Twin islands of turquoise — the Andaman's most photographed limestone scenery
Koh Phi Phi Don and the uninhabited Koh Phi Phi Leh form an archipelago of sheer limestone cliffs, white sand bays, and improbably blue water in the Andaman Sea between Phuket and Krabi. Phi Phi Leh's Maya Bay — closed for rehabilitation 2018–2022 after being loved to degradation by the crowds drawn to its depiction in the film The Beach — has reopened with a cap of 300 visitors per hour and is slowly recovering. Phi Phi Don has rebuilt from the 2004 tsunami (which swept straight across the low saddle of the island) into a lively backpacker hub with excellent diving on the surrounding reefs.
The Phi Phi islands were settled by the Urak Lawoi (sea nomads) who still maintain a community on Phi Phi Don. The islands were largely unknown internationally until the development of Phuket's airport in the 1970s opened the Andaman coast to tourism. Alex Garland's 1996 novel The Beach — and especially the 2000 Danny Boyle film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, shot in Maya Bay — transformed Phi Phi Leh from a local secret into one of Thailand's most-visited destinations, causing significant environmental damage to the bay that necessitated its closure.