OVERVIEW

There are two Phi Phi islands, Don and Ley, about 90 minutes by fast ferry from both Phuket and Krabi.

PHI PHI DON, the Phi Phi with the accommodation, is about 4 km east-west and 8 km north-south. It is shaped a bit like a distorted anvil, basically made up of 3 soaring lumps of limestone joined by low isthmuses.

MAP - click to enlarge when open

The WESTERN LUMP is least eroded, has no easily accessed beaches, no lowlands and is uninhabited. In many places the limestone rises 100m straight out of the ocean, so it looks pretty spectacular.

It is joined to the eastern limestone higland by a SHORT NARROW SPIT OF SAND on which the TOWN/PIER AREA OF TON SAI is located. Beaches line each side of the spit - Ton Sai on the southern side is pretty drack because of the pier and boating activity, until you approach the western end against the cliffs where it is very agreeable. Loh Dalam, the northern beach, is nice in the top half of the tide, but lower than this it gets real shallow a long way out and looks a bit ordinary. Not so the surrounding cliffs of the limestone highlands which are pretty awesome.

The eastern half of the isthmus is a maze of shops, restaurants, travel agencies, internet cafes, money sources, dive outfits, bars, tattoo parlours etc. There is also accommodation here - some midrangers such as Phi Phi Hotel, Phi Phi Inn, Natacha, PP Casita - a fair few noisy, expensive backpacker rooms up-stairs from shops - and in the eastern most section where you begin to climb onto the lower slopes of the limestone lump towards the town viewpoint and the dam, quite a lot of small bungalow-type outfits in the backpacker/flash packer range. Some of these are Snow White House, Scenery GH, Garden Inn and Uphill Bungalows. The general consensus is that party animals and people who don’t mind noise/crowds are best suited for staying in town, although some of the upslope areas are quieter.
Note that some of the midrangers which used to line the western half of Loh Dalum pre tsunami like PP Princess have not been rebuilt. There is a pretty tatty thatched-hut backpacker place called Palm Bungalows thrown up roughly where Chang Khao was located. However on the lower slopes of the eastern highland overlooking Loh Dalum is the nicely positioned mid-range View Point Resort. Pitharom is similar, a bit further from the sea.

The western section of the isthmus was wiped clean by the tsunami and in my latest August 07 trip still had a lot of vacant land. The upmarket Phi Phi Cabana hotel takes up a major proportion of this near the centre and seems to have completed reconstruction. The rebuilt hospital is further west, a new power generator seems to be running but most of the rest of the new construction is neat housing for locals. An exception is a section of new traditional style bamboo huts (Rock Climbing Bungalows and it looked like some new competition in my latest trip) right up the western end of Ton Sai beach against the cliffs of the western highland. These are backpacker/flash packer in style (the upmarket Ton Sai Village used to be here) and the beach is unexpectedly lovely. Unexpectedly because most of the rest of Ton Sai beach suffers from the proximity of the boating that clogs this bay.

The EASTERN LIMESTONE LUMP is more eroded and has quite a few beaches and bays along its southern and eastern coasts.
The best of the southern ones is Long Beach (Hat Yao) over near the south-eastern corner of the island. This is my favourite PP area, a real nice beach for sunning and swimming (it doesn’t get too shallow most low tides), has some good coral offshore and a nice range of accommodation from backpacker to midrange+. These include Paradise Resort, Paradise Pearl Phone no 075-618050, 075-622100, 081-8919233, Long Beach Bungalows and the expanding Phi Phi The Beach Resort. Overlooking the beach and bay from the eastern headland is Phi Phi Hill.
There are regular longtail shuttles into town day and night which is good for people wanting to shop or party. It is not too difficult to walk into town. During the day the beach is a magnet for people staying elsewhere on the island. There are also several good restaurants - PP Hill's has awesome views and Paradise Pearl's has beachfront tables.

Going westwards back towards Ton Sai, there a several beaches - the first is a tiny and rather nice bay with flashpacker Viking. Then we have a series of others which suffer a bit at low tide and have several nice mostly midrange places. Halfway along is Laem Hin beach with Ayaburi and Bay View - both have impressive hillside bungalows with great views of the...ummm...Bay (and bayside cliffs of the western limestone lump). Closer to town are well known outfits like PP Andaman, PP Villa and Don Chukit. This is a pretty nice area these days with orderly resorts mostly with small pools. It is only a short walk into Ton Sai along a seaside path of continuous resorts, restaurants, shops etc and can be thought of as Ton Sai East. I notice travelfish calls this area Ton Sai Beach although the real Ton Sai beach is over a small headland further west and goes down past the pier to the Rock Climbing Bungalows described before.

