Andaman Island-Hopping — Phuket, Krabi & Phi Phi

Met at Phuket and taken to the west coast, with the rest of the day on the beach. The Andaman side faces west, so the sunsets are the daily event here and the first evening is the easiest way to start seven nights of boats and islands. Nothing else is scheduled — the flights into Phuket are mostly long and the itinerary that follows involves a crossing every second day.

Phuket Old Town in the morning, the part of the island almost no beach visitor sees: ochre and green Sino-Portuguese shophouses built by Hokkien Chinese tin-mining families in the nineteenth century, now restored along Thalang and Dibuk roads, with small museums and good coffee in them. The Sunday walking street runs through it when the day falls right. Back west for a beach in the afternoon and the sunset.

Out by longtail into Phang Nga Bay among the karsts — several hundred limestone towers rising straight out of shallow green water, undercut at the waterline by the tide into overhangs. The day takes in the sea caves and, more importantly, the hongs: collapsed cave systems open to the sky inside the islands, entered by canoe through low tunnels passable only around low tide. The tide table sets the schedule.

The ferry across to Phi Phi, an hour and a half or so, arriving at Tonsai on the isthmus that joins the island's two halves. Phi Phi Don is small, has no roads and is walked or reached by longtail; the viewpoint above the isthmus is a steep twenty-minute climb and shows exactly how the island is put together. The evening at Tonsai is livelier than anywhere else on this itinerary, which some travellers want and some do not.

Out by longtail around Phi Phi Leh, the uninhabited southern island — Maya Bay, closed entirely from 2018 after years of damage and reopened under capped numbers, timed entry and a no-swimming rule inside the bay itself; Pileh Lagoon, a flooded cove enclosed by cliffs; and Viking Cave with its birds' nest scaffolding. Snorkelling at Bamboo or Mosquito island in the afternoon, sea conditions permitting.

By longtail across to Railay, which is a peninsula with no road in — limestone walls cut it off from the mainland on every landward side, and the only access is by boat from Ao Nang or Krabi. The crossing is short. Railay East is mangrove and where the boats land; Railay West is the beach. Phra Nang beach round the headland has a cave shrine at one end hung with carved wooden offerings left by fishermen.

A full day at Railay, and the obvious thing to do with it is climb. This is one of the world's best-known limestone sport-climbing areas, with several hundred bolted routes, and the schools run half-day introductions for complete beginners with all the equipment. For anyone who would rather not, the lagoon walk behind Phra Nang is a steep scramble to a hidden pool, and the beaches themselves are the finest on this coast.

Longtail across to Ao Nang and then by road to Krabi airport, which together take about an hour — but the boat leg depends on the sea and on the tide at Railay, where there is no pier and you wade to the boat. That is the reason to book an afternoon flight rather than a morning one. In poor weather the crossing can be delayed, and there is no road alternative.