How do I get from Bangkok to Ko Samui, Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Tao? a Travelfish feature story

How do I get from Bangkok to Ko Samui, Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Tao?

The Bangkok to Ko Samui, Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Tao route is one of the most common paths taken by travellers and tourists on their holidays in Thailand. Here's a blow by blow summary of the ins and outs of getting to and from Bangkok to the Gulf of Thailand islands.

Distances

While the distance are substantial, Thailand's rail, bus and ferry networks are well developed, pretty reliable and in the schee of things, inexpensive. In all cases you can get from Bangkok to any of the Gulf of Thailand islands via a straightforward combination of land and water transport.

Heading from Bangkok southwards, it is 460km to Chumphon and Ko Tao is 75km offshore from Chumphon. Staying among the islands, it is another 50km from Ko Tao to Ko Pha Ngan and a further 12km on to Ko Samui. From Ko Samui back to the mainland at Surat Thani it is 75km and from Surat Thani back to Bangkok it is 650km.

Facts

Basically, the fastest (and, not suprisingly most expensive) way to get to the islands from Bangkok is to fly from Bangkok to Ko Samui and then take a ferry to the island of your choice. The slowest (and cheapest) is to take a bus from Bangkok to Chumphon or Surat Thani and then take the night boat from there. If you're going to Ko Tao, make your ferry connection at Chumphon. For Ko Samui and Ko Pha Ngan, go to Surat Thani. Below are some other pointers;

Bangkok and Ko Samui have international airports and there are regular flights between the two. Surat Thani has a domestic airport.
Bangkok and Chumphon have train stations on the main north-south line and the closest station to Surat Thani is at Phun Phin, seven kilometres from Surat Thani.
Bangkok, Chumphon and Surat Thani are all connected by both public and private buses.
Ferries to Ko Tao leave from a pier just to the south of Chumphon and ferries to all three islands leave from Surat Thani and three other piers near Surat Thani.
Ko Samui, Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Tao are inter-connected by ferries.

Air

If you fly, you have two options -- flying to Ko Samui or flying to Surat Thani and then connecting by bus and ferry to the islands.

Flying to Ko Samui
While flying to Ko Samui is preferable, the island's airport is owned by Bangkok Airways and until quite recently they were the only airline that flys there. Now THAI and Bangkok Airways fly the route but fares remain artificially high and, if you're flying out of Ko Samui, there is a 300B domestic departure tax -- the highest domestic departure tax in Thailand. Bangkok Airways runs almost 20 flights a day between Bangkok and Ko Samui. The cheapest fares are on the first and last flight of the day and go for 2,000B one way, fares through the rest of the day can be as high as 3,480B (all fares above are before the various taxes, fuel surcharges and insurance surcharge which airlines don't deem to include in the fare, along with the 300B departure fee gouge). Flight time is 60 to 90 minutes depending on the aircraft used (prop or jet). The airport is located a 20 minute drive from Chaweng Beach and a five minute drive from Big Buddha Beach. Full fare and timetable information is avaiable on the Bangkok Airways website.

Flying to Surat Thani
Surat Thani airport is served by THAI and Thai AirAsia, with the later having more affordable rates (starting at 800B, but watch out for the plethora of "fees" that get added to this base rate). The flight from Bangkok to Surat Thani takes 70 minutes. Surat Thani airport is around 30km north of Surat Thani town, so you'll need to transfer into Surat Thani and then arrange onwards bus and boat connections to the island of your choice. Full fare and timetable information is avaiable on the THAI website and the Thai AirAsia website.

Train

The train system in Thailand is safe, affordable and tends to arrive roughly on time. There are 11 trains a day that leave Bangkok heading south and all of these stop at both Chumphon and Phun Phin (for Surat Thani).

The main dilemma regards taking a night or day train. If you've never done the trip before, try to do at least one way on a day-train as the scenery is pretty, however if you've done the trip before, take the night train -- the sleepers, while certainly not luxurious, are more than adequate.

