The islands are located far away from the shore, 95 kilometres (59 miles) to the southwest of the coast of Preah Sihanouk Province, Cambodia.

Poulo Wai is of Malay origin, and its related word is pulo 'island' in Cham.

[2] These islands were part of the basis of overlapping territorial claims between Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam; the three nations used differing methods of measuring the extent of their territorial waters from the islands.

[5] The Koh Wai islands were for a long time off-limits to tourists, but now they can be visited in organized excursions.

Since the trip is too long to go and come back in the same day, visitors usually stay overnight on one of the islands.