THE EAST COAST is really nice and contains some beaches and bungalow places which are as laid back as any on less visited islands like Ko Phayam, Ko Jum and Ko Kradan. So much for the knockers who say Phi Phi is dire and past it. I figure they must never venture away from Ton Sai/Loh Dalam.
The downside is that this area is an expenisve haul from town - I’m a good bargainer but I couldn’t get the long tail taxi mafia to go under 400 to Ao Toh Koh. Bungalow owners will pick you up for considerably less if you ring ahead.
Starting at the south-east corner is a tiny beach with one attractive backpacker-style place, Ao Poh Bungalows. Just north is a fairly big unsettled (except for a small restaurant/bar) beach called Loh Modee, a great place for a quiet swim and sun even in high season. Better hurry though because a big hotel has plans for this lovely place. You can walk over the saddle from Long Beach in about 10 minutes. About a km further north is one of the better backpacker places in Thailand, Ao Toh Koh Resort on its own little beach. Over the next 2 km are two other beaches, Ao Rantee with 3 backpacker/ flash packer places and Had Pak Nam with the flashpacker Relax Beach Resort. Note that a fringing coral reef is fairly close to shore right along the east coast offering pretty good snorkelling.

The eastern highland area also has a few walking tracks - it is possible to walk from town to several viewpoints and from there to the east coast beaches. It is also possible to walk from Long Beach to the viewpoints. The walks have some pretty decent slopes, some are a bit indistinct (eg the track into Loh Bakeo) and I would not do town to the east coast resorts with a pack or at night.

The third limestone lump makes up the longish NORTHERN LAEM THONG PENINSULA. It is joined to the south-east lump by another much wider deposit of sand, the sizable eastern beach of which is called Loh Bakeo. This has the very nice upmarket Phi Phi Island Village.About three quarters along the northern peninsula’s eastern coast is another nice beach, called unsurprisingly Hat Laem Thong (or Palm Beach). This is the preserve of mid-range+ to high-end places like PP Natural, Phi Phi Erawan Palms, Holiday Inn and The Zeavola. However there is also a sea-gypsy settlement here, so the richer guys get a taste of the real Thailand. Much more so than those people who hang around Ton Sai/Long Beach.


The second main Phi Phi island is PHI PHI LEY which is about 3 km south of Phi Phi Don. It is considerably smaller, but because its limestone cliffs rise a similar precipitous 100m from the water it looks pretty impressive. This is 100% national park with no settlement, but is a magnet for daytrippers because of Maya Bay of the movie “The Beach” fame and the Viking Caves, famous for birds-nesting.


A few km north-east of Don are two other popular daytrip destinations, the uninhabited islets of Mosquito Island (Ko Yung) and Bamboo Island (Ko Phai). These have nice beaches (particularly Bamboo) and pretty good snorkelling . One of the dive operations in Ton Sai was offering camping trips on these islands before the tsunami, but I have not heard anything about this recently.

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THREAD GUIDE
With 3 trips in less than 18 months, the remainder of the thread was getting a bit unwieldy.
For people seeking info, the FIRST TRIP REPORT starting about three quarters down the page, should probably be read first. It has the most reports of and links to accommodation, plus at the end, a pretty comprehensive and recently updated section on getting to PP from Phuket, Krabi, Ao Nang/Railay, Ko Lanta and Ko Jum.

The SECOND TRIP REPORT starting about 40% down page has a moan about how expensive PP has become, some updates on accommodation including a nice new backpacker place beachside at the nice end of Ton Sai - Rock Climbing Bungalows and some info on exploring the upland walking tracks of the eastern highland area.

The LATEST TRIP REPORT starting immediately below has info about PP in low season, an update on development and my impressions of staying at Paradise Resort and Toh Koh Resort.

