Ko Tao
Everything arrives at Mae Haad, and the word Mae Haad hides four separate piers. Lomprayah, Boonsiri, Songserm and the night boats each tie up at their own jetty a few hundred metres apart, so the ticket you hold decides which concrete you stand on and which agent will find you. From the north the crossing is short: catamarans from Chumphon take about 1 hour 45 minutes, and the whole Bangkok journey is sold as one coach-and-ferry ticket that leaves Khao San or Pinklao in the evening and puts you on the island before 09:00. From the south the boats work up through Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Samui and take twice as long, and the cheap overnight option is the old cargo night boat out of Bandon Pier in Surat Thani town. On the island there is no public transport at all: pickup trucks marked Taxi charge per head and start at prices that shock people who have just come from the mainland, longtail boats are often quicker than the dirt roads to the east coast, and the scooter you hire comes with a passport deposit and a well-documented habit of new scratches being found on return. October to December is the wet, rough end of the year, when boats are cancelled and visibility drops.
- Researched
- 22 September 2026
- Reviewed
- not yet
- Ways of moving
- 9, 48 sources
- Not confirmed
- 8
- Fares seen
- 2024–2026
9 ways of moving, each with its rule
We confirmed eight ways of moving to, from or around Ko Tao: two by road, four by water and two under your own steam, from 48 sources. One entry is 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. Two 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. One needs 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. We rate 6 of the 9 high confidence, our own judgement of the sources. The entry was checked on 22 September 2026, and ends with eight things we could not confirm.
By road
Through tickets from Bangkok – coach-and-ferry and train-and-ferry
Bangkok (Khao San Road or Pinklao) by coach, or by overnight train, to Chumphon, then catamaran to Mae Haad, Ko Tao
This is the standard way in and it is sold as a single fare, coach plus boat, that you cannot unbundle. Two operators run it. Lomprayah picks up at its Khaosan office and at Pinklao (Arun Amarin) in Bangkok; Boonsiri picks up on Tanee Road near Khao San, at Phra Sumen. Both drive overnight to their own pier south of Chumphon town, hand you a boarding pass in the dark and put you on the first catamaran of the morning. There is also a daytime departure at 06:00 that gets you to the island at 15:00. The evening buses are the ones most people take: you sleep on the coach, wait an hour or two at the pier, and land on Ko Tao between 08:15 and 08:45. The cheaper evening fare buys a standard coach, the dearer one a VIP coach with fewer seats. Lomprayah's fares also carry a 20 kg luggage limit, with 200 baht for anything heavier and 400 baht for a surfboard on a bus-and-boat route. Nok Air sells a comparable air-and-ferry combination from Don Mueang via Chumphon airport, where Lomprayah has a counter and runs a 09:00 transfer to the pier arriving Ko Tao 15:00 for 1,000 baht. The train version is the same idea with a better night's sleep. You buy the State Railway sleeper yourself at dticket.railway.co.th, then buy a ferry ticket whose named origin is Chumphon (Train) rather than Chumphon pier – that price includes the minibus from the station forecourt to the pier and the wait. Lomprayah keeps a ticket office inside Chumphon station and will sell you one on arrival. Train 85 leaves Bangkok about 19:30 and reaches Chumphon around 04:13, which suits the 06:00 boat, but these trains run late often enough that you should be willing to fall back to the midday sailing. Pathio station, one stop earlier, is 15 minutes from Chumphon airport. Going north, take an afternoon boat off the island to catch the 19:30 train out of Chumphon.
- When
- Lomprayah from Khaosan at 06:00, 21:30 and 22:00; from Pinklao at 06:00, 21:00 and 21:30. Boonsiri from Khao San at 05:00 and 22:00 (all checked for 1 October 2026). By train: Lomprayah from Chumphon (Train) at 05:15, 06:00 and 12:00, Boonsiri from Chumphon train station at 06:00 and 11:30; northbound Lomprayah leaves Ko Tao for Chumphon (Train) at 10:15, 12:30 and 15:00
- Takes
- About 10 hours 45 minutes on the overnight run (21:30 to 08:15) and about 9 hours on the 06:00 daytime run. By train, about 8 hours 45 minutes Bangkok to Chumphon, then 30 to 60 minutes to the pier and 1 hour 45 minutes to 3 hours on the water
- Fare 2026
- Lomprayah Bangkok to Ko Tao 850 baht on the standard evening coach and 1,250 baht on the VIP coach and on the 06:00 daytime service; child 425 or 625 baht. Boonsiri Khao San to Ko Tao 1,250 baht. Nok Air's Chumphon airport transfer and ferry 1,000 baht adult, 625 baht child (all September 2026). With the train, the ferry leg including the station transfer is 900 baht on Lomprayah's 06:00 and 12:00 boats, 600 baht on the slower 05:15, and 900 baht on Boonsiri; the rail fare is separate and bought from the State Railway
SeasonYear-round. Sailings are cut and sometimes cancelled outright in the October to December monsoon. BookingOnline at lomprayah.com or boonsiriferry.com, or at any Khao San travel agent. Book the peak weeks (December to March, July to August, Thai public holidays) ahead. Lomprayah's own booking engine shows live seat counts and several departures were already sold out three months out. Train tickets at dticket.railway.co.th, booked well ahead for a lower berth. Run byLomprayah High Speed Catamaran; Boonsiri Sealine; State Railway of Thailand for the train leg.
