Donald Duck Bay is a world top-ten beach for 2026 — and it stays closed until October

In late April 2026, a panel of more than a thousand travel experts placed a small granite bay on the Andaman Sea at number 10 on the World's 50 Best Beaches list [ref:1]. The bay is Donald Duck Bay — Ao Kuek to Thai speakers — tucked into the northwestern shore of Ko Similan, the largest island in Phang Nga's Mu Ko Similan National Park. It was one of three Thai beaches to make the 2026 ranking [ref:2].

There is a catch, and it is the whole story: for roughly half the year, nobody is allowed to set foot on that sand.

A world-ranked shore, behind a closed gate

Donald Duck Bay earns its nickname from a heap of granite boulders perched above the waterline that, from a certain angle, resemble a cartoon duck at rest. Below the rocks, a crescent of pale sand shelves gently into clear, sheltered water — the kind of swimming cove that puts a remote national-park island on a global shortlist. But for travellers arriving now, in the green season, the reward is a sign at the pier: the Similans are shut.

Each year, Mu Ko Similan and its northern neighbour Mu Ko Surin close to the public for about five months, timed to the southwest monsoon [ref:3]. The 2026 closure began in mid-May. Rough seas and poor visibility make the crossing unsafe in any case, but the closure is not mainly about weather — it is about giving the reef a rest.

What the quiet months protect

When the boats stop, the reef gets to recover. Five months without anchors, fins, and foot traffic lets damaged coral knit back together and gives fish spawning grounds a stretch of calm. Thailand's Department of National Parks frames the annual shutdown as a chance to restore nature — to let the marine park do, undisturbed, what it does best [ref:4].

The break matters for the land too. The Andaman coast is leatherback turtle country; the same Phang Nga shoreline that feeds Mu Ko Similan's waters is where nesting sea turtles return each season. Fewer people on the beaches and fewer lights at night mean fewer disturbed nests — which is why a closure that looks like an inconvenience to a sun-seeker looks like a lifeline to a hatchling.

This is the part of the ranking that is easy to miss. A beach does not reach a global top-ten list by accident, and it does not stay there by staying open year-round. The very thing that makes Donald Duck Bay worth visiting — a healthy, living reef steps from the sand — is the thing the closure is built to protect.

Planning a visit for the October reopening

The Similans reopen in mid-October, around the 15th, as the monsoon eases and the Andaman Sea flattens back to its famous clarity [ref:5]. For anyone who reads that ranking and wants to see the bay for themselves, the practical path is straightforward — and it rewards planning.

Tours run from Tab Lamu pier in Phang Nga, the usual launch point for the Similans and Surins, with speedboats reaching Ko Similan in roughly an hour and a half. Day trips are the common choice; liveaboards offer a few nights if you want the bay at dawn, before the day boats arrive. Whichever you pick, book through a licensed operator — the national park caps daily visitor numbers, and registered tours are the ones that respect those limits.

A few habits keep a visit in the spirit of the closure: reef-safe sunscreen, fins kept off the coral, and a strict look-don't-touch rule for anything living. Pack out everything you pack in, and if you are lucky enough to see a turtle or a nest, give it wide berth and tell the ranger station.

The point of the offseason closure is not to keep you out. It is to make sure that when the gate opens again in October, Donald Duck Bay is still the kind of place a thousand travel experts would put on a world list — and still the kind of place worth the boat ride to reach.