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UPDATE AFTER AUGUST 08 TRIP

I’d previously visited PP a half dozen times, most recently this March, but when Lady Tezza indicated she was up for her first trip to Thailand in August and our entry point was Phuket, I figured there are way worse places to be introduced to the LOS.
This was the first time I had been there in wet season, and this is what I found:

still crowded, but way LESS crowded
The ferries seemed to be running 80% packed. There always seemed to be lots of people wandering around in Ton Sai. Fast speedboats, dive-boats and long tails were zipping by all the time. Yet at the same time, Long Beach on a nice day had about 25% of the normal high season crowd. Ditto Loh Dalam. It was possible to get a selection of bungalows at Long Beach and adjacent beaches plus Ao Toh Koh walk-in, no problems, despite some places like PP Hill being closed down for the wet season.
A lot of the crowd was daytrippers from Phuket - for the first time I became aware of what a huge industry this is for PP. Maybe it was staying in a midrange place for the first time in years - a place where daytrippers had their luncheon buffet. Maybe these people get lost in the hoard of longer-term visitors in high season.

prices were down (doh!)
In my post March-report I moaned about how expensive travellers’ bungalows had become at PP. Well no surprise - low season sees more sensible prices. The 1000 baht Ao Poh bungalows were 500 (had a nice swim and meal on this secluded little beach just east of Long Beach). Toh Koh Resort’s prices were down 30-40%. The cheapies up the back of Long Beach Bungalows were 200 against 500. Paradise Pearl's nice new bamboo weave bungalows were about half price at 500. Note we are talking RELATIVELY low prices - relative to high season on the same island. They are still no cheaper than high season prices on many other islands.
Interestingly the OUTSIDE TOILET bungalows at Viking just east of Long Beach were still 1000+! travelfish says they are nicely decorated bungalows. Would want to be!
And crummy, noisy upstairs rooms in town were 800. Okay, they were 900 in March.

Midrange places showed better discounts. I was offered one of the very swish bungalows at The Beach resort on Long Beach for 1700. These are 3000+ in high season. I stayed 5 days in an aircon absolutely beachfront job at PP Paradise on Long Beach for 1400, half its high season price. Paradise Pearl front rowers were similarly priced.
I noticed sawadee.com were offering some other midrangers at better prices - Bay View closer to town for about 1200 including breakfast. Nicer property to Paradise IMHO, on an inferior beach.

Long Beach not so sheltered
Because it is at the far east end of the sweeping southern coast of PP Don, Long Beach in wet season tends to pick up a fair bit of the prevailing westerly wind and chop. It aint quite the idyllic location of dry season. Still the nicest beach with easy access to town. Note my visit coincided with a windier period with rougher seas than normal, so perhaps other wet season visitors would like to comment.
The beaches at Ton Sai and just to the east, Loh Dalum and Viking were sheltered, as were the east coast ones. Lovely Loh Modee, just over the saddle from Long Beach was fairly busy with speedboat daytrippers from Phuket taking advantage of the shelter - in dry season there are usually fewer than half a dozen people on this medium sized beach.

development continues
Phi Phi Cabana seems to have finished its rebuild in the just west of the central part of the Ton Sai/Loh Dalum spit. Further west there is still a lot of open space - but there were some new locals’ housing and new trad style thatched wall/roof bungalows going in up the far western end of Ton Sai beach against the cliffs, at or adjacent to Rock Climbing Bungalows I mentioned in my March report (see second link below). This is an unexpectedly lovely area now, and people wishing for an old style bungalow place right on the beach, 5 minutes flat walk from town at reasonable (for PP) prices - 700 last March - could do a lot worse.
In my March report I noted that undergrowth had been cleared from Loh Modee and a new construction road put in, in preparation for a big new hotel. However August saw no “progress” - the area was overgrown again and the road badly eroded.
Pon at Ao Toh Koh Resort told me an upmarket hotel has plans for Rantee Huts on the east coast beach of the same name.
Work on the new dam in the highlands behind Loh Modee/Long Beach seems to have finished. The nearby locals’ housing estate construction seemed to be continuing. The shuttle of trucks to the barge unloading point at the far eastern end of Long Beach was not operating.
On Long Beach itself Paradise Pearl was working on what looked like an upmarket guesthouse or maybe villa duplex/trplex at the far western end of the beach. Whaaaa! This is where the first bungalow I stayed at in 97 was located. They were also working on more new bungalows in the western section further from the beach.

transport correction
A minor point - we also stayed a few days at Ao Toh Koh** on the east coast and I noticed lots of ferries headed for Krabi. Lovely lady Pon who runs the resort confirmed that the Ao Nang - PP sevice WAS running, despite ferry websites like Andaman Island Hopping saying it was cancelled until November. One in the eye for all those TT bores telling people to google transport questions.
Pon said the Lanta-PP service was not running, but surely this is just a matter of time as both islands continue to improve in wet season popularity.

so how was wet season?
Much like other wet season trips, no problems. We spent a fortnight in the Phi Phi - Phuket area in what turned out to be a much wetter than normal period according to statistics and the newspapers - got some great, virtually 100% sunny days, other days with a couple of good storms and lots of cloud/sun between, and a couple where it rained more often than not. But not even these were a write off - we had a great holiday.

