Field note · Thailand · Rayong

Ko Samet

Everything goes through Ban Phe pier on the Rayong coast: a bus or minivan from Bangkok, then a 50 baht slow ferry, a 150 baht catamaran or a speedboat that leaves when it is full, then a national park fee at the gate and a songthaew down the island's one road.

Researched: 28 September 2026
Reviewed: not yet
Ways of moving: 12, 26 sources
Not confirmed: 6
Fares seen: 2024–2026

How transport works here

12 ways of moving, each with its rule

We confirmed ten ways of moving to, from or around Ko Samet: four by water, five by road and one under your own steam, from 26 sources. Two entries are not a service at all but a rule that decides whether travel happens: a permit, a closure, a border, a season or an authority's say-so. Three of them run only on demand or when the seats are full, so there is no timetable to show; the rule is written where the timetable would be. Two need a phone call or a message before you turn up.

The fares were seen in 2024 to 2026; a fare from an older year is a floor, not a price. Two fares carry no year, because they could not be confirmed and the field says so. We rate 8 of the 12 high confidence, our own judgement of the sources. The entry was checked on 28 September 2026, and ends with six things we could not confirm.

4 ways

By water

ferry

Ban Phe slow ferry to Na Dan

Ban Phe Pier, Nuan Thip Pier or the Ban Phe municipal pier to Na Dan Pier, Ko Samet

Four separate operators sell the same crossing from piers that are a few hundred metres apart in Ban Phe: Ban Phe Pier (also called Tarue Phe, the main one, opposite the 7-Eleven), Nuan Thip Pier about 200 m south, Si Ban Phe and the municipal pier. It genuinely does not matter which you use, and on the way back you can leave from whichever pier has a boat sooner. Buy a one-way ticket, not a return: the return is exactly double and locks you to one company. The printed timetable is a hint rather than a promise, because the boats wait for a load. Every pier has secure parking, which is the answer to the fact that no private cars are allowed on the island at all.

When: Roughly hourly from about 07:00 to 18:00 from Ban Phe Pier, with a parallel hourly service from Nuan Thip from 08:00 to 17:00. Boats also leave whenever about 20 passengers have gathered
Takes: About 40 minutes
Fare 2026: 50 to 70 baht one way per person. Wikivoyage records a flat 100 baht return, which is why a single is the better buy

SeasonYear-round. Departures are delayed or pulled in rough weather from roughly May to October. BookingNone. Cash at the pier on the day. Run byWhite Shark, Nuanthip Boat, Si Ban Phe and Phe Port.

ferry

Koh Kaew Phitsadan fast ferry catamaran

Ban Phe Pier to Na Dan Pier

A proper covered catamaran with air-conditioned seating, sold from its own counter at Ban Phe Pier, separate from the slow-ferry booths. It is the only boat on this crossing that runs to real fixed times, it handles a choppy sea far better than the open speedboats, and at 150 baht it costs three times a slow ferry to save half an hour. It does not use Nuan Thip. Children 6 to 10 are half price, under 5 free, 11 and over pay adult.

When: 08:30, 10:00, 11:30, 14:15 and 17:00 from Ban Phe; 09:00, 10:30, 12:30, 15:45 and 17:30 back from Na Dan
Takes: 10 to 15 minutes
Fare 2026: 150 baht one way, 300 baht return, 75 baht for children aged 6 to 10

SeasonYear-round, and the most reliable option in monsoon swell. BookingBuy at the Koh Kaew Phitsadan counter at Ban Phe Pier on the day. Run byKoh Kaew Phitsadan Ferry.

speedboat

Ban Phe and Nuan Thip speedboats

Ban Phe Pier and Nuan Thip Pier to Na Dan Pier and the beaches

Priced completely differently from the ferries, and this is where people get caught. The ferries are a flat fare regardless of how many of you there are; the speedboats are priced per person on a shared boat and per boat on a charter, and the two numbers are far apart. A shared seat is 150 to 300 baht, usually about 200. A whole boat after the last scheduled sailing is 1,800 to 2,500 baht however many people are in it, which is fine for six and painful for one. The Ban Phe Pier speedboats run to posted times; the Nuan Thip ones have no schedule at all and leave when they have enough passengers, which in the middle of the day is a short wait. Luggage sits on your lap.