Island pickup taxis
Mae Haad pier, Sairee junction and Chalok Baan Kao, to anywhere reachable by road
There is no bus and no public transport of any kind on Ko Tao. The nearest thing is the pickup truck taxi: a songthaew with two benches in the back, a Taxi sign and a number painted on it. They wait at the pier in Mae Haad, at the main junction in Sairee by the 7-Eleven, and outside the 7-Eleven in Chalok Baan Kao. They price per person and will sit and wait until they have a load, so a couple who wants to go now usually pays about double. For the east coast bays – Tanote, Hin Wong, Mango, Aow Leuk – you need a four-wheel-drive truck and the price goes up again. Fares here are famously high by Thai standards and do not really negotiate down; agree the figure before you get in. The one free ride on the island is the resort transfer: almost every hotel and dive school will collect a booked guest from the pier at no charge, so email them your boat and arrival time and skip the taxi rank altogether.
- When
- On demand through the day, concentrated around ferry arrivals at Mae Haad. Thin after dark
- Takes
- Mae Haad to Sairee about 5 minutes, to Chalok Baan Kao about 10 minutes, to the east coast bays 20 to 30 minutes on rough track
- Fare 2024
- A minimum of about 300 baht for the vehicle, or about 100 baht per person once there are several of you. Four-wheel-drive runs to the east coast cost more. No published tariff exists
SeasonYear-round. The dirt roads over the spine of the island become impassable after heavy rain. BookingNone. Turn up at the pier, the Sairee junction or the Chalok 7-Eleven. Arrange the resort transfer in advance instead if you have a booking. Run byIndependent owner-drivers.
By water
Chumphon catamarans – the short crossing
Chumphon to Mae Haad, Ko Tao. Lomprayah from Ao Thung Makham Noi Pier, Boonsiri from Pak Nam Chumphon Pier
Chumphon is the closest mainland port and the fastest way onto the island. The two operators do not share a pier at either end, and this matters. Lomprayah leaves from Ao Thung Makham Noi Pier, about 60 km and an hour south of Chumphon airport, and lands at its own Lomprayah pier in Mae Haad. Boonsiri leaves from the Pak Nam Chumphon Boonsiri pier and lands at the Boonsiri Sealine pier, also in Mae Haad but a different jetty. Songserm's Ko Tao boats now use the Songserm Mae Haad pier, up the steep pier road from the beach, but Songserm no longer runs from Chumphon at all. Whoever you book, the ticket price from a town pickup point includes the road transfer; the pier-only price is lower. Both companies also operate a slower, cheaper early-morning boat as well as the headline catamaran – on Lomprayah the 05:45 sailing is 450 baht and takes 2 hours 30 minutes against 750 baht and 1 hour 45 minutes on the 07:00 catamaran.
- When
- Lomprayah from Thung Makham Noi at 05:45, 07:00 and 13:15; Boonsiri from Chumphon Pier at 06:45 and 13:00. Northbound Lomprayah leaves Ko Tao at 10:15, 12:30 and 15:00, Boonsiri at 10:00 (1 October 2026)
- Takes
- 1 hour 45 minutes on the catamaran (07:00 to 08:45); 2 hours to 2 hours 30 minutes on the slower boats
- Fare 2026
- Lomprayah pier to pier 750 baht adult, 375 baht child on the catamarans and 450 baht on the 05:45 slow boat. Boonsiri 750 baht from Chumphon Pier. Both about 900 baht if you board from Chumphon town, the train station or the airport (September 2026)
SeasonYear-round, but this is open water and the October to December swell cancels sailings. Bookinglomprayah.com, boonsiriferry.com or seatrandiscovery.com. Agents all over Chumphon sell the same seats. Buy ahead in the December to March and July to August peaks. Run byLomprayah High Speed Catamaran; Boonsiri Sealine. Seatran Discovery resells both.
