Krabi to Koh Samui

Bangkok Airways is the only airline flying Krabi to Samui nonstop, a turboprop hop of about 50 minutes. In October it leaves Krabi at 14:00, from November at 13:45, and by mid-December a second flight is added in the evening. One-way fares on 12Go ran about ฿3,900–4,550 for those months, several times the price of a combo ticket, which is the price of a near-monopoly on Samui's airport.

It's worth it when time matters more than money, or when your next stop is a Samui resort on the east coast that the ferries leave you an hour's ride from. Book early for December and January, because one or two small planes a day sell out. If it's full, ignore the connections through Bangkok that booking sites offer; at four to eight hours they're no faster than the bus and ferry.

Every overland ticket does the same thing. A bus or van collects you in Krabi, drives about three hours across the peninsula to Donsak pier east of Surat Thani, and hands you to a boat for Samui. Book it as one ticket, not separate legs, so the boat waits for your bus if the road is slow.

Lomprayah is the smooth option. Its own timetable lists a coach from its Krabi office at 08:00 or 11:30, collecting from the Ao Nang pickup at 07:20 or 10:45, to its catamaran at Donsak and Nathon pier on Samui at 11:45 or 15:45. The fare is ฿1,100 from Krabi or Ao Nang, ฿1,200 from Krabi Town hotels and Ao Nam Mao and ฿1,250 from Klong Muang, and a drop at your Samui hotel adds ฿150 and about an hour. The catamaran crossing is the shortest of the lot, about 45 minutes.

The cheaper tickets use the slower car ferries. Phantip leaves Krabi Bus Terminal at 10:15, with a second bus at 13:30 from November, for about ฿500 to Nathon, or ฿560 with an Ao Nang pickup. Raja's combo from the bus terminal at 10:00 lands at Lipa Noi at 15:30 for about ฿860, and Seatran and Boonsiri sell Ao Nang pickups to Nathon for about ฿845–910. The ferries themselves take about 1 hour 30, and the buses can wait at Donsak for a sailing, so allow 6 to 8 hours.

Most combos land at Nathon, the island's main town on the west coast. Raja's car ferry lands at Lipa Noi, a few kilometers south. The Lomlahkkhirin speedboat, sold in Lomprayah's timetable from Krabi at 09:30, lands at Pralarn pier in Maenam on the north coast at 14:00 for ฿1,000, which suits anyone staying in Maenam or Bophut.

Chaweng and Lamai, where most people stay, are on the opposite side of the island from Nathon and Lipa Noi, so budget for a taxi across or pay for a hotel drop. Lomprayah's adds ฿150 and about an hour; Phantip's hotel option is about ฿650 instead of ฿500.

The two coasts have opposite seasons. Krabi is driest from December to March and wettest from May to October, while Samui's wet season runs October to December, with November its wettest month at about 445 mm of rain. So the classic order for a winter trip is Krabi first and Samui after Christmas, and in summer the reverse. The boats run year-round, but a November or December crossing can be rough, and the flight is the comfortable choice then if it fits.

Our Koh Samui vs Krabi comparison goes through the month-by-month choice if you're still deciding which coast gets more of your trip.