When: Ban Phe Pier 08:30, 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00; Nuan Thip on demand roughly 08:00 to 19:00, departing when full. Charter on demand, the only option after about 18:00
Takes: About 10 minutes
Fare 2026: 150 to 300 baht per person shared, usually around 200. Private charter 1,800 to 2,500 baht for the whole boat

SeasonYear-round, but open boats are the first thing cancelled when the sea gets up in May to October. BookingNone for a shared seat. Phone the operator for a charter, especially after dark. Run byWhite Shark Speedboats (+66 38 653 181), Samed Speedboats (+66 38 651 134), Chokmana Speedboats (+66 38 651 531), Follow Me Tour.

boat

Nuanthip boats direct to the southern bays

Ban Phe to Ao Wong Duean, Ao Phrao, Ao Wai, Ao Kiu and Ao Pakarang, bypassing Na Dan

If you are staying at one of the southern bays, this saves you the songthaew ride down the rough part of the island's road. Nuanthip Pier (+66 38 651508) runs boats straight to the bay piers, but they have a minimum group: the Na Dan boat goes with 20 aboard, the bay boats need 7. If there are fewer of you than that, you either wait, pay the difference, or take the ordinary ferry to Na Dan and a songthaew south. Return times from the bays are fixed and sparse, which is the part to plan around: Ao Wong Duean at 08:30, 10:30, 12:30, 14:30 and 16:30, Ao Wai at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00 and 16:00, and Ao Kiu or Pakarang at 09:30, 11:30, 13:30 and 15:30.

When: On demand once 7 passengers are gathered, with fixed return times from each bay
Takes: 45 minutes to an hour to the far southern bays
Fare: Ao Wong Duean and Ao Phrao 120 baht return, Ao Wai and Ao Kiu (Pakarang) 200 baht return, Samet cliff 120 baht return. Si Ban Phe Boat also quotes a 1,000 baht speedboat for 12 people to the main port. The year these were posted is not confirmed

SeasonYear-round, weather permitting. BookingPhone ahead or ask at the Nuanthip counter; nothing sails until the group is there. Run byNuanthip Boat (+66 38 651508 / +66 38 651514), Si Ban Phe Boat (+66 38 651902).

2 ways

Rules, permits and closures

permit

Khao Laem Ya - Mu Ko Samet National Park entry fee

Collected at the park gate just south of Na Dan village, on the way to the beaches

Almost all of Ko Samet, including every beach worth going to, sits inside the national park, and you pay on arrival at a gate a few minutes' walk from Na Dan Pier. It is the single thing that surprises people most, because nothing about the ferry ticket mentions it. Thai pricing and foreigner pricing are different: 200 baht for a foreign adult and 100 baht for a foreign child against 40 and 20 baht for Thais, and people who can show they live or work in Thailand are often charged the Thai rate. Ferry ticket sellers in Ban Phe will tell you that you have to buy the park ticket from them; you do not, and you can pay at the gate. Keep the ticket, because it can be asked for again during your stay or for some boat trips.

When: Collected whenever the gate is staffed, which is most of the day
Takes: A few minutes
Fare 2024: Foreign adults 200 baht, foreign children 100 baht; Thai adults 40 baht, Thai children 20 baht

SeasonYear-round. BookingNone, cash at the gate. Run byDepartment of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.

service status

Weekends, holidays and the monsoon

Ban Phe crossing and the island road

Samet is the closest real island to Bangkok, which decides almost everything about how it behaves. On Friday and Saturday mornings, on long weekends and over Songkran the capital empties out towards Ban Phe, the ferries fill and go rather than run to the clock, room rates rise and the southern songthaews get busy; aim to be at the pier at least half an hour before you want to leave. Midweek out of season the same boats can sit waiting for a load. The other constraint is the clock: the last scheduled slow ferry leaves Ban Phe at 18:00 and the last catamaran at 17:00, after which the only way across is a private speedboat charter at 1,800 to 2,500 baht for the boat. From roughly May to October rough seas delay and occasionally cancel sailings, the open speedboats first and the catamaran last, so leave slack in a schedule that ends at an airport.

When: Every weekend and Thai public holiday; monsoon effects May to October
Fare: Not a priced service, but weekend demand moves accommodation and charter prices

SeasonPeak crowding on weekends and Thai holidays year-round; rough seas May to October. BookingNothing to book for the boats. Book a room ahead for a weekend. Run byThe boat operators and the weather decide on the day.

5 ways

By road

songthaew

Island songthaews and the unofficial island bus

Na Dan Pier down the single main road to Hat Sai Kaew, Ao Phai, Ao Tubtim, Ao Phrao, Ao Wong Duean, Ao Sang Thian, Ao Wai, Ao Kiu and Ao Pakarang

Green bench-seat pickups wait at the end of the pier and at a marked stand on every beach, and every stand has a board with the fixed government fares on it, so there is nothing to haggle over. There are two prices for the same trip and which one you pay depends on your group. Per person means you buy a seat and the driver waits to fill the truck, which is the cheap way but costs you a few minutes. Charter means you take the whole vehicle and leave now. The gap is small for two or three people and worth it for four: pier to Hat Sai Kaew is 20 baht a head or 100 baht for the truck, pier to Ao Wong Duean 30 baht or 250, pier to Ao Pakarang at the far south 60 baht or 500. Get a driver's number if you are heading south, because trucks are thin on the ground down there in the evening. Separately, one songthaew at a time takes a turn as the island bus, marked with a bus sign in the windscreen, running pier to the southern end and back about once an hour at 50 baht a head. You cannot plan around it, but you can flag it down.

