Koh Samui to Koh Phangan Ferry

From Chaweng, Choeng Mon, Bophut's Fisherman's Village or the airport, Bangrak is your dock, 10 to 15 minutes by Grab from central Chaweng and five from the terminal. Three different piers share the bay, a few hundred meters apart, and your ticket names one of them. Lomprayah's pier has the most departures. Its catamarans and the Lomlahkkhirin speedboats leave roughly hourly from 08:00 to 17:30 for ฿350 and reach Thong Sala in 30 minutes (20 on the speedboat). Seatran's pier next door has the 45-minute Seatran Discovery ferry at 09:30 and 14:30 and Boonsiri's catamaran at 08:00, 11:00, 12:30 and 16:00. Petcherat Marina, across the road from the Design Hotel on the Bangrak strip, is where Songserm Express speedboats leave five times a day for the fastest crossing on the route, 20 minutes to Thong Sala, and where Echo Travel's speedboats run six times a day to Baan Tai, the beach strip between Thong Sala and Haad Rin, for ฿490. Echo is the boat to take if you're staying in Ban Tai or Ban Khai, and its 20:30 departure is the last scheduled boat of the day.

The Big Buddha pier, at the temple end of the same bay, belongs to the Haad Rin Queen, the veteran wooden double-decker that is the only boat sailing directly to Haad Rin. Two ferries a day, 10:30 and 17:00, 50 minutes, ฿200 at the pier desk, plus a speedboat at 15:00 and 18:30 for ฿500 that does it in 25 minutes. If your Phangan room is in Haad Rin, this saves you the songthaew from Thong Sala at the other end. Tickets are sold at the desk, cash, not online.

From Maenam or Bophut, walk or take a five-minute Grab to Lomprayah's Pralarn pier in Maenam, where catamarans sail at 08:00 and 12:30 (฿350–400) and the 11:00 sailing is Lomprayah's slower Laemsor ferry at ฿250–275, the cheapest fast-company ticket on the route. A Lomlahkkhirin speedboat also leaves Pralarn at 14:30. From Lamai, Bangrak is the shorter drive (about 25 minutes). From Nathon and the west coast, the town pier has Songserm's conventional ferry at 10:30, 50 to 60 minutes for ฿200 to 250 and the cheapest crossing there is, plus Lomprayah catamarans at 12:15 and 16:00, Boonsiri at 14:35 and a Songserm speedboat at 17:15.

Samui Airport is on the Bangrak side of the island, and the ferry piers are a five to ten minute drive from the terminal. Grab and inDrive don't pick up at the door, so walk three or four minutes out to the main road by the 7-Eleven and call one there, ฿220 to 280 to any of the Bangrak piers in September 2026, with inDrive a little cheaper for cash. The airport taxi counter charges more for the same ride. Bags come off Samui's carousel fast (usually under 10 minutes), so a landing at 12:00 makes the 13:30 Lomlahkkhirin comfortably and the 12:30 Lomprayah only if you don't check a bag. The rule that works is to book the boat that leaves 90 minutes to two hours after your scheduled landing, and if you land after 16:00 stay the night on Samui and take a morning boat rather than gambling on the 17:30.

Two operators sell the whole connection as one ticket. Seatran's counter sells an airport-to-Thong Sala through ticket with a van from the terminal, about ฿400 to 500 depending on where you buy it, on two of its sailings a day. Lomprayah's hotel-pickup ticket is ฿500 from anywhere on Samui to Thong Sala, and its 2026 timetable also prices Thong Sala to Samui Airport at ฿500 for the trip home. The pickup is a shared van that collects other passengers first, so it's slower than a Grab but cheaper for one person and no work at all with luggage. At the pier, check in at the counter with your booking, collect a boarding sticker and a colored luggage tag for your island, and let the crew stack your bag on the bow; the 20 kg limit on the Lomprayah sign is real, and anything heavier is negotiated at the desk.

The party falls once a month on Haad Rin, plus a New Year countdown on 31 December (every date is in our Full Moon Party guide), and in the two or three days before each one the relaxed turn-up-and-buy routine stops working. Book the crossing three to seven days ahead on party dates and longer over the two weeks around Christmas and New Year, because the popular morning and midday sailings genuinely sell out; the operators add boats on party days, but the extras get absorbed fast. Rooms in Haad Rin go weeks earlier than the boats do, so if you're staying on Phangan for the party, book the bed first.

If you're based on Samui and doing the party as a night out, the Haad Rin Queen pier at Big Buddha is the answer. On party nights it runs speedboats to Haad Rin and back continuously, about 18 minutes each way, ฿500 or so each way, and they keep going until dawn, which is how most Samui-based travelers do it. Go over on an evening boat, come back at 02:00 or 03:00 rather than paying party-week rates for a Haad Rin room. Keep your bag on your lap and your phone zipped away on the way back. The advice from the pier crews is not to wait for the last boat around 04:00, when the line is at its most chaotic; leave an hour earlier and you'll be in a bed in Chaweng by 04:30.

Going back is the same fleet in reverse, from Thong Sala (most boats), Haad Rin (the Haad Rin Queen) and Baan Tai (Echo), between 07:30 and 18:30, ฿200 to 500. The extra rule is the airport. Bangrak is ten minutes from the terminal, so a Lomprayah or Lomlahkkhirin boat that lands at Bangrak by 11:15 is fine for a 14:00 flight, and Lomprayah sells a Thong Sala-to-airport through ticket for ฿500 roughly hourly from 07:30 to 18:00, arriving at the terminal about an hour after you sail. A boat that lands at Nathon or Pralarn adds 30 to 45 minutes of road to the airport. The full return-direction guide, with every departure by Samui landing pier, is Koh Phangan to Koh Samui.