Bear in mind that if you take the day train to Chumphon or Surat Thani, you will miss the last day ferry and your only option will be the night ferries to Ko Tao and Ko Pha Ngan respectively. The train station in Chumphon is in the centre of town, while at Surat Thani it is at Phun Phin, some 7km from central Surat Thani -- public transport between the two is affordable and frequent.

The Thai train system has three classes -- first, second and third. First and second class have sleepers, third does not. Within first and second class you can choose between fan and air-con (we prefer fan) and also an upper or lower berth. If you opt for fan, we'd recommend going for a lower berth as you're then able to re-open the window behind the shutter, giving you a cooling breeze through the night (the attendant will close it when they make the bed). Lower berths cost more than upper berths. On night trains, bags are stowed in racks near your berth (within arms reach). We'd suggest chaining your bag to this rack and keeping valuables (passport, credit cards and so on) on your person. While theft is nowhere near as common on the trains as it is on the bus, it does happen, so be careful.

There are a range of trains that run this route, from "Rapid" through to "Special Express Diesel Railcars" and the general rule is, the faster it is, the pricier the ticket. Full fare and timetable information is avaiable on the State Railways of Thailand website.

Which night train?
If you're aiming for Ko Tao, the express #85 is an option -- it gets you into Chumphon at around 04:00 (leaving Bangkok at 19:15 the previous night) which leaves you at Chumphon three hours before the Lomprayah ferry leaves for Ko Tao. The later (and far more popular) Express Special Diesel #39 leaves Bangkok at 22:50 and gets into Chumphon at 05:52 the following morning -- this leaves you an hour to get to the ferry, which is more than adequate time, BUT if the train is delayed (not unheard of) you will miss the ferry and will have to take the afternoon boat.

If you're heading to Ko Samui which night train you take doesn't matter so much as there are far more frequent ferry connections out to Ko Samui from around Surat Thani. Despite these frequent ferry departures, the Express Special Diesel #39 from Bangkok remains by far the most popular choice.

Bus

There is a very simple rule to be followed if you're planning on heading from Bangkok to Surat Thani or Chumphon by bus. DO NOT and we repeat DO NOT, take one of the private buses that can be organised from Khao San Road as theft on these buses is endemic. Spend the extra money, go out to Sai Tai Mai (the southern bus terminal) and get a ticket on a public bus down to either destination. We are not kidding when we say theft is a major problem on the private buses -- generally a thief gets in the luggage section with your bags and goes through them during the trip, alighting with all your goodies before reaching Chumphon. If you insist on catching one of these buses do not leave anything more valuable than a bag of soiled underwear in your pack.

You have been warned!

The buses are the cheapest way to get down to Chumphon or Surat Thani and while there are departures throughout the day, the night buses are the most popular with travellers. The time taken is comprable to the train.

Ferry

So you've got to Chumphon or Surat Thani, now what?

To Ko Tao you have three options, the Lomprayah high-speed catamaran (leaves Chumphon at 07:00 and 13:00) costing 450B and takes 90 minutes, and the Songserm and Ekawin Tours boats, both of which leave at 07:00, both costing 400B and take around 3 hours. The Lomprayah service is worth the extra money.

To Ko Pha Ngan, you need to go to Surat Thani from where Raja Ferry run four boats a day from Don Sak to Ko Pha Ngan and Songsern run one. There is also the night boat which leaves Surat Thani at 23:00 for Ko Pha Ngan (taking six hours). Note if you miss the 07:00 direct Songserm boat to Ko Pha Ngan, you may be able to go to Ko Samui, then grab an afternoon boat from there to Ko Pha Ngan.

To Ko Samui, there are ferries on the hour from Don Sak to Lipa Noi on Ko Samui and seven a day to Nathon -- these are all run by Raja Ferry. Seatran runs three ferries a day from Ban Don to Nathon on Ko Samui and Songserm run one a day (08:00) from Ban Don to Nathon.

The map below summarises the main ferry routes.

