Hi all
Just looking for a bit of advise if anyone can help... I have secured a flight to Bangkok over xmas and new years (2009) but I am struggling with where to stay.. Koh Tao or Phangan!? You may think why not stay at both places but I only have 10 days and don鈥檛 want to be moving around accommodation.
Having looked at the types of accommodation it appears (although I could be wrong) that Phangan has slightly better quality? Any recommendations??
My concern with Phangan is the full moon party, it sounds a bit crazy and not the scene I鈥檇 be looking for, is it possible to avoid it? and are their other more chilled scenes going on?
Thanks in advance.
Ko Phangan or Koh Tao????????????????????/
It%26#39;s easy to avoid the full moon party on Phangan , just don%26#39;t book any accommodation on Had rin beach. Lot%26#39;s of other nice beaches to choose from and all price ranges. much quieter than samui , but only a short ferry ride to koh tao or samui.
Koh tao is well known for diving , I don%26#39;t know what the standard of accomodation is like quality wise , it%26#39;s just a smaller island. It use to be that some places wouldn%26#39;t want your booking unless you had also booked a dive course , that may have changed.
Ko Phangan or Koh Tao????????????????????/
Have you been to both places? I have never been to Thailand before and just want to make sure i head to the right place. I really dont fancy Samui or places of simular likness (to westernised etc).
Thanks for you quick reply
Kate
I%26#39;ve been to Samui and Phangan many times , i much prefer Phangan. Samui can be very nice in places , but is too busy for us , however , if you like bars and clubs etc , then Samui would be best.
If you want a more peaceful destination , Phangan gets my vote , it still has plenty of beaches to explore , many places to eat and it%26#39;s pretty easy to get around using either Songthaews or scooter/car hire. For a 10 day chill-out it%26#39;s ideal. We usually stay on Haad yao beach (north), which is very nice , no beach vendors to hassel you , but not great for swimming , the waters too low , but if you have a pool at your accomodation it%26#39;s not a problem. you can snorkle or do dive courses if you want , book a snorkle trip to koh tao etc, etc. Had rin is in the south of the island and can be reached in 30 mins by songthaew , it%26#39;s nice to visit when the full moon party is not on. Also , in the north around haad yao are other beaches worth looking at , Haad salad , bottle beach , etc , etc.
I have not stayed on Koh tao , only visited on a snorkel trip. If you do book a snorkel trip , avoid using the Lomprayha ferry company for this , it%26#39;s packed out and not very nice , just herded around all day like sheep ... avoid and go with a local boat , just make sure they have life jackets !.
you can fly direct to samui from bangkok and leave the same day on various boat services to phangan without any problems (it%26#39;s only a very short journey), or you can stay one night on samui to see what your not missing :)
or by train from bangkok , overnight , with a combined train and bus/ferry ticket to phangan or samui , via surat thani. you leave the train and board a coach/bus to the ferry terminal for samui or phangan , again , it%26#39;s very easy and all sorted for you.
Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge, it is much appreciated.
...just one more thing, how long will it take to go between the two islands?? (Tao and Pang)
I recommend staying on Koh Phangan. It is a lot more relaxed and has plenty of chilled out beaches. I%26#39;ve been twice and plan on going back this year. Haad Yao on the west of the island is beautiful and has nice snorkelling. A friend of mine stayed in Tantawan bungalows there and loved it. There is another Haad Yao on the east of the island which is also beautiful and accessible by long tail boat from Haad Rin. Be aware of this if you%26#39;re booking accommodation in case you confuse the two. The full moon party won%26#39;t be an issue for you if you stay away from accommodation in Haad Rin.
Koh Tao is really a divers island. I stayed there and took a course and lots of places will require you to book a course if you want accommodation. As you are travelling in high season this will possibly be the case. You can easily organise a day trip from Phangan.
If you have limited time I would try and book a flight from Bangkok to Samui with Bangkok Airways. They are the only airline that fly to Samui as they own the airport i think. You could also try Air Asia and fly to Surat Thani on the mainland where you can easily get a bus to the ferry port and ferry to Koh Phangan. The flights may be cheaper but it will take a lot more time.
It%26#39;s not a long trip , perhaps 2 hours on a slow boat , maybe as little as an hour on a faster one . some info on various services on this link below -
thailandday.com/Boattransfer/kophangan.html
one thing i%26#39;ll advise you on , pre-book your on-ward travel from bangkok to samui if your going to fly (which costs a bit more but is highly reccomended for a short trip). Just leave a decent gap bewtween the 2 flights in case of any delays in your main flight out from the UK.
for all your other boat journeys you just buy a ticket on the day at the port. If you want to save some money on the way home , you always have the option for the bus/train journey over-night for the return to bangkok , any travel agent on phangan will arrange this for you for a very small fee , flights also. don%26#39;t book the red-eye flight from samui to bangkok for the return journey home , although it used to be the cheapest , you won%26#39;t be able to get from phangan to samui at that time of the morning (6.00 am !! )
BTW. the Lomprayah ferry service is fine to use , just not for a snorkle trip.
Just to clear up the haad yao info , the other had yao is known as Had yao (east) , it can be reached by road , it%26#39;s very quiet and has one big resort complex and a few other smaller ones , but it%26#39;s very isolated for getting around so i%26#39;d rule this one out. we visited once to have a look , very nice , we had some good food , but didn%26#39;t want to stay only because it was harder to get around.
map here - www.phangan.info/index.cfm?action=island.map
the had yao we are talking about is near top left on the map , the main ferry port is Thong sala and the smaller ferry port is at had rin. you can arrive at either one , it%26#39;s just a slightly longer trip to the north from had rin.
ah, thanks so so much! Great advise. Any suggestions on accomodation?? bearing in mind i%26#39;m wanting to keep my distance from the full moon party but like you, wouldnt want to feel totally isolated?
Plenty of places to choose from in all price ranges , what%26#39;s your rough budget per night ?
you%26#39;ll get better advice if you let everyone know the budget. :)
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