destination: the Trang islands — Koh Mook, Koh Kradan and Koh Ngai — sit in Hat Chao Mai national park at THB 200 adult and THB 100 child, while Mu Ko Lanta and the Phi Phi park charge THB 400 adult and THB 200 child. The figure for your trip is stated on that trip page.

Hotel pickup and drop-off on Koh Lanta Yai, mask, snorkel and fins, a life jacket, lunch, fresh fruit, drinking water and soft drinks, an English-speaking guide who gets in the water with you, and insurance. Towels and alcoholic drinks are not included.

No. It is roughly eighty metres through a dark tunnel on a float line with a guide, and it is genuinely enclosed. Plenty of people sit that part out and wait on the boat. Nobody minds, and it does not change the price.

Yes to both. Life jackets are provided for everyone, and our guides stay in the water with the group rather than pointing at it from the boat. Tell us before you book if anyone is nervous or very young and we will steer you toward the calmer stops and the slower boat.

Reef-safe sunscreen — several common filters are banned in Thai marine parks — plus a hat, a towel, cash for the national park fee, and a dry bag or even a sandwich bag for your phone. Everything else is already on the boat.

Roughly November to April is the settled season, with the calmest sea and the clearest water. That is when the far trips to Koh Rok and Koh Haa are at their best. Through the monsoon months the sea decides day by day, and the furthest trips are the first to become unpleasant.

If the sea state is not safe we cancel, and you get a full refund or a free move to another day. We would rather lose the booking than take you out in a swell that is not safe. If you want to know what the water is actually doing this week, message us — we are out on it most days.

In high season, roughly November to April, message us before you arrive rather than on the morning you want to go, especially for a specific date or a private boat. Outside those months a day or two of notice is usually plenty.

Yes, longtail and speedboat both. A private boat means your group only, your own pace, and the freedom to change stops on the day if the weather suggests it. Send us your dates and group size for a price.

Anywhere on Koh Lanta Yai — hotel pickup and drop-off is included in every trip. Give us your hotel by name when you book, because the island is thirty kilometres long and the beach names cover a lot of ground.