When: Constant along the northern half of the road through the day, sparse in the far south after dark. The island bus roughly hourly with no published schedule
Takes: Pier to Hat Sai Kaew a few minutes, pier to the southern bays 30 to 40 minutes on a rough road
Fare 2026: Per person 20 to 60 baht depending on distance; charter 100 to 500 baht for the whole truck. Around-the-island tour 1,000 to 2,000 baht per vehicle. The island bus is a flat 50 baht per person

SeasonYear-round. BookingNone. Confirm the fare with the driver against the board before you get in. Run byKo Samet songthaew co-operative, fares posted by the authorities at each stand.

bus

Bangkok Ekkamai bus to Ban Phe

Eastern Bus Terminal (Ekkamai), Bangkok to Ban Phe, Rayong

Ekkamai is the one to use, because the bus terminates at the piers themselves, opposite the ferry counters, and the Cherdchai service drops at Nuan Thip Pier. Mo Chit has no direct Ban Phe service at all: it only takes you as far as Rayong, from where you need a songthaew on to the coast. Ekkamai sits directly on top of Ekkamai BTS station, so getting to it from anywhere in Bangkok is easy. Morning departures at 07:00, 09:00 and 11:00 can be booked ahead on the operator's site or app; otherwise buy at the counter.

When: Roughly every 1.5 hours, hourly at peak, through the day
Takes: 3 to 4 hours
Fare 2026: 155 to 200 baht. Wikivoyage records 173 baht on the government service

SeasonYear-round. BookingWalk up, or book the morning departures ahead online. Run byCherdchai Tour and other Eastern Bus Terminal operators; Rayong Tour runs a faster service via Highway 7.

minibus

Bangkok minivans to the Ban Phe piers

Ekkamai and Victory Monument, Bangkok to Ban Phe

Minivans leave Ekkamai about every hour and are marginally quicker on paper than the coach, though the several stops around Rayong usually eat the difference. There is a second set from Victory Monument in Phahonyothin, sold from the basement of the mall with the vans parked at Century Mall, and those run right through to the ferry piers rather than dropping you in Rayong. They are fast, cramped and bumpy, and a poor choice with a large bag. Some Victory Monument vans terminate at the Rayong clock tower instead, so check which before you buy.

When: Hourly from Ekkamai; roughly every 45 minutes from Victory Monument
Takes: 3 to 4 hours
Fare 2026: About 200 baht from Ekkamai; Wikivoyage quotes 250 baht per person on the Victory Monument vans

SeasonYear-round. BookingBuy at the counter; no seat reservation on most services. Run byPrivate minivan operators.

songthaew

Dark blue Rayong to Ban Phe songthaew

Rayong Bus Terminal to Ban Phe, about 25 km

This is the link that turns half the awkward arrivals into easy ones. If your bus only went as far as Rayong, if you flew into U-Tapao and took the airport bus to Rayong Bus Terminal, or if you came off the two-a-day train at Ban Plu Ta Luang and worked your way to Rayong, the dark blue songthaew at the terminal is what takes you the last stretch to the Ban Phe piers. Ask for Ban Phe by name rather than Rayong, because the pier is on the far eastern edge of the province and the two are not the same place. In Ban Phe itself there is an informal taxi rank of private cars in front of the 7-Eleven opposite the pier; you will not need to look for them.

When: Through the day, leaving when reasonably full
Takes: About 40 minutes
Fare 2026: Around 50 baht. Wikivoyage quotes 20 baht on the Rayong to Ban Phe songthaew

SeasonYear-round, daylight hours. Run byRayong songthaew owner-drivers.

combined transfer

Pattaya shared minivan with the ferry ticket included

Pattaya to Ban Phe and on to Na Dan, sold as one ticket

There is no direct public bus between Pattaya and Ban Phe, so the shared minivan sold with the boat ticket bundled in is the standard answer and guarantees your connection at the pier. A private transfer for the same leg is roughly double. The genuinely cheap way is to unbundle it yourself: the local bus from near Big C South Pattaya to Rayong Bus Terminal, then the dark blue songthaew to Ban Phe, which is about 150 baht all in but two changes and a lot more time. From Bangkok the private taxi equivalent runs from about 2,000 baht and Wikivoyage puts a metered Rayong to Ban Phe taxi at about 1,600 baht, with drivers preferring 2,000 to 2,500 off the meter plus around 100 baht of tolls.

