How to Get to Koh Lipe

Fly to Hat Yai. On a November weekday there were nineteen nonstop flights from Don Mueang, on Thai Lion Air, Thai AirAsia and Nok Air from about ฿1,400, and seven from Suvarnabhumi on Thai VietJet and THAI, all about 1 hour 30. Take one that lands by about 10:00 and Bundhaya's van leaves the airport at 09:00 or 11:00, reaching Lipe at 13:00 or 15:00 for ฿950. A morning flight gets you to the beach by mid-afternoon.

The overnight train is the slower, more comfortable option. Special Express No. 31 leaves Krung Thep Aphiwat at 16:50 and reaches Hat Yai at 07:05, with second-class air-conditioned berths from about ฿1,003. That's too late for the 09:00 airport van, but the town van leaves at 08:30 and also reaches Lipe at 13:00.

The cheapest way is a combined bus-and-boat ticket. Agencies on Khao San Road and at the Southern Bus Terminal sell overnight buses that connect with a morning boat, leaving around 16:00 to 17:15 and reaching Lipe at about 11:00 to 13:00 the next day, for about $79–94 on 12Go. It's a long night for the saving.

Pak Bara, a pier in Satun province about two and a half hours by road from Hat Yai airport, is the mainland gateway to Lipe and the one route that runs all year. Bundhaya's combined ticket is the simple way. The van leaves Hat Yai airport at 09:00 and 11:00 (town at 08:30 and 10:30) and the boat lands on Lipe at 13:00 or 15:00, for ฿950. If you're already in Pak Bara, the speedboat alone is ฿700, at 11:30 and 13:30, with a 09:30 from December. Other operators sell the same van-and-boat combination on 12Go, and private cars from the airport to the pier are also listed there.

Hat Yai is in Songkhla province. The UK advises against all but essential travel to four districts in the south of Songkhla and on the Hat Yai to Padang Besar railway, and Canada advises against all travel to Hat Yai city; neither names Satun, where Pak Bara and Lipe are. Check your own government's current advice before you route through, and see my safety guide for what each one says.

Langkawi is the closest place to Lipe, 90 minutes by ferry, and two companies run the crossing from 15 October to late May. Telaga Terminal sails from Telaga Harbour on Langkawi's northwest coast, 15–20 minutes from the airport. In the peak months, 1 November to 15 April, it leaves at 09:30 and 14:30 Malaysian time and lands on Lipe at 10:00 and 15:00 Thai time, with one sailing a day at the start and end of the season. The fare is RM160 plus a RM10 surcharge and a RM3 booking fee, so RM173 one way, and the longtail to the beach is included. Bundhaya sails from Kuah Jetty in Langkawi's main town, at 09:15 and 14:00 from November to mid-April, for ฿1,400.

You clear Malaysian immigration at the terminal, and the crew collect passports for Thai immigration, which is done at an office on Pattaya Beach when you land. Expect the passport check to take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour. Fill in Thailand's Digital Arrival Card before you travel. From June to mid-October no boat crosses direct; the route is a ferry from Kuah to Satun's Tammalang pier, a van to Pak Bara and the speedboat, about 5 to 6 hours in all.

From 15 October to 20 May, Bundhaya's island-hopping speedboats run south down the Andaman coast to Lipe. From Rassada pier in Phuket they leave at 08:30, landing at 13:30, with a 10:00 added in high season, for ฿2,500. From Tonsai on Koh Phi Phi it's 09:30 or 11:00 for ฿2,350, and from Saladan on Koh Lanta 10:30 or 12:30 for ฿1,700, three hours with stops at Koh Ngai, Koh Mook and Koh Kradan, where you can also start for ฿1,400–1,600. From Ao Nang's Nopparat Thara pier the boat leaves at 10:10 and from Railay East at 10:30, both reaching Lipe at 15:30 for ฿2,400, from 1 November to 4 May.

Outside the season, or from Krabi Town and Trang, the way is by road to Pak Bara and the speedboat from there. Vans from Ao Nang hotels leave around 06:00 and reach Lipe early in the afternoon, and Trang's airport, station and town have morning vans that reach Lipe at about 13:30, all sold on 12Go for about $30–35.

Lipe has no pier for the big boats. In season they stop at floating platforms off Pattaya Beach and a longtail takes you to the sand for about ฿50, included in some tickets; in the rainy season the boats often land on the Sunrise Beach side instead. Visitors pay the Tarutao National Park fee, ฿200 for an adult and ฿100 for a child, in cash. Coming from Langkawi, you'll queue at the immigration office on the beach before you're free to go.

Speedboats to Pak Bara leave Lipe at 09:30, 11:30 and 13:30 all year, and Bundhaya's through tickets reach Hat Yai airport at 13:30, 15:30 or 17:30, so for an evening flight take the 09:30 or 11:30 boat. In season the island-hopping boats head north at 09:00, to Lanta and Phuket, with a second boat at 12:00 in high season, and the Langkawi ferries leave from mid-morning. The Langkawi boats run on Malaysian time at the other end, so you arrive an hour later on the clock than the crossing suggests.