**you can read my reviews of Toh Koh Resort and Paradise on travelfish - and a newspaper article I wrote on my visit to Ao Toh Koh here.
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UPDATE AFTER LATE MARCH ‘07 VISIT.

STICKER SHOCK HITS PP!!
Jeez trendsetters, what have you done to PP?

I returned last week after exactly one year and prices had gone berserk!
POH'S in a nice little bay just east of Long Beach has gone from 500 baht to 1000. For nice but not exceptional traditional style fan bungalows, bathroom included.
Back on Long Beach, LONG BEACH BUNGALOWS wanted 500 for those tiny outside-toilet jobs packed together up the back, been there 100 years. They were 350 last year.
So I trudged over to VIKING, in the small cove just west of Long Beach, a place I've always liked the looks of. They had trad fan bungalows-outside toilet for 1200!!. Crikey, I asked if they came with a hot and cold masseuse.
Don' be silly, I was told, but they ver’ nice bungalows. An' we got tents for 400..
400 for a tent!I think I'd want a masseuse + a happy ending for that.

So by default (because I like to try a new place each visit), I ended up back at PP HILL, where surprise, prices were exactly the same as last year! - their huge if rather plain wooden fan bungalows at 600-650, the small outside-toilet ones at 400 (just big enough for a double bed, fan and two people’s gear, but beats Maphrao’s identically priced tents. 400 for a tent!) and the big aircon ones at last year’s prices.
What’s more the restaurant prices were still the same bargains. Only one of the 10 or so bungalows I stayed at this ‘07 trip could match the HILL'S green curry with rice at 85 or the big Changs at 70. Those views from the restaurant are still amazing.
I PAID PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO SERVICE in view of the comments by some reviewers on travelfish. Looks like the staff at the Hill have responded to the criticism, because it was particularly good in the restaurant. Lots of staff at peak times, menus were delivered quickly, orders taken promptly and the wait for food was not overlong, which was one criticism I had last visit. Only one time did they not have something I ordered, a pineapple juice. I also found the head girl pretty efficient. The manager guy is a bit taciturn at times, but all smiley at others.
My bungalow didn’t rock and roll, one reviewer’s criticism, although it was starting to show signs of some wear and tear. There seemed to be a shortage of chairs for the big verandahs and I noticed the verandahs did not have an extended roof to sit and check the scene during one of the several rainstorms.
The stairway was quite solid (another guest criticism), but here I must comment: it is a pretty decent climb up from the beach and for the overweight or unfit could cloud their judgement about the whole place.

I have a more detailed review of PP HILL, including website, in my ‘06 report further down the page. Note some of the obstructive vegetation has been cleared from in front of the Sunrise 600-650 baht huts, so views are improved - but some undergrowth is starting to impede on the breathtaking outlook from the 400 cheapies. Take yer machetes, cut-pricers.
I also noticed that PP THE BEACH RESORT was completing some brand new very flash looking bungalows on the hillside adjacent/under PP Hill - the peaked roofs of the highest of these do not block the wonderful views of the bayside from the front-row HILL Sunset bungalows, but does impede downhill views a bit and takes some of the precipitous immediacy away. PP Hill’s restaurant views are unaffected.

BTW, people considering PP THE BEACH RESORT, be aware that a road joining a makeshift harbour at the east end of Long Beach with a big dam/local housing construction site up in the hills, cuts through THE BEACH'S grounds. This has messed them up a bit and there were 3 trucks working a delivery shuttle in daylight while I was there in late March. Looks like several month's more work up there, maybe more if the new hotel at Loh Modee has materials landed on Long Beach.
Surprisingly, the makeshift harbour has had little impact on the attractiveness and utility of the beach at Long Beach. It has, however, made PP Hill's small subsiduary beachlevel restaurant area way less attractive.

Hyperinflation has not been restricted to the Long Beach vicinity.

AO TOH BUNGALOWS on their own little bay on the quiet east coast had gone from a lowest of 300 to 500. Still, that was for a trad attached bathroom bungalow perched on stilts above the rocks (and probaby the water at high tide) way south of the restaurant, looked good value compared to most places to me. The 600 bungalows up the hill just behind the restaurant looked good for people not wanting a walk.
But get this, the longboat mafia at the pier wanted 400 to get there (it was my original destination - I later walked up for a short visit) for a distance roughly double that to Long Beach, which cost 80 baht. 5 times the price for twice the distance? Please explain.
Ao Toh Bungalows will pick you up for 100 if you book ahead. I never book ahead.

