Is snorkeling gear provided on the 4 Islands Tour?

Yes — mask and fins are included in the tour package. If you have your own equipment and prefer the fit, bring it. Personal masks seal better than shared ones for many people.

Can I buy reef-safe sunscreen in Ao Nang?

Yes. Boots and Watsons pharmacies in Ao Nang stock reef-safe options. Arrive 20–30 minutes early to buy before boarding if you don't have one already.

Are there lockers on the boat?

No. There's no secure storage on tour boats. Keep valuables in your dry bag and hold it with you at all times, or leave valuables at the hotel.

What should children wear on the tour?

A rash guard and hat are even more important for children than adults. Their skin burns faster and they're less likely to stay still for sunscreen reapplication. Life jackets are provided on the boat.

Is there food available on the islands?

A mini buffet lunch is included at Poda Island. There are occasionally small vendors at Poda, but don't count on it. If you have dietary restrictions or are a picky eater, bring a snack to supplement the provided lunch.

Do I need travel insurance for the 4 Islands Tour?

Basic travel accident insurance covering the tour period is included. For comprehensive medical and trip cancellation coverage, we recommend purchasing travel insurance before you depart your home country.

4 Islands Tour Krabi Packing List: 10 Things You Must Bring (And 3 to Leave Behind)

You've booked the 4 Islands Tour. Departure is 08:30 AM from Ao Nang. Now you're staring at your hotel room wondering what to actually pack for a full day on the Andaman Sea.

Good question — and one worth spending 5 minutes on. Arrive underprepared and a few easily-avoided mistakes can take the shine off what is otherwise one of the best days you'll have in Thailand. Arrive smart and you'll spend the day doing exactly what you came to do: walking the Tup Island sandbar, snorkeling at Chicken Island, lunching on Poda's white sand beach, and exploring Phra Nang Cave Beach — without sunburn, a dead phone, or a nasty surprise at the national park gate.

Here's the definitive 2026 packing list for the 4 Islands Tour Krabi.

What the Tour Already Provides

Before packing, know what you don't need to bring. Both the speedboat and longtail boat options on the 4 Islands Tour from Thailand Activity Tickets include:

Snorkeling mask and fins
Life jacket
Mini buffet lunch (served on Poda Island beach)
Drinking water and seasonal fruits
Hotel pickup and drop-off

So you're not starting from zero. What you need to bring covers the gaps — sun protection, valuables management, cash, and personal comfort.

The 10 Things You Must Bring

1. Reef-Safe Sunscreen (SPF 50 or Higher) — Non-Negotiable

This is the single most important item on this list, for two reasons.

First, the sun on the Andaman Sea is brutal. You will be on open water and exposed beaches for 6 hours. A full day without adequate sunscreen will result in serious sunburn — especially on the water, where UV reflects off the surface and hits you from below as well as above.

Second — and this is critical — Thailand has banned sunscreens containing certain chemicals in all national parks, including the marine park covering the 4 Islands. The banned ingredients are Oxybenzone, Octinoxate, 4-Methylbenzylidene Camphor (4MBC), and Butylparaben. Violations carry fines of up to 100,000 THB (approximately $3,000 USD). Enforcement was significantly strengthened in 2025.

Check your sunscreen label before you leave. If it contains any of the four banned ingredients, leave it at the hotel and buy a reef-safe alternative before your tour. Look for mineral-based sunscreens using zinc oxide or titanium dioxide — these are safe for both your skin and the coral reefs you'll be snorkeling over.

Where to buy reef-safe sunscreen in Krabi: Boots pharmacy (Central Festival Krabi), Watsons (Ao Nang), or many hotel shops. Budget ฿300–800 per bottle. It's also worth bringing one from home — availability and brand variety are better abroad.

Pro tip: Apply sunscreen 30 minutes before you board the boat, not on arrival at the island. It needs time to absorb. Reapply every 2 hours, and always after swimming.

2. A Waterproof Bag or Dry Bag

You will get wet on this tour. Not might — will. Waves splash into longtail boats during crossings, speedboats bounce through chop and send spray over the bow, and you'll be entering the water at snorkeling stops. Anything that can't get wet needs to be in a waterproof bag.

