The classic
Krabi 4 islands tour: Poda, Chicken, Tup and Mor
This is the trip almost everyone means by «island hopping in Krabi». Four islands a short hop off Ao Nang, and one of them is only half there — at low tide a sandbar comes out of the sea and joins two of them together.
Quick answer
The Krabi 4 islands tour visits Koh Poda, Koh Kai (Chicken Island), Koh Tup and Koh Mor, and costs from $105 in a private longtail. It runs four to six hours from the beach at Ao Nang. The thing that makes it worth timing properly is the sandbar between Tup and Mor, which only appears at low tide.
The four islands, at a glance
- Private longtail
- $1054–6 hours, 1,446 reviews
- Semi-private long tail
- $3416 hours, small group
- Private speedboat
- $2985 hours, faster between stops
- Sunset version
- $1267 hours, finishing after dark
- Koh Poda
- The postcard beachwhite sand, one stack offshore
- Koh Kai
- Chicken Islandnamed for the rock at one end
- Koh Tup & Koh Mor
- Joined at low tideby a sandbar you walk across
- Departs from
- Ao Nang beachand from Railay on some listings
- Order of stops
- Set by the tidenot by the listing
- Free cancellation
- All of themup to 24 hours before
What the four islands actually are
Four stops, and what happens at each
The names in the listings are transliterated inconsistently. These are the same four places.
- Koh Poda
The one on the postcards: a wide white beach with a single limestone stack standing in the water offshore. The usual lunch stop on a shared trip.
- Koh Kai — Chicken Island
Named for a rock formation at one end that genuinely looks like a chicken’s head and neck. Normally a snorkelling stop rather than a landing.
- Koh Tup — Tub Island
Small, and the near half of the pair. The sandbar starts here.
- Koh Mor
The other half. At low tide a bank of sand comes out of the water and you walk from Tup to Mor across what was sea an hour before. This is called Thale Waek — the separated sea.
Why the tide decides your day
The one thing no listing explains
Low tide makes the sandbar; a private boat lets you be there when it happens.
The sandbar is not always there. It emerges at low water and disappears at high, so the order of the stops on any given day is worked out backwards from the tide table.
A shared boat runs a fixed circuit. It leaves at nine, does the same four stops in the same order, and gets back at three. If low tide is at eleven, that works. If it is at four in the afternoon, you will see Tup and Mor separated by water.
A private boat does not. This is the real argument for spending $105 rather than taking a seat: your driver knows the tide and will build the day around it.
And it is worth building the day around. Walking between two islands on a strip of sand that was under the sea an hour earlier is the thing people photograph and the thing they describe afterwards.
Private or shared — what fifteen people on a fixed schedule actually means.
Private or shared→Common questions
The four islands, answered
Which are the 4 islands in Krabi?
Koh Poda, Koh Kai (Chicken Island), Koh Tup and Koh Mor. Tup and Mor are joined by a sandbar at low tide.
How much is the Krabi 4 islands tour?
From $105 for a private longtail boat. A semi-private long tail is $341 and a private speedboat is $298.
How long does the 4 islands tour take?
Four to six hours in a longtail, or about five in a speedboat. The sunset version runs about seven and finishes in the dark.
Is the Krabi 4 island tour worth it?
Yes — it is the most-reviewed trip in the area and the sandbar between Tup and Mor is genuinely unusual. Take a private boat if you can, so you reach it at low tide.
What is Thale Waek?
The Thai name for the sandbar between Tup and Mor. It translates roughly as the separated sea, and it appears as the tide drops.
Does the 4 islands tour include Hong Island?
No. The Hong Islands are a separate group on a separate trip, from $393 for a private charter.
Go deeper
More on island hopping in Krabi
What it costs
From $53 to $611, plus the park fees nobody mentions.
The verdictWhich trip is best
All fourteen ranked, by islands rather than by number.
The lagoonThe Hong Islands
A separate group, and an almost enclosed lagoon.
SunsetThe sunset run
Seven islands, a barbecue, and a swim after dark.
Further outPhi Phi
An hour out by speedboat, and what the day costs.
The crossingAo Nang to Railay
Ten to fifteen minutes, and the only way in.
