Maya Bay - Thailand

Maya Bay is located inSouthwest of Phi Phi Lee island, Maya Bay is located in a rocky cove, which makes it almost invisible from passing boats. It is a stunningly beautiful beach that's sheltered by 100-meter high cliffs on three sides.​ Maya Bay cannot be accessed directly from the sea via boat, due to shallow waters and coral. Therefore, boats must anchor at the deeper Loh Samah, requiring people to walk through a short section of rocks and jungle to reach Maya Bay itself. There is also one large shallow fjord like inlet called Pi Ley with a small coral reef at the entrance.

Maya Bay is popular for diving, and has become even more popular after the 2000 movie The Beach was filmed there. According to the Lonely Planet's guidebook Thailand, the 2004 tsunami dramatically improved the look of Maya Bay's beachfront. The high waves had cleaned up the beach and removed all the landscaping the Fox production team had added.

Maya Bay is fascinating thanks to the myth: a well kept secret of backpackers, the story of an idyllic beach, invisible to the naked eye, totally unspoiled by rocky peaks. A little paradise on earth that everyone talks about but nobody has seen.

Incredibly stunning, yet ruined; spectacular but over-crowded, seeing Maya Bay in its natural state is now almost impossible. Unless you are INCREDIBLY lucky. It’s disappointing at the same time as being expected, and a shame that tourist numbers are not capped and controlled.

In fact, Maya Bay is not completely closed. An opening in the rock allows boats to dock on the beach. The show is amazing and really unusual. The turquoise waters appear enclosed by rocky peaks, forming an arc of a circle and giving a strange feeling at once reassuring and disturbing: isolation ... but it does not last very long : from 9 am organized tours from Phuket change the landscape with hundreds of tourists, the beach gets really crowded, sometimes making it difficult to find a place on the sand. You need to get up early to enjoy the secret myth of "The Beach" ... or simply give up because, really, there are too many people. Even in low season, the thin strip of sand is full of towels, dozens of motorboats spoil the landscape ... It's far from the postcard's picture people imagine.

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