Koh Samui to Bangkok

Bangkok Airways is the only airline out of Samui to Bangkok, with around 30 departures a day to Suvarnabhumi from early morning to about 20:00 and three a day to Don Mueang. The fare runs from about ฿2,800 one way in a quiet month to ฿6,000–6,800 in the December–January and Songkran weeks, includes a checked bag, and is cheapest three to six weeks out. If you are connecting to an international flight, fly to Suvarnabhumi and allow three hours between arrival and departure; Bangkok Airways sells through-tickets with its partner airlines, and a delay on a through-ticket is the airline's problem rather than yours. If your next leg is an AirAsia or Nok Air domestic flight, the Don Mueang service saves you the ฿300–400 taxi and an hour across the city.

The flight itself is 50 to 75 minutes on an A319 or an ATR 72. Samui's terminal is small and open-air, security is quick, and 90 minutes before departure is plenty; the airport is 10 to 15 minutes from Chaweng and Bophut but 45 minutes from Nathon, Lipa Noi and Taling Ngam, and Grab and Bolt thin out before 07:00 on the west coast.

Lomprayah's boat-and-bus is the overland ticket I'd buy. Its catamaran leaves the island at 08:00 and 12:30, calls at Koh Phangan and Koh Tao, lands at Chumphon, and its coach takes over from there: the 08:00 boat reaches Lomprayah's Khao San office at 20:30 and the 12:30 boat at 00:45, for ฿1,450 on the standard coach or ฿1,750 on the VIP. The same ticket runs to Suvarnabhumi or Don Mueang airport (23:00 arrival off the 08:00 boat) for ฿1,950–2,250, or to the Airport Rail Link at Phaya Thai and Hua Lamphong MRT for ฿1,750–2,050, which is the one overland option that puts you at an airport without a Bangkok taxi.

Two cautions. The 00:45 arrival on Khao San is a real midnight, with taxis but no buses, so the 08:00 boat is the one to take unless your hotel is on Khao San itself. And the boat sails past two islands before it reaches the mainland, so in the November–December rough-sea weeks it is the crossing most likely to be cancelled; the Donsak car ferries keep going.

AirAsia, Nok Air and Thai Lion fly Surat Thani (URT) to Don Mueang, and there are Suvarnabhumi departures too, for ฿1,000–2,000 most days. Getting there is a ferry-and-van ticket sold at every Samui pier office and online: Raja Ferry's own timetable has its 05:00 boat from Lipa Noi landing you at the airport at 10:00 for ฿540, the earliest connection there is; Lomprayah's catamaran and van take about 3 hours and cost ฿897 online; Phantip's Seatran ferry and van are ฿604, Samui Tour ฿675, Boonsiri ฿864, Seatran's own combination ฿812. Around 39 combinations a day leave between 05:00 and 14:00 and land between 09:00 and 19:00.

The rule: count back 3.5 to 5.5 hours from your flight, add the airport's own 60 to 90 minutes, and if that puts your boat before 05:00, it doesn't exist. In practice a flight before about 11:00 means taking an afternoon boat the day before and sleeping in Surat Thani town (hotels near the airport and the station are ฿500–1,000), and anything from early afternoon works from the first boats.

The train home is the sleeper to Surat Thani in reverse, and it is easier this way round because the timetable is on your side: nine northbound trains leave Phun Phin between 18:25 and 23:28 and reach Krung Thep Aphiwat between 03:45 and 10:50 the next morning, so any boat off the island by early afternoon connects. The ferry-and-van ticket to the station is sold at every pier office (the same operators and prices as the airport run, about ฿500–900), and the vans drop you at the forecourt cafés, which stay open into the evening.

Which train: Express No. 86 from Nakhon Si Thammarat (19:31, arrives 06:10) and Express No. 84 from Trang (20:23, arrives 07:05) carry 1st-class two-berth cabins as well as 2nd-class air-con sleepers, and arrive at a civilized hour. Special Express No. 32 from Hat Yai (22:24, arrives 08:10) has the newest carriages and the latest sensible departure. Rapid No. 170 from Yala (23:28, arrives 10:50) is the cheap one with fan sleepers. The 09:00 railcar No. 40 (2nd-class air-con seats, ฿524, arrives 18:05) is the only comfortable daytime train and needs the first boat. Station fares are the same as southbound: about ฿700–900 for a 2nd-class air-con berth, ฿1,300–1,500 in 1st class, ฿250 in 3rd; online sellers add ฿100–200. Seats open 90 days ahead on every train here except No. 38 (Sungai Kolok, 30 days); Phun Phin's counter sells whatever is left on the day.

Every combo operator sells a hotel pickup for about ฿150–250 on top of the ticket, and for the early boats that is the easy answer: the minivan does the rounds of Chaweng, Lamai and Bophut from about 04:00 for the 05:00 Raja sailing. On your own, the red songthaews run Chaweng to Nathon for ฿100 a head in daylight but not before dawn, and Grab and Bolt cars are ฿200–600 across the island depending on distance and surge. Lomprayah's boats leave from its own piers at Nathon and Bangrak, Seatran from Nathon, Raja and Boonsiri from Lipa Noi, 8 km south of Nathon, so check which pier is on your ticket; they are 40 minutes apart at the ends.

For a first flight out of the airport from a villa on the far side of the island (Lamai, Taling Ngam, Lipa Noi), a booked car with a fixed fare beats hoping a Grab driver is awake at 05:30.

Suvarnabhumi has the Airport Rail Link to Phaya Thai (฿45, 26 minutes, BTS connection) and metered taxis from the ground-floor rank (฿300–400 to Sukhumvit or the old city plus a ฿50 airport surcharge and ฿75 in tolls). Don Mueang has the SRT Red Line from its own station to Krung Thep Aphiwat for the MRT Blue Line, the A1 and A2 airport buses to Mo Chit BTS for ฿30, and the same taxi rank. Lomprayah's coaches stop outside its office on Rambuttri Road behind Khao San, fine at 20:30 and a taxi ride at 00:45. The government coaches end at the Southern Terminal (Sai Tai Mai), 12 km west of the old city in Thonburi with a taxi rank and local buses, and at Mo Chit. The trains end at Krung Thep Aphiwat, where the MRT Blue Line is directly below the concourse and a taxi to Sukhumvit is about ฿150–250.