What Should I Pack for a Phuket Island Day Tour? A Complete List

By Phuket Thailand Travel · Local Phuket travel experts · Published October 19, 2026

Everything you need fits in one small dry bag — and two items in it will save your day.

What should I pack for a phuket island day tour? Keep it to one small dry bag: swimwear worn under your clothes, a quick-dry towel, mineral sunscreen that is legal in Thai marine parks, a hat and sunglasses, cash in small notes for park fees and drinks, a waterproof phone pouch, any motion-sickness medication, and a dry change of clothes for the ride home. Leave hard luggage, valuables and jewellery at the hotel. Most boats have limited covered storage and nothing is fully dry, so pack as though everything will get splashed.

The one-bag rule

Speedboats have very little storage. Bags usually go in an open bow locker or under a bench, where spray reaches them, and on a busy shared departure there may be thirty people’s belongings in the same space. A single soft dry bag per person, or one larger one per couple, is the format that works. Hard suitcases, wheeled cabin bags and anything rigid are awkward to stow and will get wet anyway.

What size to bring

A 10–20 litre roll-top dry bag is plenty for one person; 30 litres covers a couple comfortably. Cheap PVC dry bags are sold everywhere in Phuket for a few hundred baht and work fine for a day. Test the roll-top closure before you rely on it: three folds and the clip buckled, or it will leak. For phones and documents, use a second small pouch inside the main bag rather than trusting one layer.

The essentials list

This is the core kit that matters on almost every island tour, whether you are heading to Phi Phi, Phang Nga Bay, Coral Island or Racha. Everything else is optional.

Footwear

Wear something you can walk into the sea in and that will not float away: sports sandals with a heel strap, or water shoes. Flip-flops are fine for the boat but get lost in surf and give no protection on rocky entries or hot sand. Some snorkelling stops have sharp coral rubble underfoot, so closed water shoes are genuinely useful if you plan to get in and out of the water repeatedly.

Sunscreen: what is actually allowed

This is the one packing item with a legal dimension. Thailand prohibits sunscreens containing oxybenzone, octinoxate, 4-methylbenzylidene camphor and butylparaben in its marine national parks, with a fine of up to 100,000 baht under the National Park Act. Most Phuket island tours enter at least one marine national park, so check the ingredient list on the back of the bottle before you travel rather than relying on front-of-pack marketing.

The simple safe choice is a mineral sunscreen whose active ingredients are zinc oxide or titanium dioxide and nothing else. These are widely available in Thailand, though often at a premium in resort-area shops, so buying before you fly or at a large supermarket is cheaper. Reapply every two hours and after every swim, and remember that a rash vest does more for your back than any amount of lotion.

Other park rules worth knowing

• Single-use plastics are restricted in many national parks — bring a refillable bottle
• Do not touch, stand on or collect coral, shells or marine life
• Feeding fish is prohibited in national parks
• Drones generally require permission and are often not allowed at all
• Park fees are usually collected in cash on arrival unless your tour has prepaid them

Money: how much cash and in what notes

Bring more cash than you expect to need, in small denominations. National-park entry is commonly around 400 baht per foreign adult and 200 per child at Phi Phi, and 500 and 250 at the Similans, and it is often collected on the boat or at the pier in cash. Island stops sell drinks, fruit and snacks at inflated prices, usually cash only. There are few reliable ATMs on the smaller islands and none at most snorkelling stops.

Whether fees are included

Some tours include park fees in the headline price and some do not, and this is the most common source of surprise charges. Ask before booking and get the answer in writing. Our guide to whether national park fees are included in Phuket island tours explains how to read a quote. Keep 1,000–1,500 baht per person in 20, 50 and 100 baht notes and you will not be caught out.

Protecting your phone, camera and documents

Assume anything not inside a sealed bag will get wet. A lanyard phone pouch is the single most useful accessory on a boat day: it keeps the phone usable for photos, stays on your body during transfers, and survives a dunking. For cameras, a proper waterproof housing or an action camera is the only safe option; a splash-resistant compact is not enough in spray.