Southbound boats – Ko Pha Ngan, Ko Samui, Surat Thani and Donsak
Ko Tao to Thong Sala (Ko Pha Ngan), then Ko Samui, and on to Tapee Pier in Surat Thani town or Donsak on the mainland
The same catamarans that come down from Chumphon carry on south, so the island hops are just legs of a longer run and the boat you want may be the one that arrived an hour ago. Piers differ by operator at every stop. Lomprayah uses Thong Sala on Ko Pha Ngan and Maenam Pralarn Pier on Ko Samui, and reaches the mainland at Tapee Pier in Surat Thani town (not Donsak). Songserm uses Thong Sala and Nathon on Samui, and Donsak. Boonsiri uses Thong Sala and Bangrak (Big Buddha) pier on Samui, which is the closest pier to Samui airport at about ten minutes by taxi. Nathon on Samui is ninety minutes from the airport, so check which Samui pier your ticket names before you book a flight. Surat Thani tickets bought from the airport or the train station include the road transfer to Tapee Pier and cost more than a pier-to-pier ticket.
- When
- Lomprayah Ko Tao to Ko Pha Ngan at 07:00, 09:15, 09:30, 12:30, 15:30 and 16:30, and on to Ko Samui at 09:30, 15:30 and 16:30. Ko Pha Ngan to Ko Tao at 08:30, 08:45, 11:15, 12:00, 13:00, 13:05 and 16:45; Ko Samui to Ko Tao at 08:00, 11:00 and 12:30. Lomprayah to Surat Thani Tapee Pier leaves Ko Tao mid-morning and early afternoon (arrivals at 14:15 and 17:45). Songserm runs one ferry and one speedboat a day in each direction (1 to 13 October 2026)
- Takes
- Ko Tao to Ko Pha Ngan 1 hour to 1 hour 40 minutes; Ko Tao to Ko Samui 1 hour 30 minutes to 3 hours; Ko Tao to Surat Thani town about 4 hours 15 minutes; Songserm's slow ferry to Nathon 3 hours 30 minutes
- Fare 2026
- Lomprayah Ko Tao to Ko Pha Ngan 450 to 700 baht, to Ko Samui 550 to 700 baht, to Surat Thani Tapee Pier 900 baht, 1,000 baht from the train station and 1,100 baht from Surat Thani airport. Songserm Ko Tao to Thong Sala 500 baht by ferry or 600 baht by speedboat, to Nathon 600 baht by ferry or 800 baht by speedboat, to Donsak 800 baht. Boonsiri Samui Bangrak to Ko Tao 700 baht (September 2026)
SeasonYear-round. Rougher and thinner October to December. Bookinglomprayah.com, songserm.com and boonsiriferry.com all sell online. Walk-up is usually fine outside the peaks; Lomprayah's engine showed single-figure seats left on several sailings three months out. Run byLomprayah, Songserm Express, Boonsiri Sealine; Seatran Discovery sells all three.
Night boats from Surat Thani and Chumphon
Bandon Pier in Surat Thani town, and Tha Yang Pier in Chumphon, overnight to Mae Haad
The night boats are converted wooden and steel cargo vessels and they are the cheapest way to the island. They are individually owned, work a rotation rather than a fixed company timetable, and can be cancelled without notice, so buy on the day from the operator's own stand, which is set up directly in front of each boat. From Surat Thani the pier is Bandon Pier, on the river in the middle of town, a short walk from Talad Kaset bus terminals and surrounded by food carts where everyone eats before boarding. Do not confuse it with Tapee Pier, which is the Lomprayah catamaran pier several kilometres away, or with Donsak, which is 65 km east. Boarding is from about 20:00; the wooden boat leaves roughly an hour earlier than the steel ones. Cheap tickets buy a numbered mattress in an open communal deck cooled by fans; dearer boats have air conditioning and partitioned bunks. Bring a sleeping layer, earplugs and your own water. From Chumphon the night boat leaves Tha Yang Pier in town. Chor Mae Tapee runs the Surat Thani service and also carries vehicles and cargo, and posts changes on its Facebook page rather than a website.
- When
- Surat Thani to Ko Tao 22:00 to 23:00 nightly from Bandon Pier, returning from Ko Tao 22:00 to 23:00. From Chumphon roughly every other night on a rotation – the Ko Charoen boat has run Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 23:00, Talay Sub on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, Pontaweesin on Sunday
- Takes
- 8 to 9 hours from Surat Thani, arriving about 08:00; about 6 hours from Chumphon, arriving about 05:00. Arrival times move with the sea state
- Fare 2024
- Surat Thani to Ko Tao 550 to 600 baht. Chumphon to Ko Tao 400 to 450 baht
SeasonYear-round in principle, but the first to stop in bad weather. A Ko Tao night ferry sank in high waves in December 2023 and another caught fire in April 2024; both times everyone aboard was rescued. Do not take a night boat if the sea is up. BookingNone online. Buy on the day at the pier from the boat's own stand. Hostels in Chumphon and Surat Thani will phone ahead and arrange a pickup. Run byChor Mae Tapee Ferry, Ko Charoen, Talay Sub, Pontaweesin and other individual owners.