When: Several departures daily on the shared service; private transfers on demand
Takes: 1 to 2 hours Pattaya to Ban Phe
Fare 2026: Shared minivan with ferry from about 500 baht, private transfer from about 1,000 baht. Bangkok private transfer from about 2,000 baht

SeasonYear-round. BookingBook ahead; the shared vans do not run without a load. Run byPrivate transfer operators; Samet Transfer runs direct Bangkok to Ban Phe.

One way

On foot, by bike, or otherwise

scooter hire

Scooter and bicycle hire on the island

Na Dan village and every beach with a rental shop, along the single north to south road

There are more bike shops on Samet than almost anything else, and the price is effectively fixed at 400 baht a day, usually with a full tank, with a little room to move if you take one for several days. Prices creep up at the far southern end. The road is the thing to understand before you hire: the main north to south spine is now sealed and in good condition, which is a change from the island's old reputation, but the branches to the quieter southern beaches past the park gate are still unsurfaced, hilly and rutted, and Wikivoyage is blunt that only riders with some experience should take them on. Check the brakes and tyres and photograph the existing scratches before you ride off. Mountain bikes are 150 to 200 baht a day. ATVs are no longer available on the island.

When: Shops open daily
Takes: End to end on the island in well under an hour
Fare 2026: 400 baht per day for a scooter, sometimes 300 to 400 depending on shop and season; 150 to 200 baht per day for a mountain bike

SeasonYear-round; the dirt sections are much worse after rain. BookingWalk in. A cash deposit rather than your passport is the usual and better arrangement. Run byIndependent rental shops, many next to guesthouses.

Not confirmed

What we could not find out

6 things the researcher looked for and did not find, in their own words, with where to ask instead. None of this goes into the planner; it stays here until someone confirms it.

01
Correction to the brief: Ko Samet's roads are no longer largely unsealed. The single main north to south road has been surfaced and is in good condition as of March 2026; it is the branches to the southern beaches beyond the national park gate that are still dirt, hilly and rough, and that is what the scooter warnings are about.
02
The national park entry fee is confirmed at 200 baht for foreign adults and 100 baht for foreign children by two independent sources, but not from an official Department of National Parks page. dnp.go.th sits behind an Incapsula bot wall and portal.dnp.go.th, which does serve over HTTP/1.1 with a browser user agent, did not yield the fee schedule for Khao Laem Ya - Mu Ko Samet. Ask the park office at the Na Dan gate, or check the Royal Gazette notice of national park service rates.
03
No operator data endpoint exists for the Ban Phe crossing. The four pier companies (White Shark, Nuanthip, Si Ban Phe, Phe Port) have no bookable web presence that could be reached; nuanthip.com, nuanthippier.com and kohsametferry.com all failed to resolve. Timetables here come from a hostel-run guide that states it is compiled from all operators and was updated in March 2026, corroborated against Wikivoyage. Confirm at the pier.
04
Correction to the brief: none of the operator endpoints in the API inventory serve Ko Samet. Boonsiri covers Trat, Ko Chang, Ko Mak, Ko Kood and Cambodia; Lomprayah, Seatran Discovery, Songserm and Raja Ferry are Gulf and Andaman operators. Boonsiri does list a Pattaya pickup, but on its Trat routes, not to Ban Phe.
05
Thai press reporting on the park's boat and vehicle licence fees on Ko Samet, which operators said tripled and which bear on songthaew and boat pricing, could not be cited: the Google News item links would not decode to publisher URLs, and khaosod.co.th, matichon.co.th and thairath.co.th all blocked the WordPress REST search. The headlines to chase are Khaosod, 20 October 2022, on Ko Samet boat operators petitioning after a threefold licence increase, and Khaosod, 15 January 2023, on songthaew operators paying 16,000 baht a year.
06
The exact first and last sailings vary by operator and season and the printed timetables are approximate by design, since boats wait for a load. The times given here are the March and September 2026 compilation; treat the 18:00 last slow ferry as the one hard fact.

In the planner

What the planner can route today

The options above live on the place page, not in the departure board: a boat that comes when you phone has no time to show. What the board can do for Ko Samet is this.

Y: Scheduled flightsRayong (UTP), 51 km
Y: Trains and coachesTransitous carries 1 timetable feed for this country, 0 with real-time
Y: Ferriesferry terminal, 1 km; sailings estimated
Y: Driving and taxiOpenStreetMap roads; cab fare from the country band
N: Bike and scooter shareno share feed known
N: Cruisesno open itinerary source anywhere

Y routable now · F found, not yet implemented · N no source known.