Map of the ferry routes in Southern Thailand

Confused yet?
Then there's the inter island ferries:

Songserm run three ferries a day between Nathon and Thongsala and two a day between Thongsala and Ko Tao
Seatran runs one ferry between Nathon on Ko Samui and Thongsala on Ko Pha Ngan
Raja run one ferry a day from Lipanoi on Ko Samui to Thongsala on Ko Pha Ngan
Lomprayah run two ferries a day between Ko Samui, Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Tao
Ferries also run from Big Buddha Beach on Ko Samui to Haad Rin on Ko Pha Ngan

Read 56 comments on this story

jay
Posted on 2nd December, 2008
This was a really helpful article, has just made planning my trip to Thailand so much easy thank you

ben
Posted on 3rd December, 2008
Ace and free thank u mister fish!!

lex
Posted on 4th December, 2008
thank-you very much travelfish person for your great advice

fish
Posted on 19th December, 2008
Thanks for the good info!! Would also be helpful to know how long the inter-island ferry trips are and roughly how much they cost...

johan
Posted on 19th January, 2009
The ferry-trip over to Koh Samui took us roughly about 1 hour from Buddha pier (Surat Thani). Same from Koh Samui to Koh Phangan. I have no idea how long it takes from Chumphon to Ko Tao, but I guess thats about 3-4 hours, depends if they have "speed-boats" or not, which in face isnt that unlikely.

tdtupuola
Posted on 20th January, 2009
Thanks a lot this was really helpful - but do you know of any pricing for the train / bus / boats from Bangkok to Ko Pha Ngan?

fenfen
Posted on 23rd January, 2009
Hi, will it be possible to give a rough estimation of the prices that the different modes of transport will cost?

isatine
Posted on 4th February, 2009
hi,
any idea about an average driving time by personal car between BKK and Chumpon; 6h? 7h?
thks

cjt
Posted on 30th January, 2009
Thanks very much you've made things much easier to plan!

alex
Posted on 12th February, 2009
check out http://www.railway.co.th/English/FareRate.asp for prices and stuff for the trains. I don't know how accurate it is but it says its the state service so its probably not completely made up...

Ivan
Posted on 18th March, 2009
Where can I book the train and ferry tix in advance?

Louboutins
Posted on 22nd March, 2009
Great advice, looking to travel from Bangkok to Ko Samui and this has just answered a lot of questions i had! Thanks!

Daniel
Posted on 6th April, 2009
When catching the ferries be warned that getting on and off can be quite a challenge as the jetty is not set up for such a big boat, or that many people.i.e walking through one boat to get to the next. Both people leaving and arriving are on it at the same time, its very narrow and when carrying luggage etc is a bit dodgy. Travel light if possible and get a good seat as the trip from Ko Phangan to Ko Tao can get rough, very rough...

Matt
Posted on 6th April, 2009
This has made planning my epic journey from Ko Chang to Ko Pha Ngan tomorrow a whole lot easier, it does however look like it's still going to take me the best part of 26 hours. Woo.

Elzette van Zyl
Posted on 6th April, 2009
Hi! We will be staying at Koh Tao from 19-23 May and would like to make an early departure from Koh Tao to Bangkok. What are our choices.

your feedback will be highly appreciated.

kind regards,
Elzette

julia Chen
Posted on 13th April, 2009
does this work the same in the opposite direction too?

Paul
Posted on 22nd April, 2009
Not expecting to find out much information, but this site is a real BONUS !!. We shall be going to ko sumui this coming summer (2009), so all the info on this site is a MUST read, i know that times and tides change like the weather, but at least we have a better idea of what we are letting ourselves in for, great site.

Thanks very much.

Paul (UK)

Liz
Posted on 25th April, 2009
The warning about private busses- does that include the vip bus and ferry combo from Lomprayah? Even the day bus that runs Bangkok-Chumphon? thanks

somtam2000
Posted on 26th April, 2009
Hi Liz,

No, the Lomprayah services are generally fine. By private buses we're talking about the 'no name' services that operate out of small agencies. I'll get that clarified in the story shortly.

Cheers!

