Getting around Koh Phangan tended to be more time consuming and costly than I had imagined. After being in Chiang Mai, I was surprised at the difference! I share these tips because it was hard to find online beforehand, and only discovered once we were here.
The Raja Ferry from the Surat Thani airport was 500 baht/person, which included the 1.5 hour bus ride from the airport to Donsak Pier, then about an hour wait for the Koh Phangan ferry (Koh Samui ferry left first) which takes 2.5 hours to get to Thongsala Pier on the island. I picked Raja over Lomprayah or Seatran simply because they had later ferries and our flight from Chiang Mai arrived at 3pm…forcing us to take the last ferry at 6pm. Lomprayah I think has its last ferry at 1pm from Surat Thani, but is faster at 1.5 hours and costs 800 baht/person with the airport bus transfer.
Also an option is to take an overnight train from Bangkok that bundles the ferry price in with it, but we weren’t coming from Bangkok.
When we arrived at the Thongsala pier on Koh Phangan it was like a mad rush for the taxis…it was dark and kind of confusing. But basically you tell the taxi drivers where you are going–point on the map they’re holding with the price lists–and sort yourselves out based on common destinations. It was 150 baht/person to get to Haad Chao Phao on the west side of the island, about 20-30 min away. The listed price was 200 baht but because there were 5 of us in one taxi I think he did 150. Prices are still per person even if there’s a ton of people sharing though.
To get from the west side of the island to the east you basically have to go back to Thongsala because of the way the roads go. A private taxi that our bungalows said they could call for us was going to cost 450 baht/person, so I figured let’s get to Thongsala and wait by the pier when a ferry arrives to get into a group taxi. We took a taxi for 250 total (I bargained him down from 300) from Haad Chao Phao to Thongsala. Once there though, he did not take us directly to the pier but the parking lot next door (because the other taxis had waited a long time to queue at the pier and probably would have gotten mad at him) and convinced us to pay him 800 baht total to take us to Thong Nai Pan on the east side of the island. After discussing it for a bit we relented, since we didn’t even know where the pier was, we were just stopped in a parking lot. So anyway — we went with him because it ended up being discounted coming all the way from the west side to the east, through Thongsala.
On our way back, booking a private taxi from our Thongtapan Resort reception to Thongsala costs 800 baht/person. They have a sign that says there are daily taxis from Thong Nai Pan to Thongsala at 10am for 200 baht/person, and at 3pm for 250 baht/person. So booking a taxi at any other time than the scheduled pickups is twice as much for a couple, unless you get lucky and grab one that just dropped people off here as they are going back for 600. But for catching our flight and 9am ferry from Thongsala to Surat Thani, we didn’t want to risk it and just got a private taxi for 800 baht when we were leaving the island. Basically — once you are on the east side of the island, stay there and don’t go anywhere else. That’s the point!
Other options are the longtail taxi boats, mostly it seems going from Chaloklum in the northwest to Bottle Beach, and Bottle Beach to Thong Nai Pan. When we were on the west side of the island wanting to get to Thong Nai Pan literally no one could tell us how to do that or how much it would cost so we went the road way through Thongsala, but when we were at Bottle Beach it was clear that there is constant boat taxi traffic between those three beaches so it’s totally possible. There is also a boat leaving from Thong Nai Pan that goes down the east coast to Than Sadet to Haad Rin (full moon party beach) then to Koh Samui. But we didn’t do that so don’t know much about it, just from online. If you’re on the beach just ask any of the longtail boats and they’ll tell you, but it won’t be cheaper. From Bottle Beach to Thong Nai Pan (which we took after our hike, and is about a 15 minute boat ride) one boat asked for 800 baht total for two people (400/person) and instead we waited til there was a boat leaving already and got on it for 600 baht (300/person).
In general it seems that everything in the island is more expensive. For example we paid 500 baht/night for a bungalow on the beach (Haad Chao Phao Resort) and it was small, dirty, buggy with a fan and mosquito net, private bathroom with cold water only and no flushing toilet, no sheets no soap no towels. But steps from the beach 🙂 In comparison, in Chiang Mai for 550 baht/night (about $1.50 more) we got air conditioning, towels, soap, hot water, room cleaning (i.e. new towels every day, cleaning the room and making the bed). This was at Top Garden (now called V Lodge?), about 7 minute walk from Thaepae Gate. Just for comparison!
Food is also more expensive, for example in Bangkok and Chiang Mai we ate at noodle shops for 40-50 baht each dish. Here a plate of noodles is about 160 baht. Other dishes like curries are more like 200-300 baht. A large Chang beer 100 instead of 50. Traditional Thai massages are also 300 baht versus of 200 in Chiang Mai. At Art Cafe (on the west side of Koh Phangan) we spent about 500-600 baht for 2 (or 3 or 4…:) ) coffees and two breakfasty things. So count about $15 for the dirty bungalow plus renting towels for 20 baht each plus $15-20 for breakfast that adds up to about $30-35/day. Still affordable for a US traveler, but more per day than in Chiang Mai.
At Thongtapan Resort we splurged on 1500 baht/night (~$43) and got breakfast included, so we have an awesome spot also just steps from the beach with AC and clean sheets and soap and towels (beach towels and room towels!) and the feeling of luxuriousness for only $10 more per night. Just for comparison 🙂
It’s all still very affordable, I just wasn’t prepared for how expensive or difficult it would be to get around the island, and there is very little info except for while you’re there, though the best way is to either rent a scooter or just stay put. We chose to stay put on our little beach at Thong Nai Pan Noi and loved it! That was the beauty of it all…