How to get to Koh Samui, Phangan and Tao
How to get down to the these three amazing islands!
There’s of course many way’s to do this, it all depends what you are after, budget and time.
You can fly directly to Koh Samui from Bangkok.
These airlines they “all” go from Don Mueang airport which is not far away from the international airport of Suvarnabhumi, it takes around 20 mins to get there with a taxi.
Only Bangkok Airways and Thai Airways fly to Samui.
For about half of that price you can fly with Nok Air or Air Asia to Surat Thani and from there a 30 min minibus ride to the pier and then 1.5 hour ferry ride and then you’ll be on the biggest paradise island of those three.
Nokair.com
Airasia.com
Flying down will take you a bit over an hour.
From Koh Samui you can take ferries from the three different piers to the other islands!
Maenam Pier is the one that Lomprayah departure from.
There’s three different ferry companies that roam these waters.
I would recommend Lomprayah Catamaran which is the fastest, most comfortable and safest.
Takes about 30 mins, and the other takes 45!
The other two ones are fine, sometimes better if you want to party in the front!
There is an awesome way you have to try at least once!
That is to take the bus , if you start in Bangkok and then go all the way down to Surat thani, it takes about 12 hours!
But believe me these buses are really comfortable!
Remember to bring a “travel blanket” for when the AC is getting to cold! Always.
These are VIP buses, you got TV and karaoke system to have fun with, and of course toilet!
When you get down to Surat thani , you go to the main pier , buy tickets for the slowboat!
This is awesome, you go around 10 pm, and you get in early morning to Samui!
This is like a tug boat, old diesel engine !
There’s two floors, on the top floor you got beds put out on the floor, this floor is like 1.5m from floor to ceiling so watch your head!
It might sounds strange, but I love this way of boating! I sleep like a baby!
It’s also half price compared to the other faster ferries.
Try it!
The way i always do it now a days is to already book the package, with the bus from Bangkok to Chumpon on the coast, and from there the 3 hour ferry to the first stop, Koh Tao.
If you are going down for Fullmoon party the buses might be fully booked or at least the best companies to go with are full.
You can book this online from Lomprayah.com.
Tell them which hotel/hostel you are staying at, and they will come pick you up on when the time is ready!
You got all the instructions on their site.
They got the best buses , and ferries.
This will cost you around 1250 Baht for the whole trip down.
The full trip takes about 12 hours, but this is where you meet all the other rad and rowdy people!
If people want to sleep on the bus from the time you jump on, tell them to F off!
The bus will make stops for piss break and to get a meal!
Maehaad Pier is the one on Koh Tao
The pier you will get to on Koh Phangan is Thong Sala!
One time when I took this trip, we didn’t even get with the bus at first, well we all jumped on but then we realised something was wrong.
The driver and the “guide” didn’t say anything about it.
Suddenly hes started to work on the rear tire.
We went out with Changs in our hands and took a look on what this guy was up to.
He connected the car battery with some frecking wires, and built himself a “Thai welding machine” !
He started the bus and tried to weld something behind the tire, saaaay what!?
IT was just flying sparks and shit.
We were just standing there and giggling, like is this guy for reals?
After a while he realised that this did not work, so we had to change bus!
Wow I do not know if this is common or if it was once in a life time.
It was funny!
Anyways don’t get scared this is for the most a safe trip.
All this booking is super easy to do in Bangkok, you got tons of travel agencies!
You can also take the train down to Surat thani which is pretty nice, nothing special!
Go for the bus and the ferry!
Lomprayah.com
Seatreandiscovery.com
Songserm-expressboat.com
If you need any help don’t hesitate to give me shout on my email or on Facebook.
Chasing Bananas
Monkey