Scott
Posted on 19th June, 2009
Brilliant help! I'm going to be travelling from Bangkok to Ko Tao and then onto Ko Samui this summer, so this article is a great help. Thanks

Evan
Posted on 27th June, 2009
Hi there! We are travelling from Chiang Dao and want to make to do Koh Tao in two days.. is this possible? Also we heard of a bus/ferry combo ticket.. is this real?

Cheers

Vic
Posted on 25th July, 2009
thanks for all the info above, am off to thailand in october and i have not visited the country since i traveled round there for a year in 2002 so great to get updated stuff.

i actually experienced the bus theft mentioned above in 2002 and wanted to let you guys know that the risks in taking them mentioned above are very real. myself, and about 15 other farangs (all women) were on a "private" bus to bangkok, all was well until we got back on the bus after a rest stop about 5 hours outside the city. 30 mins into the journey i started to feel sleepy and remember nothing until waking up i reached for my bag which was underneath my head for my phone, it was gone, i looked in my purse all money missing but all cards there, camera-gone. i woke my mate in the seat behind exactly the same all gone. we started to wake up the other passengers who we all also very confused that we all fell into such a deep sleep. some of us tried to get down the stairs to the drivers shouting that we had things missing and we knew it was them and we were pushed back up the stairs with force by the 2 thai passengers with the driver. the bus suddenly came to a crashing halt, we were all so confused we got off to confront the driver who had got off. our rucksacks were thrown from the bus during the stand off and within seconds he jumped back in and they were all gone, bus and all.

we were all left on the roadside until the police arrived. to cut a long story short they think something was put through the air conditioning on the bus to make us sleep on the last part of our journey as nobody felt or heard the people who were obviously crawling among us taking their pick of our belongings. they were obviously hoping their skam would not be discovered until they were long gone at the drop off in bangkok.

if you haven't been to thailand and are reading this please do NOT be put off traveling to this amazing and beautiful country by my tale. in a year there this was my only negative experience of the country and the people could not be more generous and lovely i just wanted to put it out there that it does happen, and god knows what else and to be careful. take the bus from the station terminal wherever you are, it doesn't just happen onbus's out of Khao San Road, i learnt the hard way what a cheap bus ticket to bangkok costs you.

Phil
Posted on 7th August, 2009
Thanks for the helpful advice. Flying to BKK from CPT in 4 hours. Yeah!

Trevor Collins
Posted on 26th August, 2009
How long will it take if i go by bus & ferry from Bangkok to kohsamui

Rahuul
Posted on 27th August, 2009
How long & how much will it take if i go by bus & ferry from Bangkok to kohsamui !!!! and how much destine surat thini to kohsamui ????

jan
Posted on 30th August, 2009
Isn't it better while traveling to Koh phangan get off the train at Chumphon and go by boat via Koh Tao??? I don't know what price for ferry would be but on Seatran websites (http://seatrandiscovery.com/home.php) it says they have services running between Chumphon and Phangan and it seems faster that going all the way to Surat Thani by train... anybody has done it this way???

Ellsbells
Posted on 4th September, 2009
Hi, I was just wondering about travelling from Ko Phangan to chumphon to bangkok, roughly how i do it, prices and time length.
I was hoping to do boat from Phangan straight to chumphon, then coach to bangkok.
Is this do-able.. and if so any idea how long the bus up would be?
Thanks

madan
Posted on 19th September, 2009
My wife,my son and myself were also victims of bus theft a year ago, thank god I read this article for I thought we were the only ones to succumb. We were the only ones on this bus from Khao San and should have suspected foul play right in the begining, the driver sarcastically warned us to take care of our belongings. But I wonder how they knew where the money was, I think they used some sedative somehow.
If bus theft is so rampant on this route how come cops don't take any action against these bus operators?

monroe
Posted on 19th November, 2009
i want to fly from malaysia to koh samui and this my first time trip so i need some help here real help which way is cheaper to get there.im a student working on butget so i will prefare cheap transport.how to travel ther give all the way i have to take to get there

floyd
Posted on 28th September, 2009
how do i go from bkk intl apt to koh samui.by bus /ferry plz reply as soon as possible, if possible the time table of departure thank u so muchhhhhhhhhh.

elsbels
Posted on 28th September, 2009
Have just read everyones tales of theft on bus.. i got a bus from krabi to surat thani and a bus from chumphon to bangkok back in 2007 and never experienced any theft, none of my friends experienced any either.. not sure what kinda of buses you were all on..
Going back to thailand in november.. and have to say, from being in love with thailand, im now quite scared about going and travelling!!
would be really helpful if you could tell me what sort of buses you were all on... coaches?? private mini vans...?????