What to leave at the hotel

• Passports — a photo on your phone and a printed copy are enough for a domestic day tour
• Jewellery, watches and anything you would be upset to lose in the sea
• Laptops, tablets and spare electronics
• Large amounts of cash and cards you do not need
• Hotel room keycards if your hotel will hold them — magnetic keys often fail after a soaking

Boats do not have lockers and crews cannot take responsibility for valuables. On a shared tour your bag sits alongside everyone else’s, often unattended while the group is in the water. Nothing irreplaceable should be in it.

Snorkelling gear: bring or borrow?

Masks, snorkels and fins are included on virtually every snorkelling tour from Phuket, and life jackets are provided and generally compulsory for swimmers. Shared-tour equipment is serviceable but variable — masks leak, straps perish, and sizes run out on a full boat. If you snorkel more than once a year, bringing your own mask is worth the space; it packs flat and a mask that seals properly transforms the experience.

What is usually provided

Packing for children

Children need a slightly different kit. Sun protection is the priority: a long-sleeved rash vest, a wide-brimmed hat and mineral sunscreen do more than anything else, because reapplying lotion on a wriggling child between swims never happens as often as it should. Bring a child-size snorkel mask if you have one, as adult masks do not seal on small faces and a leaking mask ends a child’s snorkelling in minutes.

The practical extras

• A snack they will actually eat, in case the tour lunch does not suit them
• A spare full set of dry clothes, not just a t-shirt
• Wet wipes and a small bag for wet swimwear
• Child-appropriate motion-sickness medication, checked with a pharmacist first
• A buoyancy aid they are comfortable in, if they are not a confident swimmer

On boat comfort, bear in mind that a bumpy crossing is harder on small children than on adults. A sheltered Phang Nga Bay trip is a gentler first island day than an open-water run to Phi Phi, particularly outside the calm months.

What not to bring

• Sunscreen containing oxybenzone, octinoxate, 4-methylbenzylidene camphor or butylparaben — prohibited in marine parks
• Single-use plastic bags and polystyrene containers, restricted in many parks
• Hard suitcases or wheeled bags
• Drones, unless you have confirmed permission for every stop
• Glass bottles, which crews generally do not want on board
• Anything you cannot carry yourself in one hand while stepping off a boat into knee-deep water

The over-packing trap

The commonest mistake is bringing too much rather than too little. You will be moving between boat, beach and water several times, often wading the last few metres, and every extra item is something to carry wet, keep track of and lose. If you cannot sling it over one shoulder and still use both hands, it is too much.

Pickup, timing and what to wear at departure

Most island tours pick up between about 07:00 and 08:30, and you will be in the car and then on the boat for a while before you swim. Wear swimwear under light clothes, bring a thin layer for the air-conditioned minivan, and keep your sunscreen, hat and phone pouch accessible rather than buried at the bottom of the bag. If your tour includes hotel pickup, confirm the pickup window the evening before.

A workable morning sequence

1. Apply the first layer of mineral sunscreen at the hotel, before pickup.
2. Wear swimwear under your clothes; pack the dry change sealed in the dry bag.
3. Take motion-sickness medication 30–60 minutes before boarding if you need it.
4. Carry small notes in a pocket or pouch, not loose in the bag.
5. Put the phone in its lanyard pouch before you leave the hotel and leave it there.

Final checklist

Run through this on the morning of the tour. If all of it is in one dry bag and you are wearing your swimwear, you are ready.

1. Dry bag, closure tested
2. Swimwear on, dry clothes sealed inside the bag
3. Mineral sunscreen, hat, sunglasses, rash vest
4. Quick-dry towel
5. Cash in small notes, 1,000–1,500 baht per person
6. Phone in a lanyard pouch; passport copy, not the passport
7. Motion-sickness tablets, taken in good time
8. Water bottle, any personal medication, and water shoes on your feet

For what to expect on the water itself, see our guides to avoiding seasickness on a Phuket speedboat tour and whether non-swimmers can join Phuket snorkelling tours. National-park rules and fees are published by the Department of National Parks.

Frequently asked questions