A noisy room above a shop in town this year was 900, compared to 500 last year.
Note if you want to stay in Ton Sai, a Muslim family had brand new trad style bungalows right at the south western end of the beach called ROCK CLIMBING BUNGALOW tel 084-8486157 and 084-7447665 - looked just like the old style thatch bungalow places, built on blinding white sand matching the beach with a small restaurant. Prices were hardly a bargain at 800 for outside toilet, but this still blows Maphrao out of the water.
Ton Sai beach is actually very nice both sand quality and water quality right down here against the cliffs, unlike just about all other parts . Actually, for you party people wanting a nice place within direct staggering distance of town (maybe 10 minutes if you don’t weave too much) this looks an okay place. So many people ask for old style huts right on the beach, with good snorkelling and I bet there is some coral and fishlife on the adjacent headland. Certainly a few monkeys come down out of the rainforest here.

This far end of the spit fascinates me. There has been little development since it was wiped clean by the tsunami.
The new hospital was there last year when I visited, as was the new power-generator and a few new houses for locals, both more central, away from the beach. Over on parallel Loh Dalam Beach (the spit is quite narrow - 10 minutes walk across at its widest, 3 minutes closer the prier), there are a couple of big flash hotels back away from the headland towards the center of the beach, one still under construction this visit - this last place was about the only change along with ROCK CLIMBING BUNGALOWS I noticed this year - apart from the close-down of a small bar/nightclub right up against the western headland where my old favourite cheapie SUNSMILE was pre tsunami.
Interestingly, the section ROCK CLIMBING BUNGALOW is located on the western end of Ton Sai, had pre-tsunami a flash hotel with dozens of brick bungalows, a huge restaurant and lines of deck chairs on the beach. It seems unusual for locals to replace big money - in Khao Lak the opposite appears to have occured.

Getting back to Long Beach I also noticed PP PARADISE PEARL had brand new large bunglows in traditional thatch style, second and third rows, looking very attractive and big enough for a family - asking 1000. Paradise Pearl has alway been a class act, and has a very nice and reasonably priced seafront restaurant. 1000 is way out of my league, but seemed good value compared to most of those other places I mention.


APPART FROM THE STICKER SHOCK the other major change this year was that my favourite deserted beach, LOH MODEE on the lower east coast 10 mintes walk from the eastern end of Long Beach (go up the road which now splits PP The Beach Resort since the construction of its new bunglows near PP Hill, and which heads towards the new dam etc mentioned above and below) is all set up for development, the track in is now a road, the undergrowth around the coconut palms had been completely cleared and the locals told me a new high end hotel is going in. The small restaurant bar mid-beach is still there, but for how long? Let’s hope they have title on their land and didn’t sell out. The makeshift fishermen’s tent-village is gone from the northern end.

Another big change - on one hike I pushed on uphill instead of dropping down to Loh Modee and reached a big construction site bout a km up the road - a huge new dam about 5 times the size of the one just east of Ton Sai Village and nearby a collection of concrete and steel framed villa style houses and apartment blocks, which I was told were new dwelling for locals. Good news both water wise and safety - it is way high for tsunamis here - not that the eastern half of the island was badly affected by the last one anyway.


EXPLORING THE HIGH COUNTRY TRACKS.

The VIEWPOINT way up the hill east of Ton Sai/Loh Dalam has a great outlook. The track doesn’t end there.
One goes NORTHWARD along the ridge and then descends to lovely LOH BAKAO bay on the mid east coast where the attractive high-end PP ISLAND VILLAGE is located. I found sections of this a bit hard to follow when I did it a few years back.

This year I pushed on to the EAST, where you reach after maybe 500m a sort of cross-tracks area, with signs to the various offshoots. Eastwards, are 3 branch tracks that drop down to east coast beaches at HAT RANTEE, AO TOH KOH and (from memory) PAK NAM. I took the Toh Koh track and reached it in about 35 minutes of nice jungle trecking.

Back at the cross-tracks, if you turn LEFT when arriving from the VIEWPOINT -ie turn NORTH, you keep climbing for about 10 minutes to reach the highest point on the eastern side of the island, up where the communications towers are located (look up from town or the lower VIEWPOINT) - there are great views here which cover 360degrees by moving vantage points - the outside deck of the TOP VIEW RESTAURANT/BAR here had some of the most panoramic.

