Koh Panyee History and the Football Pitch
Where the name Panyi comes from, the three families of the village's founding story, the first village head in 1914, and the floating pitch that began around 1986, from the community's own record and its local government.
Koh Panyee has two written histories worth reading, both in Thai and both from public bodies: the community record of the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre (Ministry of Culture, compiled November 2022) and the pages of the Ko Panyi Subdistrict Administrative Organisation, the island’s local government (both checked November 2026).
The name
Panyi is a Malay word for a flag. The village’s local name, as the record gives it, means the house in the middle of the water. You will see it written Koh Panyee, Ko Panyi, Ko Panyee or Panyee Island; they are the same place, and the national park’s pages use Ko Panyi.
About 200 years
The founding story, as the record tells it, is a legend: about 200 years ago three Muslim families came looking for a new place to make a living. Toh Babu was Malay, Toh Long came from Nakhon Si Thammarat and Toh Prap from Trang. They found the small island under its cliff, and Toh Babu’s boat planted the first flag on it, which is where the name comes from. The Phang Nga Provincial Administrative Organisation, writing for visitors, calls it an old community with a history of over 200 years.
The island has about one rai of flat land, so the village grew out over the sea on wooden stilts. The record says the community set aside the land it had for a mosque and a graveyard, and that a village head, a kamnan, first appeared when the community was declared in 1914 (B.E. 2457). Today the record counts about 300 households.
The floating pitch
The subdistrict’s own page tells the pitch story in a few lines: the island’s children loved football in the years around 1986 (B.E. 2529), and there was not enough flat ground to play on, so the pitch went onto the water. Its list of sports grounds in the subdistrict calls it a floating futsal ground, in village no. 2, with a fitness centre, and lists a separate seven-a-side pitch on the school grass. It is a small floating platform, not a full-size field.
Reviewers do find it. A July 2026 reviewer of Go Adventures (Thailand)'s six-island day told others to go and look for the floating football pitch after lunch, which takes a little time beyond the meal itself.
Seeing it for yourself
On a day tour, the village usually comes at lunch. To have time for the walkways and the pitch, pick a day with more than a quick meal on the island: Go Adventures (Thailand)’s Phuket: 7 Wonders of Phang Nga Bay 6-Island Tour stops there for an hour and a half, from US$81 on promotion, usually US$135 a person (checked November 2026).
See dates for the 1.5-hour stop
Visiting Koh Panyee respectfully has what the record says about prayer, dress and alcohol on the island.
Phang Nga Bay with Open Dates
Other Bay Days That Pass the Village
Speedboats, big boats and longtails into the bay with live dates. Whether the day stops at Ko Panyi, and for how long, is in each itinerary.
Time to Find the Pitch After Lunch
Go Adventures (Thailand)'s day gives Ko Panyi an hour and a half, enough to eat and walk the village. Park fee included.
See dates for the village day