The phi phi islands are located about 45 km southeast from phuket,42 km south of krabi town and 40 km from ao nang beach. they can be reached in between 1 to 3 hours depending on the type of boat you choose.Boats leave from phuket, ao nang and the chao fa Pier in krabi town on a daily basis. The name 'Phi Phi' is derived from malay,and the original was pulao pi and pi, where in pulao is the malay word for island , and pi,prnounced with a soft 'p' sound, was vary close in pronunciation to the english word 'bec' the was dropped,