When I got back to the cross-tracks from TOP VIEW, I went straight ahead (unsign-posted - heads SOUTH) hoping to find a short-cut back to Long Beach. Well, the track goes in the right direction for about 2km, but then swings westward and runs high up behind BAY VIEW BUNGALOWS and neighbors, to descend into the east of town at the old dam after another 2km or so.
However I did notice a faint side-track before the main track swung west. On another hike I found that went across to that new LOCAL HOUSING DEVELOPMENT/NEW DAM area I talked about before, from where it is a short walk down the construction road to LONG BEACH.

LONG-BEACH TO PHUKET TRANSPORT BARGAIN.
Long Beach Bungalows sell a 300baht ticket for transport directly from Long Beach to Phuket Town in the afternoon. A small ferry collects you at the tiny pontoon wharf outside LBB and takes you across to a big ferry waiting in the Bay off Ton Sai, and away you go.
This sure beats the 80baht longtail across to Ton Sai, the hassle with all those people at the pier and then the 350-390 baht ferry to Phuket town. Hell, you even avoid getting yer feet wet both ends of the longtail ride.
Don't ask me why the ferry ticket is cheaper - leaves at same time, same sized big fast ferry - arrives at Phuket same time.

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THE FOLLOWING WAS WRITTEN AFTER MY PREVIOUS VISIT IN MARCH '06 - MOST OF THE INFO HAS NOT CHANGED AND THOSE WHICH HAVE, I'VE DETAILED ABOVE. SOME USEFUL LINKS plus HOW TO GET TO PHI PHI.

I got back to PP again mid March.
I could never understand those moaners who reckoned the place was dire. Did they hang around Ton Sai/Loh Dalum 100% and never check out gems like the small bays on the lower east coast, not to mention the area around Long Beach? Sure, Ton Sai/Loh Dalum town area is great for party animals, but people wanting a nice beach, some quiet and the best views should head east and north.

For an easy check on a lovely east coast beach, walk over from Long Beach at the eastern end of the southern coast to LOH MODEE on the dirt “road” heading uphill from the eastern end (you will need to cut down to the right of the huts in the new Sea Gypsy village just past the crest - total trip takes 10-15 minutes). Loh Modee itself is a very nice, sheltered beach with one small restaurant/bar in the middle and a makeshift fishermens’ tent village at the far northern end.
Heading north along the rocks from here(not at high tide - you need a longtail then) for about 4 kim are about half a dozen beaches from small to medium, all with one or a few small bungalow setups which are as laid back as any place in the Trang or Ranong islands. Check Travelfish for AO TOH KOH BUNGALOWS (click) to get some idea.

For months travel-site posters have complained of the difficulty of finding a website offering accommodation in any of the more popular Phi Phi locations for under 1000baht. They should check out PHI PHI HILL RESORT here. And hey, read "Related Articles" Phi Phi On a Budget about half way down the right column - brilliant! And as far as I know, free to the website.
Phi Phi Hill has large comfortable fan bungalows are available high season for 600 baht. Check the photos, particularly for the upper restaurant, which must have one of the best views per baht in Thailand. Note the website showed the place closed May-Oct 2006.
UPDATE Phi Phi Hill's own website looked like it had been discontinued when I prepared this report, but I notice it is back online. It has much better photos and more info. (click). Unusually, it does not have a booking facility - you need the other website above for that.
PHI PHI HILL is located high on the eastern headland of popular Long Beach. It has about 20 600 and 650 baht bungalows with sunrise views towards Ko Jum and the mainland, a similar number of 1000 and 1500 (fan v aircon) bungalows facing the sunset, the best of which have similar stunning views to the restaurant, over Long Beach, Ton Sai bay and cliffs and across to scenic Phi Phi Ley. Unannounced on the website are six 400 baht bungalows with outside bathrooms on the south west headland corner with panoramic views towards Ko Lanta and Ko Jum.
I paid 650 baht for one of the front row sunrise bungalows, the cheaper 600 ones being in the second row. My view was not fabulous, being tree interrupted (some front rowers are better), but I spent most of my viewing time in that fabulous restaurant. For my 650 I got a really big bungalow with nice deck, fan, hot water, towels, soap, shampoo, toilet paper, good insect screens, comfortable twin beds, some hanging space and storage units, big mirror in the bathroom. The bungalow was clean and in good condition.
I didn’t get a chance to check the dearer bungalows, but they were even bigger and most had much better views. The 400 baht cheapies were rather tiny verandah-less boxes with very clean outside bathroom facilities. And each had a view arguably as good as the best sunset bungalow.
You usually expect to pay a premium if a restaurant has a fabulous view, but this one was one of the cheaper ones on my trip. Eg, their large Changs and great banana shakes were the cheapest I found in ANY bungalow place, and during my trip I stayed in some bottom budget places. The food itself was good and the service fairly good (sometimes a bit slow) and friendly. I didn’t try their second beachside restaurant, which is located on the beach-end rocks at the foot of the staircase up to the main resort, but this is also a pretty scenic place to hang about. Ah that staircase, great if you are fit. If not, you will be fit by the end of your stay. Note there is a travellator type lift to haul your heavy bags up on arrival. If you have booked they send their longtail over to the pier at Ton Sai for a free transfer on arrival, although you are expected to pay the standard 80 baht taxi boat fare to them for the trip back.
It takes a two minutes to reach popular Long Beach for nice swimming at all tide levels, good snorkeling around that island you can see in the photos and some nice shade under two sections of casuarinas when you tire of the sun.
Back up at Phi Phi Hill a signpost to “SMALL BEACH” just behind the upper restaurant takes you down a steep track to a very tiny sheltered beach in a small cove further east.
You can short cut the walk to Loh Modee from Phi Phi Hill by taking a track from the northern-most sunset bungalow into the rainforest , turn left, turn right.

