Maya Bay Reopens: What’s Changed Since the Closure

A few years ago we told you aboutMaya Bay’s permanent closure, the Thai beach made famous by the film “The Beach” with Leonardo DiCaprio. At the time, the news felt like the end of an era: after years of overtourism and ecosystem damage, the Thai government had decided to close access to protect the bay. Here’s the update many of you have asked us for:Maya Bay is open again.

The January 1, 2022 Reopening

What was originally planned as a brief 4-month closure turned into arestoration project lasting almost 4 years. On January 1, 2022, Maya Bay finally reopened to visitors, but with a completely new set of rules designed not to repeat past mistakes.

The New Rules for Visiting

• No more boats inside the bay:boats can no longer dock directly on the beach. They stop at nearby Loh Samah Bay, from where visitors reach Maya Bay on foot via a wooden boardwalk.
• Visitor caps:access is limited by hourly time slots, capped at a few hundred people per hour.
• No swimming:you can no longer swim freely, only wade in knee-deep water. The rule protects the replanted coral and the blacktip reef sharks that have returned to the bay.
• Entry fee:around 400 baht for foreign adults.
• Annual seasonal closure:every year, from August 1 to September 30, the bay closes again for a short ecological rest period, before reopening as usual on October 1.

An Ecosystem Coming Back to Life

The good news is that the closure genuinely worked: over 1,100 corals have been replanted, and blacktip reef sharks have returned to populate the bay’s shallow waters. The experience today is very different from the chaotic one of a few years ago: it’s now more of a contemplative, roughly one-hour visit than a relaxed beach day like it used to be.