Samet Nangshe or James Bond Island from Phuket: Which Phang Nga Day?

Two ways to see Phang Nga Bay

Same bay, opposite angles. The Samet Nangshe group gets to the viewpoint early, at 08:40, after swapping the coach for pickup trucks because the last bit of road is too steep. From up there the islands look like a model of themselves. The James Bond group never sees that view. They're down at water level by ten, sliding past the cliffs in a longtail, and by half past eleven they're standing under the rock from the film.

I tend to describe it like this. The viewpoint day is a panorama followed by a lot of stops on land. The James Bond day is most of the daylight on calm water, plus caves you can only get into by kayak. Got time for both? Do them on separate days; Samet Nangshe and James Bond island in one day explains why they won't fit into one. Those caves are the Hong stop of Phang Nga Bay; the Krabi Hong with the viewpoint is a different island, see which Hong island is on a James Bond tour.

How long each day takes

Samet Nangshe is the earlier start: the coach comes at 06:30, and it leaves Mai Khao beach for the hotels at 17:30. For James Bond island, pickup is 07:30 to 08:00, then about ninety minutes of driving to the pier, and the drive home runs from 16:30 to 18:00. That's roughly an hour's extra sleep, and the card puts the whole thing at eight to nine hours.

Time on the water

Here the two really part ways. On the Samet Nangshe day there's exactly one boat: a longtail through the mangroves at 11:20, on flat water, right before lunch in the floating village. The rest is coach and walking, and the card itself recommends this day for when the sea is rough or you just prefer land.

The James Bond day is the opposite, a boat day from 09:30 until you're back at the pier at 16:30. Life jackets and a safety briefing first, then an hour and a half winding through the bay, the landing, and from 12:30 to 14:00 the caves and hidden lagoons by kayak. You don't paddle; a local boatman does, and you just look around. Because the boats are longtails on sheltered water rather than speedboats, the card says yes when asked if the day suits older travellers. One catch: some caves only open at certain tides.

Lunch and the villages

Both days eat seafood over the water, in different places. On the Samet Nangshe day the longtail brings you to a sea gypsy floating village at 11:50 for dried seafood, pearls and souvenirs, and lunch at 12:00 is crab, prawns, fish and squid in the village. On the James Bond day lunch comes later, from 14:00, at a restaurant on stilts over the bay, followed by an hour in Koh Panyi, the Muslim stilt village, from 15:00.

Drinking water, soft drinks and tropical fruit are included on the James Bond boat; extra drinks at the restaurant and alcohol are not. On the Samet Nangshe day the seafood lunch is in the price and the card lists no drinks package, so bring water for the viewpoint.

What only the Samet Nangshe day has

The land programme is long. After the viewpoint come the monkey cave and the Suwan Kuha temple with its stalactites at 10:30, the Black Monk statue at 11:00, a drive past fruit and rubber plantations with the guide explaining what grows there, and the elephant spa at 13:40: mud treatment, bathing and showering the elephants, a show and a ride, all in the price. A waterfall stop follows at 16:00, and at 17:00 you are on Mai Khao beach, where aircraft come in low over the sand on their way into the airport.

The temple asks for shoulders and knees covered, and cover-ups can be hired there for a small fee. That hire is one of only two things the card leaves out, the other being souvenirs and personal spending. Bring a change of clothes, because the elephants get you wet. The cave temple has its own page: Suwan Kuha cave temple.

What only the James Bond day has

The landing at Ko Tapu, the rock from the Bond film, with an hour at the island, and the kayak run into caves and lagoons that only open from the water. There are no elephants, no temple and no viewpoint climb. The card describes it as a bay and cave day rather than a beach day: bring swimwear if you want it, but most people stay dry apart from their feet. For every trip that reaches the rock, including the two-day ones, see James Bond island tours from Phuket. If you would rather drive to the pier yourself, how to get to James Bond island from Phuket covers the road and the boat. Whether the kayak and the park fee cost extra is answered on are canoeing and park fees included on a James Bond tour. For a full lake day with the same sunrise, read Cheow Lan lake or James Bond island.

Which one I'd book

With children who love animals, the Samet Nangshe day: elephants, monkeys at the cave temple and a plane overhead at the end. If someone in your group gets seasick, also the Samet Nangshe day, since its only boat is the mangrove longtail. For the landscape people picture when they think of southern Thailand, and for photographs at the rock itself, the James Bond day. With older travellers I lean towards the James Bond day too: no long walking, no speedboat, and most of the day spent sitting in a boat. If what you really want is the bay from above at dawn, the glass bridge of Beyond Skywalk is a third option, with a 03:45 pickup. If half the group would rather spend the day on a beach, James Bond island or Coral island compares the bay with a short crossing to the sand.

• →You want the bay from above — Phang Nga and Samet Nangshe
• →You want to stand at the James Bond rock — James Bond island and Phang Nga Bay
• →You want elephants on the same day — Phang Nga and Samet Nangshe
• →You want sea caves by kayak — James Bond island and Phang Nga Bay
• →You'd rather stay off open water — Phang Nga and Samet Nangshe

Guide, children and booking

Every tour in our catalogue runs with an English-speaking guide. On the Samet Nangshe day the child price covers ages 4 to 9, and from ten the adult price applies; on the James Bond day children under four travel free. National park entrance fees are included on both, as are hotel transfers both ways, the guide, lunch and insurance.

Payment is agreed in the chat after the booking is confirmed. Send the tour, the date and your hotel, and we confirm the pickup time.

Questions people ask