Now here’s an unknown gem. If you turn right first interesection on that rainforest track instead of left you walk down in 3 minutes to a lovely little bay where a French girl and her Thai husband have established POH'S , with about half a dozen attractive bungalows for 500 high season, a nice restaurant and a really nice smallish beach area. This bay has just about gotta be on the SE corner of the island, and prior to this trip I didn’t know it existed. The bungalows etc are quite new.

There are other good cheap places to be found. My visit was still high season, there was a good number of visitors (although fewer than a previous March visit) and yet LONG BEACH BUNGALOWS (the last before the new high end bungalows on the eastern end of Long Beach) were offering their rearward bungalows with bathrooms for 300. Beats the old PARADISE PEARL (now split into 3 different operations including the similarly named PARADISE) which had their rearward places at 800. Quite a lot of redevelopment was going on in this westward Long Beach section in March.

Similarly, there seemed to be no bargains in town. Want a room above a shop front and across from a 3am disco for 600+? - or a tent for 200+? Well they are available here. No wonder newcomers with scant knowledge of the island who stagger off the ferry looking for a place are often unimpressed.
I didn’t check the newer area up higher around the reservoir which last trip seemed to have an abundance of lower priced places, but no doubt there are even more there now. I doubt this area got any tsunami damage - too high and south east of pier.

A quick word on tsunami damage/recovery. I was under the impression that the whole low spit between Ton Sai and Loh Dalum beaches had been wiped clean. However the south east quarter of this area was still intact, with the buildings east of the pier (we are talking about the streets around the Ton Sai Bakery) still the originals.
However the other three quarters does appear to have been flattened. The western area seems the worst affected - everything, inclluding my old favourite cheapy SUNSMILE is gone, except the huge diesel engine of the old power station which must weigh 3 tonnes and is bolted to a concrete slab. The hospital has been rebuilt but closer to the beach, there is a huge 4 or 5 star place nearing completion in the mid sections of Loh Dalum beach and there are quite a few smaller places in various stages of completion.
The north west section seems to have had more rebuilding with quite a lot of new shops, restaurants and accommodation completed.

A new place that caught my eye is PHI PHI THE BEACH RESORT - this is located on the far eastern end of Long Beach where a few older bungalows and the small Sea Gypsy village once were. We are talking very nice bungalows built up the hillside, with pretty good views. There is a small beachfront swimming pool. I noticed the daytrip speedboats from Phuket were using this place for their luncheon BBQ.
BTW, the Sea Gypsies have relocated to a new village just over the crest to Loh Modee.

In past visits two other nice places caught my eye:
BAYVIEW is an elevated hillside place overlooking the beach about half way between Long Beach and town, with pretty excellent views. It only takes about 10 minutes to walk into the village from here.
VIEWPOINT is another elevated place with similar great views, situated on the eastern slopes of Loh Dalum. 5 minutes to town. Bit of a hike to a nice swimming beach when the tide is down at Dalum, however.


Just a note on personalities. There were two huge guys, built like wrestlers, bald heads, tatts galore, tanned almost black, wearing black fisherman’s pants only, Brit working class accents, lounging around the dive center on Long Beach. Looked like ex Royal Marine clearance divers, rip the firing pins out of anti-ship mines with their teeth. I’d love to see the legion of fisherman’s pants hecklers from the various travel forums give those guys any crap.

