Both halves of the Andaman in one voyage: the sheltered limestone of Phang Nga first, then the crossing south to Phi Phi and the Rachas.
Ten days is the length at which the Andaman stops being a highlight reel. The northern and southern itineraries are joined into one loop, nothing has to be cut, and there is room for the two or three days that make a charter memorable: a whole day at one anchorage, a change of plan because the light was good somewhere else, a passage taken slowly under sail rather than quickly under power.
It is also the length that lets the weather be wrong for a day without costing you a destination.
Most brokers describe this as the standard week extended. It is better understood the other way round: this is the itinerary the cruising ground actually wants, and the seven-night version is the compression.
Board, run northeast into the bay and anchor at Koh Hong. The hidden lagoon at the right tide, and an early night after the flights.
The sea caves at low water, then deeper into the bay to the stilt village at Koh Panyee. On a deep-draught yacht the village is a tender excursion rather than a move of the mother ship.
The Bond island in the late afternoon once the tour fleet leaves, then across to the Krabi side for the night.
Early access to Maya Bay through the Loh Samah pontoon, then the shallow coral at Bamboo Island before the day boats.
Southeast to the ring of five islands for the Cathedral and the Chimney, and a sheltered night on a park mooring.
A slow day. Diving or snorkelling off Ao Bungalow, then north along the coast.
A last morning at anchor in flat water, then the short run back to the marina.
The value of doing this route on a yacht rather than on a day boat is control over the clock and the tide. Most of it comes down to these.
The tunnel into the lagoon is tide-dependent, not weather-dependent. Around high water the headroom disappears and the entrance closes. Ask the crew for the day's tide window before planning the afternoon around it, because the window moves about fifty minutes later each day.
The low caves only open around low water and close entirely on a big spring tide. If your itinerary has one fixed day in Phang Nga, the crew will pick between Panak and Hong based on the tide, and pushing them to do both on the wrong tide gets you neither.
The village is deep in the bay in genuinely thin water, and the last three miles silt continuously. Anything drawing more than about two metres will anchor a long way out. On a large motor yacht this stop is often traded for a longer tender run from Koh Hong rather than moving the mother ship at all.
The tour fleet from Phuket and Krabi arrives between 10:30 and 14:00 and there is no way to be there at noon and have it to yourself. Take the tender in before 09:00 or after 16:30. From an anchorage at Koh Hong that is a twenty minute run, which is the entire argument for anchoring at Koh Hong the night before.
This island sits in a different national park from Phang Nga, with a separate fee that is charged separately. An itinerary that crosses from Phang Nga into the Krabi group in one week pays two park fees per person, and a good operator itemises both rather than folding them into the APA without saying so.
The anchorages are open to the west, so this is a northeast-monsoon stop only. Between May and October the swell runs straight in and the whole peninsula becomes a landing you would not want to make with guests.
Do not plan to anchor overnight in Tonsai. It is a working ferry harbour with a hard bottom in places, heavy traffic until late and a swell that wraps in from the southwest. Yacht crews use Loh Bagao or Laem Tong and run the tender the ten minutes to town if guests want the evening ashore.
Every rule here exists because the previous version of this bay was loved to death. A crew that tells you it can take the tender straight onto the beach is either not going to Maya Bay or is planning to break park rules with your names on the manifest. The right question to ask before booking is what the operator does when the daily cap is already full.
This is the stop to schedule around the light rather than the crowd. The reef reads best between about 10:00 and 14:00 when the sun is high enough to get through the shallow water, which is unfortunately also when the day boats come. On a yacht the compromise is to arrive at 09:30 and be gone by 11:30.
Koh Haa is the diving reason to route south rather than west. If the group includes certified divers, an itinerary through Koh Haa and Koh Rok gives them better water than the Phi Phi loop, without the five-day passage that the Similans demand.
If mantas are the reason you picked this itinerary, February to April is the window and it is still a lottery. Any operator who promises them is selling you something they cannot deliver.
Racha Yai works as a first or last night on almost any itinerary, and it is the standard answer when weather closes the crossing to Phi Phi. Racha Noi, four miles further south, has better diving and worse shelter, so the pattern is to dive Noi in the morning and sleep at Yai.
This is the standard answer to the question of where to sail between May and October. The bay east of Phuket sits in the lee of the island through the southwest monsoon, and Koh Yao is at the centre of that lee.
No two operators run an identical itinerary. The variant is the useful part: a shorter version has dropped a destination, and it is almost always the furthest one.
Ten-night crewed, Ao Po round trip
Superyacht charter, ten to fourteen nights
Crewed catamaran and motor yacht, itinerary built per booking
Ten-day southern Myanmar and Phuket combination
Brokered across the Thai fleet
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Sanlorenzo, 2018
A 37 metre Sanlorenzo from 2018 with five cabins and seven crew, one of the larger hulls that stays in Thai waters through the season rather than visiting for a few weeks.
from $14,900
per day
Ao Po Grand Marina
Not published, 2022
A 42 metre, six-cabin superyacht delivered in 2022 and listed for Thai charter, at the size where twelve guests is the legal ceiling rather than a design choice.
Rate on application
Ao Po Grand Marina
Sunreef Yachts
The luxury catamaran answer to a superyacht: twenty-four metres of beam-heavy platform with superyacht volume, shallow draught for the limestone anchorages, and the 24 metre length that puts it exactly on the Thai charter licence threshold.
from $90,000
per week
Ao Po Grand Marina
Source: Operator itineraries. Checked 6 September 2026. Distances are planning figures and the coastlines on the chart are simplified. Neither is for navigation.