Phuket/Things to do/ water
The Similan Islands
Granite islands and the clearest water in the Andaman, about 100km north-west of Phuket, open roughly half the year and shut for the monsoon.
What we checked, 18 September 2026
Checked on 18 September 2026, when the park is reported to be inside its annual closure. Of the Similan trips listed on Klook, one clears our bar of 9.0 out of 10 and 50 reviews with a real sample; the one named below does not, and the rest carry single-figure review counts. The 500 baht fee comes from the department's own published fee table. The closure dates below could not be confirmed from the department, whose website returned a server error on every attempt, so they are attributed to news reporting. We have not done this trip.
Verified via. The Department of National Parks publishes the entrance fee for Mu Ko Similan National Park in its own fee table: 500 baht for a foreign adult, 250 for a foreign child, 100 and 50 for Thai adults and children. The operator below was read off its own Klook listing page on 18 September 2026.
Who runs it
Separate companies, listed separately. We do not average scores across operators, because the average would describe a trip you cannot book.
| Operator | Score | Reviews | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Similan Islands Speedboat Snorkeling Tour from Phuket, by Seastarklook | 4.6/5 (9.2/10) | 249 | varies by package |
These are affiliate links. If you book through one we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It does not affect which operators clear our bar.
The Similans are nine granite islands about 100km north-west of Phuket, with boulder formations above the water and some of the best visibility in Thailand below it. They are a national park, and unlike almost everything else on this list, they are shut for a large part of the year.
The season is the first thing to settle. Reporting on the park puts the annual closure at roughly mid-May to mid-October, with the 2026 reopening given as 15 October. On the day we checked, 18 September 2026, the park was inside that closure. We could not confirm any of it from the department itself, because its portal returned a server error on every request, so treat the dates as well-reported rather than official, and check before you book a trip that claims to run outside them.
The fee is the part we can stand behind. The department’s own fee table gives Mu Ko Similan National Park as 500 baht for a foreign adult and 250 for a foreign child, against 100 and 50 for Thai visitors. That is charged on arrival and is separate from the boat.
The trips. One operator clears our bar with a real sample behind it, and it is the one listed. This one does not:
| Operator | Score | Reviews | Clears our bar |
|---|---|---|---|
| Similan Islands Day Trip From Phuket or Khaolak | 4.3 / 5 | 56 | No, 8.6 out of 10 |
Several other Similan trips on the platform carry between two and thirty reviews, which is not evidence of anything, and none of them are here.
Two rules in circulation that we could not confirm but which shape the trip. Overnight stays on the islands have been reported as banned since 2018, and a daily cap of a few thousand visitors plus a smaller diver allocation has been reported since 2019. Both come from news coverage rather than from a department page we could open. If either matters to your plans, ask the operator to confirm in writing.
It is a long day. Roughly two hours each way by speedboat in open sea, which is why the trip is usually sold from Khao Lak rather than Phuket, and why the seasickness warnings on the listings are not decoration.
Best for
Snorkelling and diving in the season, mid-October to mid-May
Skip if
You are travelling between May and October. The park closes, and anyone selling you a trip then is selling something else
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