Keith
Posted on 2nd October, 2009
Hi, I need to first get from Phuket to Chumphon. I could rent a car or go by bus, yes? Then I need to get to BKK from Chumphon, one way. I assume that there are many choices of bus service or train. Does any airline fly from Chumphon to Bangkok?

Paolo
Posted on 16th October, 2009
We are looking at Getting from Ko Tao to Bangkok via Chumphon. Just a few questions?
1/ Is is best to get a bus or train from Chumphon to Bangkok?
2/ How much does it cost??
3/ How long does it take??

Alex
Posted on 3rd November, 2009
hi, Im going to Thailand in december never having been travelling before on my own and am really nervous. Please could you be more exact with where to get the "good" buses from, as theres no way I want to be on my own minus all my money/passport etc etc. Im nervous enough about just getting lost, I hadn't even thought to factor in theft as well!

PLease help, all information is appreciated...
thanks

Thailand resident
Posted on 4th November, 2009

Let me tell all travelers planning to travel around those beautiful islands in Gulf of Thailand, these information are very accurate and the warnings you like to be informed before leaving Bangkok are very true as well.

Thank you for sharing honest info.

danyal
Posted on 25th November, 2009
hi,we are a group of four people we are landing on 29th dec 09 @9:00pm we want to go to koh samui right after our flight @ 10:pm by bus/train/plane/ferry and please letme know the fares and the estimated time to reach there.thankx
regards danyal

Birgit
Posted on 8th December, 2009
Hello

we will be heading back to BKK on 30december 2009. As I already misbooked an airline ticket (got confused with the nighttravel) I am now looking into a cheaper way to get to BKK. Any experiences on doing the samui - bangkok trip by transport (no air transportation) and is it duable this time of year?

Abhishek
Posted on 15th December, 2009
Awesome info thanks. Brother's getting married in Ko Phan Ngang in Jan & I planned all the travel using the info here. Cheers.

Jennifer
Posted on 18th December, 2009
This is great, I went before and took one of those buses you said about, but had I known at the time I wouldnt have, this time round, I'll go on the public ones!

Jennifer
Posted on 18th December, 2009
Just thought, where do you get the bus back up to Bangkok? Are these buses bad too? Is there a certain terminal from Surat Thani to get a safer bus?

john
Posted on 5th January, 2010
Agreed, with above post about the thefts, same thing happened to a busload of us going the other way surat thani - bangkok, they were very organised, juststick to public transport whereever posible, travel like the locals do, dont go with private tourist bus's sold from small venders around the streets where possible, on saying that I have booked overnight bus from tour agency around kosanrd from bangkok to changmai and had no problems.

Lorraine
Posted on 6th January, 2010
Off to Thailand again!!! I love the place. Hubby and i usually do the all pretty packages but this year is gonna be so different. we are staying in Bangkok for a couple of nights then want to head to samui. I am interested in both modes of transport (fery/ bus)from bangkok to surat Thani, reliability, cost etc...We have done the ferry before so no major issuses there. If anyone could assist with time of journey an costing we would be very grateful.

Many thanks and happy holidays to all x

Dan
Posted on 8th January, 2010
A few updates based on our recent experience in getting from Bangkok to Ko Tao while traveling during peak season.

* Bus from Bangkok Bus Terminal (serving southern destinations)
- Catch public bus from town to terminal (about 20THB, 1 hour)
- At the terminal go inside the building (avoid the minivan touts) and find ChokeAnan Tours. There are loads of stalls selling bus tickets.
- There are no timetables online for these guys but we arrived at 8am at the terminal and caught a 9am bus to Chumphon.
- About 7 hours, 350THB and a safe and quality service including lunch and water.