SOME USEFUL LINKS
http://www.phi-phi.com/ has a booking facility for Phi Phi Hill, plus a lot of the other non budget Phi Phi places.
No mention is made of PP Hill's 400baht cheapies with the great views towards Lanta.

phiphi.com also features Phi Phi The Beach, Bayview and Viewpoint resorts.


GETTING TO PHI PHI

From Phuket - travel agents and accommodation at the beaches and Phuket town can sell you a ferry ticket which usually includes shuttle bus to the pier near Phuket town. There is a morning and afternoon ferry. See timetable link.

Speedboats also do daytrips and you could probably pay to hitch a ride.
A private chartered speedboat if you are too late for the last ferry is expensive - I recently saw a quote of 1400baht per person, but I don't know what the minimum number of people is. However, this included car from the airport to the pier and delivery to the east coast hotels (which costs a bomb from the Phi Phi pier), so for higher end travelers, it may be the way to go.
Don’t think about doing this long bumpy trip in a long tail. It also would cost a bomb, be wet and uncomfortable and possibly dangerous. I doubt you could find a driver to do it these days.

There is also a a seaplane service - not cheap but awesome views.

From Phuket Airport - KEVIN CORR gave this info: "Get the cheap 100 baht minbus from the airport bus booth to Phuket town. From town buy a ticket for the boat which includes the taxi ride to the pier. Tickets at the pier/boat cost more than in town and you will have also paid taxi fare from town. When the bus stops at a travel agency on the way to Phuket town, do not talk to, or do business with these touts. Just get back on the bus to Phuket town and go to a travel agency down town near the night street market, shoping center or from a hotel or guest house, all of which have the boat tickets including taxi to the pier."

There is also an airport express coach which runs hourly between 0630 and 2030 for 80baht (March 07). This goes to the bus station near central Phuket town. Takes about 60-70 minutes. There would be a travel agency there or nearby which could sell you a ferry ticket with taxi to the pier.

QUICKEST - You could also catch a taxi from the airport to the pier- a metered cab should be around 300-350 baht. Time about 40 minutes depending on traffic - OR- the limo counter at the airport can bung on a car or private van for around 600baht.

From Krabi town - morning and afternoon ferries leave from the new pier a few km out of central Krabi town. Travel agents and accomm places in town can sell you a ticket usually with free pickup to the pier.
See timetable link, but note there may now be only one afternoon ferry, at 1500.
To get from Krabi airport to the pier involves a fixed price taxi at a rip-off 350 baht (about 20-30 minutes). There is a minivan for 100 into town, but reports say it runs irregularly. You could walk the couple of hundred meters to the highway and flag down a songthaew on the opposite side into Krabi town, but you may have quite a wait.

From Ao Nang/Railay/Ton Sai - a morning ferry leaves Ao Nang, picks passengers up off long tails in the bay off Railay/Ao Nang and cruises on to Phi Phi. Note this ferry does not run in low season. See timetable link.
The afternoon Ao Nang - Phuket high season only ferry could call in at Phi Phi, but I can’t confirm this right now.
UPDATE SEPT O7 - I noticed lots of Krabi bound ferries when staying at Ao Toh Koh during my latest August trip. Pon, the lovely lady who runs Toh Koh Resort told me the Ao Nang - PP ferry HAS been running this low season, despite conflicting ferry websites such and ANDAMAN ISLAND HOPPING.

From Ko Lanta - two ferries a day come across from Lanta. No ferries in low season. See timetable link.
UPDATE - Pon told me a lontail between Phi Phi and Lanta for low season trips costs around 3500.

From Ko Jum to Phi Phi - there is no direct ferry link which means you have to go via Lanta (high season only) or via Krabi town. However Pon told me she has arranged longtails from PP for 2500 - about an hour. The PP longtail taxi mafia are not real cheap so you may be able to negotiate from the Jum side for less.
For a group of people this could work out as cheap as the two ferry trips and save a heap of time. However it would not be a nice trip on a bumpy day.

Updated ferry shedule for high season 06/07 to and from Phi Phi to other locations. Plus quite a few other nearby routes. http://www.andaman-island-hopping.com/traffic/ferrycentral.htm

If you have any questions, please ask them in THE FORUM rather than below. I don't get a chance to check all threads daily, but unless I'm travelling I'll try to monitor THE FORUM regularly.

Posted by tezza at 3:09 PM