For ten months

Dream beach from “The Beach” is open again

(Bild: AFP)

The world-famous Maya Bay beach is welcoming tourists again: The bay, which gained international fame thanks to the Hollywood blockbuster "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio, had previously been closed for two months to allow its fragile ecosystem to recover from the onslaught of tourists.

Maya Bay on the paradise island group of Ko Phi Phi is closed annually from August 1 to September 30 - after the opening, the national park authority asked guests to the bay to strictly observe all applicable rules

The white tropical beach, which is framed by striking rocks, was made famous by Danny Boyle's 2000 hippie blockbuster "The Beach". In the film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, the beach is still completely untouched.

The beautiful view has to be shared with many other tourists on the dream beach of Maya Bay.

(Bild: AFP)

Corals damaged, garbage piled up
But then masses of tourists flocked to the bay on the otherwise uninhabited island of Phi Phi Leh. The paradise soon became an overcrowded nightmare: dozens of boats dropped their anchors into the once intact reef every day, the corals were damaged, the blacktip sharks disappeared and the garbage piled up.

Bay was able to recover during the pandemic
In 2018, the authorities pulled the ripcord at the urging of marine biologists. The beach was closed - and ultimately remained so until the beginning of 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, stricter rules have been in place, for example, boats are no longer allowed to enter the bay. But the beach remains a tourist hotspot: from October 2023 to July 2024 alone, 1.6 million holidaymakers visited again.

In addition to Maya Bay, two other bays are now regularly closed during the monsoon season: Loh Samah Bay and Lo Kor Bay. This year, the closure was particularly important because experts had already detected devastating coral bleaching at some of the most beautiful snorkeling and diving spots in the region in May.

Closure is also a safety issue
The closure during the rainy season is also about the safety of the guests: most of them come by traditional longboats from the neighboring island of Phi Phi Don. In storms and high waves, it is difficult for the often old boats to dock in the bay of Loh Samah, from where vacationers now walk to Maya Bay.