aimee1986
newbie
Posts: 3

#1 Posted: 13/7/2008 - 19:07


1) how far is it on a ferry from ko tao to ko samet and how much would this be.

2) we are going end of august- september time and want to know what the best islands are to visit we are already going to ko pangnan, ho samui and ko tao!

3) we want to stay in nice hotels in thailand - as it is low season is it best to just walk in for the best rates in 3-4 star hotels - how muh would we expect to pay?

Tilapia
adventurer
Posts: 272

#2 Posted: 14/7/2008 - 01:39


There is no ferry connection between Koh Tao and Koh Samet. You'll have to back to the mainland and work your way over to Ban Phe and get the ferry to Samet from there.

cookiepower
backpacker
Posts: 16

#3 Posted: 14/7/2008 - 04:02


i went from koh phangan straight to samet 18 hr journey althogether i think it was unless you stay overnight in bangkok.
one of the bus stations in bangkok goes straight to the port you need to go to for the boat to samet when i went in april think it was around 200 baht about 3 n half hours on bus and then half hour boat ride to samet
i stayed at ao phai i think the bungalow place is called lovely rooms there and great restaurant

tezza
tuk tuk driver
Posts: 132

#4 Posted: 14/7/2008 - 11:30


Wow, I didn't think it was do-able in one day!
One of the quickest ways of getting to Bangkok is by Lompayah's fast catamaran/bus combo - http://lomprayah.com/E/route.htm - but this doesn't get in to 2030 if on time - in the Khao San Road area. Then you have to get across town to the eastern bus terminal at Ekamai - even if you get onto a Rayong bus directly it's still about 3 hours + another 30 minutes songthaew to the pier at Ban Phe. So you are looking at after midnight and I doubt any speedboats or ferries will be running that late.

Aimee, my experience of midrange places is that the web booking sites like sawadee.com or Agoda as used by TRAVELFISH tend to often offer way better low season deals than most people can negotiate walk-in. Having said that, you will have no problem finding vacancies and getting reasonable prices walk-in in August Sept. Once again remember the widespread warning about needing to book if arriving on a Friday or Saturday or public holiday - Samet is very popular with weekending Thais.

cookiepower
backpacker
Posts: 16

#5 Posted: 16/7/2008 - 03:50


we didnt do it in a day we left phangan early evening and then bus at don sak took us to bangkok thai vip overnight bus cost us 900baht each you get a blanket snacks and stop off for food before bangkok then we got taxi to ekamai 200baht we finally got onto samet at 1030am i would only recommend this way if you are short on time cos boy does it make you tired

tezza
tuk tuk driver
Posts: 132

#6 Posted: 16/7/2008 - 17:51


Yep, overnight is the way.
I did a similar trip in February from Ko Phayam in the Andaman. Got an overnight bus from Ranong starting abt 4pm - Bangkok southern bus terminal about 2am - Ekamai about 30 minutes later (not much traffic that time of night!), bus to Rayong abt 4-5am, Ban Phe by 7-8am - had to wait for the first ferry!

Yun
motodop
Posts: 23

#7 Posted: 19/7/2008 - 15:47


aimee:

haven't been to kpn, but ko tao is beautiful. i stayed in a place called khun ying house (http://www.sawasdeekohtao.com/information.htm) which i can recommend. i went in january 08 for a few days and would definitely return.

in comparison to be honest, ko samui is very ordinary. i stayed one night (nye) in chaweng. the beaches are not very pretty. they are crowded with middle-aged, overweight tourists in tiny bikinis, and the whole area is back-to-back buildings on dull streets, with no sense of culture or locality.

the ONLY reason i would suggest going to ko samui is because it has an airport (which ko tao does not)

also the boat rides between islands were quite horrid. i went on lomprayah which was tolerable in the vip section. one day they shared a boat with seatran, which was a shocking boat that rocked so much that 90% of the people vomited everywhere. that is one thing that would stop me from returning.

travelrock
tout
Posts: 66

#8 Posted: 6/8/2008 - 09:27


"90% of the people vomited everywhere"

must be exaggerating