A roll-top dry bag (5–10 litres is plenty) keeps your phone, wallet, camera, passport copy, and any medication bone dry throughout the day. These cost ฿150–400 at Ao Nang's beachfront shops if you don't have one.

A waterproof phone pouch (the kind that hangs around your neck) is a useful supplement — it lets you keep your phone accessible while still protected. Many people use these for underwater photos too.

What goes in the dry bag: phone, cash and cards, any non-waterproof camera, spare sunscreen, motion sickness tablets, prescription medication, and any documentation.

3. Cash in Thai Baht — Specifically ฿200 per Adult

This catches more tourists off guard than anything else on this list.

The 4 Islands Tour visits islands within Hat Noppharat Thara–Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park. The national park entrance fee is ฿200 per adult and ฿100 per child, collected on-site at the pier or on the water before you reach the first island. This fee is not included in your tour package and must be paid in cash.

There are no ATMs at the pier or on any of the islands. The nearest ATMs are in Ao Nang town, a short distance from the departure point.

Bring the exact amount or small bills. Change is not always available, and fumbling with large notes at the pier while your tour group boards is stressful and avoidable.

While you have cash out: bring a little extra (฿200–500) for any drinks or snacks you want to buy on the tour boat, or at the small vendors occasionally present on Poda Island. Most transactions on this tour are cash-only.

4. Swimwear (Worn Under Your Clothes)

Obvious — but worth stating clearly: wear your swimwear under your clothes from the hotel. There are no changing facilities at the pier, and changing on a boat is awkward at best. Wearing your swimsuit from the start means you're ready to get in the water the moment you arrive at the first island.

Bring a spare swimsuit if you have one. Sitting in a wet swimsuit for hours between swims is uncomfortable, and having a dry one to change into mid-tour (or for the return transfer) makes a noticeable difference.

5. A Hat with a Brim

This is the underestimated item on every packing list. Sunscreen protects your skin, but it doesn't protect your eyes, the top of your head, or your face while on the boat. Direct sun exposure for 6 hours on open water without a hat leads to headaches, eye strain, and heat exhaustion far faster than most people expect.

A wide-brimmed hat or a cap with neck coverage is ideal. A baseball cap works but leaves your ears and neck exposed — apply sunscreen to these areas specifically. If you buy a hat in Krabi, the beachfront shops in Ao Nang stock them for ฿80–200.

Secure it to your head or your bag before the boat gets moving. Wind and boat speed send lightweight hats overboard with impressive frequency.

6. Water Shoes or Reef Shoes

The 4 Islands tour includes stops where you disembark directly onto beaches, rocky shores, and the Tup Island sandbar. The sandbar in particular has shell fragments and coral patches at its edges — walking it barefoot is doable but uncomfortable, and cuts from coral take days to heal in tropical heat.

A pair of water shoes (lightweight, quick-drying, rubber-soled) solves this completely. They're also useful for wading from the boat to the beach when the water is ankle-deep and the seabed is rocky.

If you haven't packed water shoes, flip flops are a workable alternative for beach stops, but remove them before entering the water — they create drag when snorkeling. Budget water shoes start from ฿200 in Ao Nang's beach shops.

7. Underwater Camera or Waterproof Phone Case

The snorkeling at Chicken Island is genuinely excellent. Colourful coral formations, tropical fish in numbers that will surprise you, and visibility of 5–10 metres on a good day. Not capturing this on camera is something people consistently say they regret.

Options by budget:

Best quality: GoPro Hero or similar action camera with underwater housing. Provides the best video and photo quality at depth.
Mid-range: A waterproof compact camera (Olympus Tough series, etc.), available to hire from some Krabi camera shops.
Budget: A waterproof phone pouch (฿150–300 in Ao Nang). Most modern smartphones shoot decent underwater photos to 1–2 metres when enclosed in a quality pouch. Test the seal before getting in the water.

Don't rely on your unprotected smartphone for snorkeling photos — one moment of forgetting it's in your pocket ends the day very differently.

8. A Light Rash Guard or UV-Protective Shirt

Reef-safe sunscreen is essential, but a rash guard (a lightweight, quick-drying UV-protective top) reduces your sunscreen burden significantly and provides consistent protection that doesn't wash off every time you swim.

