Is It Best To Stay At Samui Or Phangan During Full Moon Party?

[Jayroo]

Hi all,

I was just wondering if on the night of the full moon party, is it best to find accommodation in Koh Samui, then take a ferry to Koh Phangan, or is it best to stay on Koh Phangan during that night of madness?

I would like to be there hopefully until sunrise partying, though it's my first time around this part of Thailand, so any tips or suggestions on where is best to stay, will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[smokie36]

How soon before the FMP are you arriving in Samui/Phangan?

[Jayroo]

How soon before the FMP are you arriving in Samui/Phangan?

I was thinking of going just for the day/night of the party, so would be Sat the 26th of June. Though just had a look at places in Haad Rin - Phangnan, and most of them say min stay in 7 days during full moon, <deleted>??? that's a bit much, so would that indicate that Haad Rin, or anywhere near the full moon party is a no no? hmmm I'd like to be close to the action incase im too tired, drunk and wish to bail..

[PoorSucker]

If you are planning to stay on Koh Phangan, be prepared to spend seven nights.

Nobody wants to rent out only for the event.

Speedboats go Samui - Phangan all night.

Edited May 31, 2010 by PoorSucker

[Jayroo]

If you are planning to stay on Koh Phangan, be prepared to spend seven nights.

Nobody wants to rent out only for the event.

Speedboats go Samui - Phangan all night.

yeah saw that, looks like I'll stay samui, hey how long does the speed boat take from samui to phangan? like 20 mins? is the wharf near samui airport? cheers.

[itishothere]

Boats go all night from the Bangrak area of Samui. Various piers along the way. 40 minutes or so to get there. Best look for a place to stay in Bangrak, which is 10 mins from the airport - you will be able to get a shared minivan probably which will cut costs. Any of the booking agents should cover this area with plenty of choice of hotels. Full Moon is usually busy, prices tend to edge upwards.

[Jayroo]

Boats go all night from the Bangrak area of Samui. Various piers along the way. 40 minutes or so to get there. Best look for a place to stay in Bangrak, which is 10 mins from the airport - you will be able to get a shared minivan probably which will cut costs. Any of the booking agents should cover this area with plenty of choice of hotels. Full Moon is usually busy, prices tend to edge upwards.

ah ok, thanks for that info, will def check this option, cheers.

[smokie36]

If you are planning to stay on Koh Phangan, be prepared to spend seven nights.

Nobody wants to rent out only for the event.

Speedboats go Samui - Phangan all night.

yeah saw that, looks like I'll stay samui, hey how long does the speed boat take from samui to phangan? like 20 mins? is the wharf near samui airport? cheers.

For a place to stay I recommend the Samui Mermaid in Bangrak. Close by the ferry and rooms from 600 Baht. Also Full Moon Bungalows right next to the pier is even cheaper.

Be aware if you take the speedboat over they normally return six hours later. That is if you leave at 10pm your ticket is valid on the 4am home Same 11pm - 5am etc. Of course you can just take the ferry back the next day for 200 Baht or so....

[thrilled]

There are places that you can stay for 3 or 4 nights,but they are maybe 7 to 10 miles away from the party.pm me i'll give ya some names.

[sokal]

How soon before the FMP are you arriving in Samui/Phangan?

I was thinking of going just for the day/night of the party, so would be Sat the 26th of June. Though just had a look at places in Haad Rin - Phangnan, and most of them say min stay in 7 days during full moon, <deleted>??? that's a bit much, so would that indicate that Haad Rin, or anywhere near the full moon party is a no no? hmmm I'd like to be close to the action incase im too tired, drunk and wish to bail..

I was there at the last one. I arrived the night of and got 2 nites. The problem is the price, the main hotel close to the beach was 2000 bht a night. Thats BS. You are better off to rent a bike and stay in the town that the boat arrives in for 500 bht. Or take a taxi.

[sbk]

There are places that you can stay for 3 or 4 nights,but they are maybe 7 to 10 miles away from the party.pm me i'll give ya some names.

7 to 10 miles?? Really? Thats 16k. Ban Tai and Ban Kai will have places that have shorter minimum stays, are on the main road to Hadrin so taxis run constantly and are about 3-6 k away.

[jamesphangan]

7 nights minimum stay booking is only for the insecure worriers / people with no time to search around on foot, out there. No problems to find an inexpensive room on the day if you are prepared for a little bit of work hunting ( 1 or 2 hrs ) Had Rin / Ban Kai / Ban Tai or further if you like. Many taxis all night to most popular beaches

Samui, near the speedboat departures would also be nice and easy.

