Koh Tao to Koh Samui – Ferry

After a fun week of diving in Koh Tao, we reluctantly moved onto our next stop… heading south to the island of Koh Samui. After a successful journey with the travel company Lomprayah when travelling to Koh Tao, we choose them again for our short journey to Koh Samui.  We booked tickets at a local travel agents at Sairee Beach for 600 baht each for the 12.30pm departure from Mae Haad Pier to Maenam Pier, Koh Samui. A few other companies offer ferry tickets for a slightly cheaper price but I believe Lomprayah is worth using for the extra 100/150 baht.

Another ferry ticket

The morning of the ferry we got a taxi down to the pier an hour in advance to check in. This once again cost 100 baht each for this short taxi. The pier was very busy and we joined the back of a long queue and thought we might end up missing our boat! We just about made it to the counter to collect our tickets and stickers as the boat pulled into the pier. We stood in a very crowded and hot area waiting for everyone to disembark the ferry before we could make our way down. Please take your time when heading down to the ferry as a lot of people are pushing to get there first!

Finally, we made it onto our boat and sat on the first floor at the back where we had plenty of room. The journey took us just under 2 hours with a stop at Koh Pha Ngan. The journey was very smooth and offered some lovely views of the sea and smaller islands!

Awesome views!

We arrived at Maenam pier in the East of Koh Samui around 2.30pm and used the main shuttle / minibus service on offer at pier. We were charged 150 baht each to Fisherman’s Villagae (Mae Nam Beach) in the North of the island. It took a while for us to get seated on a minibus because there was a lot of confusion as to where our guesthouse was! After switching around we finally got onto the right one and set off.

It didn’t take too long to arrive at our guesthouse with a few stops along the way. I think the driver thought he was a racing car driver with wheel spins and plenty of overtakes! This became much more normal after a few weeks of travelling.

Overall, we reached our destination in good time, however make sure you give yourself enough time at Mae Haad Pier in Koh Tao!

4 out of 5 

Bangkok to Koh Tao – Bus and Ferry

I’ve decided to write about a few of my earlier travels across Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. The first journey we undertook after arriving in Thailand was to leave Bangkok and head towards the island of Koh Tao for some scuba diving! With us staying near Koh San Road in Bangkok, we had plenty of choice with how to travel to Koh Tao but make sure to beware of scams!

Lomprayah High Speed Catamaran

We chose to use the recommended Lomprayah High Speed Catamaran service which includes bus and ferry travel. Their main office is located on the corner of Rambuttri Alley next to Koh San Road. Upon recommendation from a friend, we booked our tickets from a travel agent located on the main road next to Boots on Chakrabongse Road. This cost us 1,000 baht each which is slightly cheaper than the online price, for the 6.00am departure. I’m sure if you look around you might be able to find a slightly cheaper deal.

Luggage Rules

On the morning of our departure from Bangkok, we had to sign in at the Lomprayah office at 5am and exchange our booking receipt for travel tickets. We received stickers to wear and some to put on our backpacks to ensure we got onto the correct bus. 45 minutes later and the bus arrived just down the road from the office. 

Pink stickers for Koh Tao

The coach itself wasn’t too bad for our first experience of transport in South East Asia and the coach journey down to Chumphon pier was comfortable. Upon arrival at Chumphon pier, we had 15 minutes to buy anything from the shop and use the bathroom before boarding the ferry to Koh Tao.

Plenty of room on the bus

The ferry was very busy inside with people using it to get to Koh Tao, Koh Phangan and Koh Samui. We decided to sit outside on the first floor of the ferry towards the back. We had much more room here and enjoyed a sea breeze sheltered from the sun.

We arrived on Koh Tao at Mae Haad Pier, not long before 3pm. From here, we shared a taxi with two others up to Sairee Beach for 100 baht each which seemed reasonable.

Overall the journey was a good first experience of travelling in Thailand and probably the best way of reaching Koh Tao from Bangkok.

4 out of 5