Hi All,

I know its ambitious but I'm trying to look at the feasibility and cost of taking a trip to Phangan from Bangkok from a Fri - Sunday night. Can anyone here advise me on the most efficient, rip off and hassle free way of getting from Samui airport to Thongsala and vice versa. After searching for an hour I have read vague info about speed boats and ferries, I want to be able to get a ticket quickly and be taken to pier across to Thongsala as quickly as possible to make good use of the short time I have there.

Thanks

The Seatran ferry is about 1km from Samui airport and would be the nearest option for you. It goes twice a day. 08-00 am and 12-00 or 13-00 pm in the afternoon. It takes around 30 minutes. There is also a slower boat that goes several times a day a little further up from the seatran pier but forget the name of it. Easily done

I think you'll get better info if we move this over to the Samui forum. OK?

Topic Moved.

The Seatran ferry is about 1km from Samui airport and would be the nearest option for you. It goes twice a day. 08-00 am and 12-00 or 13-00 pm in the afternoon. It takes around 30 minutes. There is also a slower boat that goes several times a day a little further up from the seatran pier but forget the name of it. Easily done

The 'Haad Rin Queen' is considerably slower and would involve a needless white knuckle ride the other end in order to reach Tong Sala. The outward journey should be OK on the Seatran but if timings are tight for the return flight* to Bkk I would take the Lompriah back to Samui & ask their minibus to drop you @ the airport.

(*IME the inbound Seatran shouldn't be trusted to adhere to their published timetable. They're often late by 90+mins!)

HTH

Agree ^ , Seatran would be closest to airport.... Their web page is very poor, with no reference to Koh Phangan but times given above by Pipiffs is about right... 8 am and noonish!

I believe they do the drop off service too, there used to be a sign outside ticket office saying that... you generally have to ask when buying ticket for ferry (on return) ...bus, 100 or perhaps 200 baht, it varies with seasons and promotions....

Lomprayah leaves from Maenam pier about same times, but further from Airport

http://www.lomprayah.com/e/route.htm

Price for ferry is 300 baht, a little cheaper if you book return ticket in advance...

Again you must ask for drop off service, ticket when purchasing ferry ticket... Mini bus service... but they will be dropping others off en route .... unless a bus load going to airport....

It's not really difficult at all....although if seas are rough ferries can be late.... more so on return trip....

Just used Seatran the other day and noticed they run three times a day from Samui to Phangan - 8:00 (I think), 12:30 and 15:30, although as said above, they're regularly late by 30-90 mins. Going back to Phangan, we even had to wait 30-40 mins in the ferry just outside the Thong Sala pier on Phangan because it was occupied by Lomprayah ferries (presumably because the Seatran was late by an hour; had it been on time, the pier would've been available for use).

If those times don't suit the OP, there's Lomprayah and Songserm from Maenam and Nathon.

Seatran now has a new timetable out. They leave at 8.00 am, 12.30 pm, and 3.30 pm.

Return to Samui 8.00 am, 11.00 am, and 4.30 pm.

^ AngThong I see you beat me to it.

Seatran now has a new timetable out. They leave at 8.00 am, 12.30 pm, and 3.30 pm.

Return to Samui 8.00 am, 11.00 am, and 4.30 pm.

^ AngThong I see you beat me to it.

That's good to know, but they have not updated their web site, that's why I did not add the link! All I saw to KP was their parcel service!

Seatran now has a new timetable out. They leave at 8.00 am, 12.30 pm, and 3.30 pm.

Return to Samui 8.00 am, 11.00 am, and 4.30 pm.

^ AngThong I see you beat me to it.

That's good to know, but they have not updated their web site, that's why I did not add the link! All I saw to KP was their parcel service!

Yeah, the website sucks. Pretty much every Phangan website is outdated. The party people's Phanganist.com tends to be best updated.

http://phanganist.com/tags/ferry