No worries, life's much easier if you take your time.

[Jayroo]

How soon before the FMP are you arriving in Samui/Phangan?

I was thinking of going just for the day/night of the party, so would be Sat the 26th of June. Though just had a look at places in Haad Rin - Phangnan, and most of them say min stay in 7 days during full moon, <deleted>??? that's a bit much, so would that indicate that Haad Rin, or anywhere near the full moon party is a no no? hmmm I'd like to be close to the action incase im too tired, drunk and wish to bail..

I was there at the last one. I arrived the night of and got 2 nites. The problem is the price, the main hotel close to the beach was 2000 bht a night. Thats BS. You are better off to rent a bike and stay in the town that the boat arrives in for 500 bht. Or take a taxi.

Yea 2000 is a bit steep, was the last one busy? like many places booked out? I was thinking staying in Samui now, do you know how long the speed boat ride is to Koh Phangan? do taxis rip off the youths there like they do in Patong?

[Jayroo]

7 nights minimum stay booking is only for the insecure worriers / people with no time to search around on foot, out there. No problems to find an inexpensive room on the day if you are prepared for a little bit of work hunting ( 1 or 2 hrs ) Had Rin / Ban Kai / Ban Tai or further if you like. Many taxis all night to most popular beaches

Samui, near the speedboat departures would also be nice and easy.

No worries, life's much easier if you take your time.

hmm wish I had time, but gotta head back to Pattaya to meet some other guys that will be just arriving after the full moon party, gotta get back into watching the world up matches, round of 16 will be starting around that time.

[Jayroo]

There are places that you can stay for 3 or 4 nights,but they are maybe 7 to 10 miles away from the party.pm me i'll give ya some names.

Yeah thanks for that, but I think I'll be staying Koh samui instead, near the speed boat wharf, thanks again.

[Jayroo]

If you are planning to stay on Koh Phangan, be prepared to spend seven nights.

Nobody wants to rent out only for the event.

Speedboats go Samui - Phangan all night.

yeah saw that, looks like I'll stay samui, hey how long does the speed boat take from samui to phangan? like 20 mins? is the wharf near samui airport? cheers.

For a place to stay I recommend the Samui Mermaid in Bangrak. Close by the ferry and rooms from 600 Baht. Also Full Moon Bungalows right next to the pier is even cheaper.

Be aware if you take the speedboat over they normally return six hours later. That is if you leave at 10pm your ticket is valid on the 4am home Same 11pm - 5am etc. Of course you can just take the ferry back the next day for 200 Baht or so....

Cool, thanks for that info, hey how long does the speed boat take to arrive there from Samui? thinking of doing this option, as I hate just rocking up in Phangan and spending 3 hours trying to find a place to stay, I'll be out of energy to party after lol

[sbk]

FMP this month? If so, then the speedboat is ok, November? No way.

[jamesphangan]

Also, in the extremely unlikely event of you not being able to find a room, most budget resorts will have a tent available for you to put up on the beach, and they will look after your baggage and put valuables in the resort safe.

[smokie36]

Cool, thanks for that info, hey how long does the speed boat take to arrive there from Samui? thinking of doing this option, as I hate just rocking up in Phangan and spending 3 hours trying to find a place to stay, I'll be out of energy to party after lol

The speedboat will take around 30-40 mins depending on the sea and how overcrowded the boat is. Plenty of boats leaving from Bangrak.

[sokal]

How soon before the FMP are you arriving in Samui/Phangan?

I was thinking of going just for the day/night of the party, so would be Sat the 26th of June. Though just had a look at places in Haad Rin - Phangnan, and most of them say min stay in 7 days during full moon, <deleted>??? that's a bit much, so would that indicate that Haad Rin, or anywhere near the full moon party is a no no? hmmm I'd like to be close to the action incase im too tired, drunk and wish to bail..

I was there at the last one. I arrived the night of and got 2 nites. The problem is the price, the main hotel close to the beach was 2000 bht a night. Thats BS. You are better off to rent a bike and stay in the town that the boat arrives in for 500 bht. Or take a taxi.

Yea 2000 is a bit steep, was the last one busy? like many places booked out? I was thinking staying in Samui now, do you know how long the speed boat ride is to Koh Phangan? do taxis rip off the youths there like they do in Patong?

2000, that was 2 minutes away from the party though.

