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We began our search for a bungalow on Phi Phi by taking a longboat to Long Beach, which we had been told had the best deals for beach front bungalows. As we were making our way from “town” to Long Beach I spotted this resort tucked in the trees on a private cove. I immediately wanted to stay there. Thinking it would be too expensive we continued on to Long Beach.

Once on Long Beach we began our search for the perfect place to stay for the next five days. After finding every place too expensive or completely booked, our search quickly turned from the perfect place to stay to any place to stay. It had been a few hours of walking along the beach inquiring at every resort before I suggested we go check out the resort I spotted from the longboat.

We hopped on another longboat and asked to go to Ma Prao beach, which we guessed was about the location on our map that the resort had been. As the longboat passed the cove, we wondered where we had asked to be taken. We rounded the corner and were dropped off on a beach. We knew the resort was on the opposite side of the mountain so we decided to hike over it. We found a small trail that took us through a tiny local village. The way the local people live on Phi Phi was something I will never forget. A family lived in a small bamboo bungalow the size of a most Americans bathroom. It was around dinner time and many locals were cooking on their front steps. Don’t worry though, many of these bungalows I noticed had working televisions.

As we made our way over the mountain we saw a few bungalows nestled among the trees. We had made it! We walked down to the beach front to try and find a reception. We lucked out, one bungalow left. As we stood there paying for our room, several other groups descended over the hill only to be turned away. We had come at the perfect time.

Our bungalow had bamboo floors, a bed with mosquito net, a fan, and a hammock out front. We didn’t really use the hammock on our porch because the resort had hammocks set up in trees all over the property. Our favorites were a pair of hammocks we found nestled in the trees atop a hill overlooking the ocean. The picture to the right was taken from these hammocks. We spent many hours relaxing in the hammocks, reading and staring out at the water.

The resort staff was very friendly and many of guests had been staying at the Viking for months. The beach was never crowded and the water was calm. It took us about twenty minutes to walk over the mountain and into town. We could walk over the other side of the mountain and reach a much busier beach (Long Beach) if we got bored of ours. All in all we had found the perfect place to stay during our trip to Phi Phi.

Check out the new Viking Resort photo gallery.

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