Planning a Thailand Yacht Charter Itinerary

About this guide

A Thailand charter is the easiest introduction to Asian cruising. Phuket gives a real base with marinas, yards, provisioning and an international airport; Phang Nga Bay puts limestone karst towers and hidden lagoons within an hour of it; and the Andaman islands offer some of the best diving in the region. Add Thai food and shore life and it is an unusually well-rounded week.

A Thailand yacht charter typically starts in Phuket and explores Phang Nga Bay and the Andaman islands, with national park seasons shaping the route.

The complications are regulatory rather than nautical: a park system with real fees and hard closed seasons, and a charter licensing regime that needs specialist handling. This guide covers both, and where Guest Trip removes the spreadsheet stage.

When to go, and which coast

Thailand has two coasts with opposite seasons, and mixing them up is the most common planning error. The Andaman coast — Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi, the Similans — runs from November to April, which is the main charter season. The Gulf coast on the eastern side, around Koh Samui and Koh Tao, is best from roughly January to September. Almost all superyacht charter happens on the Andaman side, and this guide follows it.

Within the Andaman season, December and January are the peak: settled weather, but also the busiest and the point at which park permits need booking three to six months ahead. February to April is warmer with lighter winds and fewer boats.

The national park rules, in detail

The best cruising in Thailand is inside marine national parks, and the 2026 rules are specific enough to plan around.

Visitor fees. Foreign adults around $8.50 per day, children around $4.25. An overnight stay counts as two days. Vessel fees. Roughly $2.85 to $11.50 per day depending on yacht size. Similan Islands. Closed mid-May to mid-October; open 15 November to 15 May. Surin Islands. Closed mid-May to mid-October; open 15 November to 15 May. Ao Phang Nga. Open year-round, including through the monsoon. Tarutao. Closed 1 June to 30 September. Phi Phi. Subject to periodic closures for reef recovery, as at Maya Bay. Mooring and anchoring. Use designated mooring buoys where provided. Where they are not, anchor only on sand well clear of coral. Some locations prohibit anchoring entirely. Permits. Advance permits are required from park headquarters for certain parks; book three to six months ahead for the December and January peak

The closed seasons are the constraint that most often reshapes an itinerary. A charter in early May can reach the Similans; one in late May cannot, and the guests who booked to dive there need telling before they travel rather than on arrival.

In Guest Trip: park closed seasons, permit lead times and fee estimates sit on the days they belong to, so a Similan day planned for late May is visibly impossible at planning stage.

Six steps to planning the charter

1. Settle the licensing position with a specialist

Charter operations in Thailand require Thai licensing, including a permit under the Thai Vessel Act and a licensed Thai captain aboard. The structure for a foreign-flagged yacht is genuinely complex and interacts with temporary importation. This is a management-company and country-specialist question to settle in writing before a charter is marketed, not one to resolve from general sources.

2. Base the charter on Phuket

Phuket is the practical hub for everything: marinas capable of taking large yachts, yards and technical support, the best provisioning in the region, and an international airport with wide connections. Guest and crew changes happen here. Most charters begin and end in Phuket even when the cruising is elsewhere.

3. Give Phang Nga Bay two days

Phang Nga is the reason many guests book Thailand: limestone karst towers rising vertically out of shallow green water, sea caves, and hongs — collapsed cave systems forming hidden lagoons reachable only by tender or kayak at the right state of tide. Koh Panyee, the stilt village, and the islands around Koh Hong and Koh Yao are the anchor points. Because it is open year-round it is also the fallback when the outer islands are closed or blown out.

The hongs are tidal. Entry is possible only within a window either side of low water on many of them, which is an hours-not-days plan and needs the day built around it.

4. Plan the Andaman islands around the closed seasons

The Similans and Surins are the diving highlight and are open only from 15 November to 15 May. Within that window they need a permit and, at peak, advance booking. Koh Rok, Koh Ha and the Phi Phi group offer alternatives, though Phi Phi is busy and subject to its own closures. Build the dive programme from what is actually open on the charter dates.

In Guest Trip: custom saved locations with draggable pins let the crew keep their own library of hongs, dive sites and tidal windows, reused every season.

5. Use the shore programme properly

Thailand is the one ground in this volume where the shore experience competes with the water. Phuket old town, the food, the spas, Krabi and Railay, and the temples all give the week a dimension the Maldives cannot. Plan two or three shore evenings and treat them as part of the product rather than a break from it.

6. Publish it as a live page

A Thai week moves for tide at the hongs, for park availability and for monsoon weather at the shoulders. Publish the itinerary as a guest site the crew can edit rather than a PDF.

A sample one-week structure (from Phuket)

Day 1. Embark Phuket; short run east into Phang Nga Bay; dinner aboard among the karsts. About 2 hours. Day 2. Phang Nga: hongs by tender on the tide, Koh Panyee, sea caves. Short hops. Day 3. Koh Yao Noi and Koh Hong; swimming, kayaking, quiet night at anchor. Short hops. Day 4. South to Krabi and Railay; climbing and beaches ashore. About 3 hours. Day 5. Phi Phi group: snorkelling and diving; anchor clear of the day-boat traffic. About 3 hours. Day 6. North-west towards the Similans in season, or Koh Racha for diving. About 4 to 6 hours. Day 7. Return to Phuket; disembarkation brief. About 3 hours

Ten days allows a proper Similan and Surin diving leg in season, which is a 60 to 70 mile run north-west from Phuket and deserves two or three nights rather than a day trip.

Mistakes worth avoiding

• Booking a Similan diving charter for late May, after the parks close.
• Marketing a charter before the Thai licensing and captain requirements are confirmed in writing.
• Planning hong visits without the tidal window.
• Leaving park permits to the last month during the December and January peak.
• Confusing the Andaman and Gulf coast seasons; they run opposite.

Frequently asked questions

Where the tooling helps

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Build your Thailand itinerary in Guest Trip

Hold park closures and tidal windows against the day, pin the hongs and dive sites you know, and publish a guest-ready site.