Taxi's are not cheap

I figured it was busy but people said it was not quite as busy as previous ones. This was all before the curfews and embassies closings though.

[Jayroo]

Does anyone know how long it would take to get there on that bus from Pattaya to Samui?? and does anyone know what time it leaves? thanks heaps...

[notime]

The speedboat takes only about 20 min from Samui to FMP and cost 600-700 THB "return". The speedboat ride at night, with the full moon above is the best part of the FMP experience, at last for me. It all goes downhill from the moment you arrive at Phangan. First you find yourself cordoned-off buy a mob of local strong man who extort you 100 THB for "beach cleaning". This is only payable by people arriving from Samui because Phangan mob considers you rich if you are in the speedboat from Samui. Then there is 300m walk onto the other side of Had Rin bumping into drunken crown that thickens somewhere near the pancake place and gets really imposible to pass at the last streach of the street delivering you onto the beach. This is where you must buy a bucket if you want to have something to spill over the people spilling thier buckets over you. At last you are on the beach. It is a lovely place but you cannot see it since there are so many people around you. If you get to the water-line beware of the man standing knee deep in the water since they tend to knock you over as soon as they finish with the pee-pee. Don't bring anything valuable with you because chances are you are not going to see it again. Don't buy any drugs from the men at the end of the beach because they are all fake. Don't wear shoes that cost more than $5 as you never see them again after dancing barefoot in the sand. When you're done you can try falling face first into the sand and waking up to see a beautiful sunrise. Hey, they don't call this Sunrise beach for nothing. Failing that you can try to find your speedboat back to Samui but remember there are about twice as many people going back than coming over so you will need to q-up. Plus the boat may never arrive or they may tell you you lost your return ticket, or that it is a different boat. It usually is, so you may need to pay again. Alternatively there is always regular 8am boat Hadrin Queen for 250 THB to take you back to Samui, providing you can sqeeze on of course.

Ahh .. for someone who asked about the bus to Samui from Phattaya: the bust from Bkk takes 10-12h to Don Sak and then there is a 2h ferry to Samui. It used to be 1,5h but the engines are bit tired these days. So from Pattay you just have to add few hours to this trip for the Pattaya - Bkk leg. All up probably about 20h including tea breaks. Good luck!

[Jayroo]

The speedboat takes only about 20 min from Samui to FMP and cost 600-700 THB "return". The speedboat ride at night, with the full moon above is the best part of the FMP experience, at last for me. It all goes downhill from the moment you arrive at Phangan. First you find yourself cordoned-off buy a mob of local strong man who extort you 100 THB for "beach cleaning". This is only payable by people arriving from Samui because Phangan mob considers you rich if you are in the speedboat from Samui. Then there is 300m walk onto the other side of Had Rin bumping into drunken crown that thickens somewhere near the pancake place and gets really imposible to pass at the last streach of the street delivering you onto the beach. This is where you must buy a bucket if you want to have something to spill over the people spilling thier buckets over you. At last you are on the beach. It is a lovely place but you cannot see it since there are so many people around you. If you get to the water-line beware of the man standing knee deep in the water since they tend to knock you over as soon as they finish with the pee-pee. Don't bring anything valuable with you because chances are you are not going to see it again. Don't buy any drugs from the men at the end of the beach because they are all fake. Don't wear shoes that cost more than $5 as you never see them again after dancing barefoot in the sand. When you're done you can try falling face first into the sand and waking up to see a beautiful sunrise. Hey, they don't call this Sunrise beach for nothing. Failing that you can try to find your speedboat back to Samui but remember there are about twice as many people going back than coming over so you will need to q-up. Plus the boat may never arrive or they may tell you you lost your return ticket, or that it is a different boat. It usually is, so you may need to pay again. Alternatively there is always regular 8am boat Hadrin Queen for 250 THB to take you back to Samui, providing you can sqeeze on of course.

Ahh .. for someone who asked about the bus to Samui from Phattaya: the bust from Bkk takes 10-12h to Don Sak and then there is a 2h ferry to Samui. It used to be 1,5h but the engines are bit tired these days. So from Pattay you just have to add few hours to this trip for the Pattaya - Bkk leg. All up probably about 20h including tea breaks. Good luck!

Thanks for that insightful view of fmp, but still despite all the negatives i reckon it's gotta be done at least once, I don't see myself being able to endure 12 hours on a bus, might fly to somewhere nearby and catch a ferry, anyway thanks for that. let the party begin.