Rash guards are especially recommended for:

Children, whose skin burns faster and who need more frequent reapplication
Anyone spending significant time snorkeling (sunscreen washes off in the water)
Fair-skinned travellers visiting November–March when UV index is at its highest in Krabi

They're also remarkably comfortable — worn wet, they cool you down during boat crossings. A basic rash guard costs ฿200–500 at Ao Nang beachfront shops. It doubles as an alternative to a T-shirt for the tour and dries quickly.

9. Motion Sickness Medication (If You Need It)

The Andaman Sea is generally calm during the dry season (November–April), but even moderate swell can cause nausea on a 6-hour boat tour — particularly on longtail boats which sit low in the water and move with the waves.

If you have any history of motion sickness, take medication 30–60 minutes before boarding, not after symptoms start. Common options available in Thailand:

Dramamine (Dimenhydrinate) — available at Boots and Watsons in Ao Nang, ฿80–150
Bonine / Meclizine — longer-lasting, less drowsy formulation; bring from home if possible
Ginger tablets or ginger chews — a natural alternative that works well for mild cases

Beyond medication: sit in the middle of the boat (least movement), look at the horizon rather than the water, and avoid a heavy breakfast. The speedboat option also helps — faster journey time means less time at sea between stops.

10. Sunglasses (UV-Rated)

After sunscreen, sunglasses are the most used item in your bag all day. Glare off the Andaman Sea is intense, and squinting into it for 6 hours is genuinely exhausting and damages your eyes over time.

Bring a pair you're comfortable losing or getting salty and splashed. Polarised lenses make a noticeable difference on the water — they cut glare dramatically and make the turquoise colours of the sea appear even more vivid.

A retainer strap (the rubber band that attaches sunglasses to the back of your head) is cheap and prevents a ฿2,000 pair of sunglasses from sinking to the seabed when the boat hits a wave.

The 3 Things to Leave at the Hotel

1. Regular Sunscreen (Containing Banned Chemicals)

Already covered above — but it's worth repeating as a "leave behind" because many people pack their usual sunscreen without checking the ingredients. The four banned chemicals (Oxybenzone, Octinoxate, 4MBC, Butylparaben) appear in the majority of mainstream sunscreen brands.

Authorities have confiscated regular sunscreens at national park entry points. Even if enforcement varies, using reef-safe products is the right thing to do for the coral reefs you're visiting and snorkeling over. Check the label and leave any non-compliant sunscreen at the hotel.

2. Valuables You Can't Afford to Lose

Leave your passport (bring a phone photo copy instead), expensive jewellery, large amounts of cash beyond what you need, and anything irreplaceable at your hotel's safe.

Bags get wet, items fall overboard, and the combination of boats, beaches, and open water creates more opportunities for loss than a typical day's sightseeing. Bring only what you actually need for the day — one bank card as backup, your tour cash, phone in a waterproof case, and that's essentially it.

3. Heavy Bags or Large Backpacks

Space on tour boats — especially longtail boats — is limited. A large backpack or rolling luggage is genuinely difficult to manage on a narrow wooden boat, and there's nowhere secure to store it at island stops.

A small day bag or dry bag up to 10 litres is everything you need for the day. Everything you'd put in a larger bag either doesn't need to come (see above) or fits in a compact dry bag perfectly.

If you're returning to a different hotel after the tour, arrange luggage storage at your accommodation rather than bringing bags on the boat.

Complete 4 Islands Tour Packing Checklist

Print or screenshot this before you leave:

Must bring:

Leave behind:

Regular sunscreen with banned chemicals
Passport, expensive jewellery, irreplaceable items
Large backpack or bags

Ready to Book?

The 4 Islands Tour departs daily at 08:30 AM from Ao Nang with hotel pickups from Krabi Town, Klong Muang, Ao Nang, Tubkaak, and Railay Beach. Choose between speedboat (more island time) or longtail boat (authentic Thai experience).

👉 Book the 4 Islands Tour Krabi — from ฿850 per person

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before. Instant confirmation. All snorkeling gear and lunch included.