* Ferry from Chumphon to Ko Tao
- You can contact Lompraya Catamaran directly and purchase your ticket.
- We instead stayed at the nice and simple Suda Guesthouse in Chumphon and she sorted us out with tickets on the 7am ferry the next day for 550THB each.
- The 7am ferry involves a 5.50am pick-up and a 2 to 2.30 hour journey to Ko Tao (not the 1.30 hr advertised duration).

Hope this helps.

NZ
Posted on 15th January, 2010
Am planning on getting overnight train then ferry to Koh Samui on a sat night in Feb 2010. Do the train tickets sell out or is it fine to get ticket a day or two before departure. thanks.

Keira
Posted on 22nd January, 2010
Thank you this blog is amazing - you have answered every question- really appreciate it

Susan
Posted on 23rd January, 2010
Done the overnight bus, booked on Khao San tooo many times. The author is very right on the the theft. On an overnight to Chang Mai I couldn't sleep so I went down to the "lounge" where they were using it to store all our luggage, I made myself a spot where I could extend my legs and sure enough, within 15 minutes someone came down and started rifeling through the bags. I sat up and asked him what the hell is was doing...won't bore you with the rest of the hassel, but the Thai buses are nice and cheap and safe.

Abi
Posted on 27th January, 2010
Hi, great site for info, very helpful.

I wanted to catch the train from Bangkok at 0800 to Chumphon then ferry over to Ko Tao. Is it possible to do so in one day as from looking at the timetables the train doesn't quite make it to Chumphon in order to get the last ferry that leaves at 1300.

Do we need to stay overnight at Chumphon to get the 0700 ferry the next morning? If so, does anyone know any good sleepover spots in Chumphon?

Thx

Jessica
Posted on 14th February, 2010
Hey i just did this trip so got some info that might help !

I got the 7:30pm night sleeper from Bangkok to Surat Thani which was 3 hours late and got there at 9:30am (not 6:30am) but was fine.(Go first class ! its only about 24 pounds and soo much nicer for a long trip !)

I then got a bus/boat ticket (there are loads of people selling these tickets as soon as you get off the train) which was 250 Baht and the bus took about an hour then the boat was about 1 and a half hours to Ko Samui.

I then paid 600 Baht for a taxi to Lamai beach where my hotel was and having known this i would have booked closer to the ferry !

It was a really long but easy journey and i was travelling on my own and felt safe for the whole trip ! but having said that i might save for a flight next time as it just took sooo long !

happy travels,

jessica x

Ben
Posted on 19th February, 2010
This outstandingly informative and helpful article stands out as a ray of Thai sunshine in what has become a confusing, disjointed and largely irrelevant world of the big wide web. Thank you, your effort has not gone appreciated.

Kate
Posted on 19th February, 2010
Thank you so much. This was a great article, covered everything I needed to know. Made planning much easier and laid out travel options clearly. Much appreciated

Ria
Posted on 23rd February, 2010
I wanted to travel from:

Bangkok FLY TO Phuket
Phuket FERRY TO Phi Phi
Krabi FERRY TO Ko Pha Ngan

Is it now possible to get from Ko Pha Ngan to Ko Tao and then from there to Ko Samet?

If not, can anyone recommend an alternative route?

davie85
Posted on 26th February, 2010
Hiya,
i went to Thailand in jan 2009, and traveled from a bus outlet on the corner and under the D&D hotel on khao san road, do you mean these guys???, we was fine !, We did however book a bus from the station in chaing mai from the bus station and it was 1st class, really nice bit cold but nice!,

Going back for round two to do the islands, have had loadsa of help from all you guys, just wanted to no....

How long are the bus to chumphon from bangkok? what time do i leave bangkok to get the 13.00 lomprayah to ko tao??

daisy
Posted on 1st March, 2010
Thank you - very very helpfull!!! :)

sam
Posted on 11th March, 2010
very helpfull thanks

Christian
Posted on 15th March, 2010
Thanks for the excellent guide on how to get from Bangkok to Ko Tao ;)

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