Longtail taxi boats to the bays and Ko Nang Yuan
Mae Haad, Sairee and the resort beaches to Tanote Bay, Hin Wong, Mango Bay, Aow Leuk, Sai Nuan, Freedom Beach and Ko Nang Yuan
For most of the coast the boat beats the road. The tracks over the central ridge to the east coast bays are steep dirt that defeats an ordinary scooter, and several beaches have no land access at all, or reach them only through a private road that charges 100 to 200 baht to pass. Longtails wait on the beach at Sairee, at Mae Haad and at the bigger resorts; ask at the resort desk or walk down and talk to a boatman. Agree the price and the pickup time before you go, because there is no other way back. For Ko Nang Yuan there is also a scheduled day boat from the Lomprayah pier at Mae Haad. A longtail charter to Nang Yuan is quoted around 600 baht return, half paid on arrival and half when they collect you, and Nang Yuan then charges a 200 baht landing fee that is waived if you stay the night. Plastic bottles and cans are banned on Nang Yuan – take glass or nothing. A guided snorkel day trip round the island is the cheap way to see several bays at once.
- When
- On demand in daylight. Day boats to Ko Nang Yuan run daily from the Lomprayah pier
- Takes
- 5 to 15 minutes to a neighbouring bay; around 2 hours for a full circuit of the island
- Fare 2024
- Short hops 100 to 200 baht. Ko Nang Yuan longtail about 600 baht return for the boat, bargainable, plus a 200 baht island fee per person. A round-island charter up to about 2,000 baht. Group snorkelling day trips from about 250 baht per person including the boat
SeasonDaylight and calm weather only. Little or nothing runs in a monsoon swell. BookingNone needed. Ask at your resort or at the beach. Carry cash and settle the price and the return time first. Run byIndependent longtail owners; Lomprayah for the Nang Yuan day boat; Oxygen Tour and other snorkel operators.
On foot, by bike, or otherwise
Scooter and bicycle hire, and the damage deposit
Rental shops in Mae Haad, Sairee and Chalok Baan Kao
A 125 cc automatic is how most visitors get around, and it is also the island's best-known way to lose money. The standard contract everywhere is that any damage must be replaced with a new part, not repaired, at the renter's cost, and it is normal to be asked to leave your passport as the deposit. Shops around the steep Up Road from Mae Haad pier and near the Sairee 7-Eleven have a long-standing reputation for finding scratches that were already there. Protect yourself: photograph and video the whole bike before you ride off, including the underside and the exhaust, get the shop to sign off every existing mark, and ask to leave cash instead of the passport – 8,000 to 10,000 baht is the usual alternative. A daily rate below about 200 baht for an automatic is a warning sign rather than a bargain. Wear a helmet, expect open drainage ditches on both sides of the road and no footpaths, and do not take an ordinary scooter up the dirt tracks to Mango Bay or the east coast – hire a dirt bike or take a boat. ATVs are banned. Bicycles are workable now that most of the main road is concrete, but you want gears and good brakes.
- When
- Shops open roughly 08:00 to 18:00; a well-known Mae Haad shop, RPM Red Power Motor, keeps those hours
- Takes
- Rented by the 24-hour day
- Fare 2026
- From 150 baht a day for a manual, 150 to 250 baht for an automatic 125 cc. Deposit either your passport or 8,000 to 10,000 baht in cash. Dirt bikes cost more
SeasonYear-round. The dirt sections are dangerous or impassable in the October to December rains. BookingWalk in. Use a shop your accommodation recommends rather than the first one at the pier, and read the contract before you sign it. Run byMany independent shops; some hostels and resorts rent their own bikes.
Walking, and the Mae Haad to Sairee brick road
Mae Haad to Sairee along the beach path; Mae Haad to Chalok Baan Kao on the main road; footpaths to the lighthouse, Laem Thian, Mao Bay and the viewpoints
Ko Tao is about 21 square kilometres and the villages are rarely more than 5 km apart, so walking works. The main artery is one concrete road running north to south linking Sairee, Mae Haad and Chalok Baan Kao. Parallel to it along the shore is the pedestrian path everyone calls the Brick Road, or the Yellow Brick Road even though it is grey, which runs the length of Sairee beach from Mae Haad to the Sairee junction – use that rather than the road. There are no footpaths anywhere else and deep open drainage ditches run along both sides of the roads, so walk facing the traffic and carry a torch and something bright after dark; scooters use the Brick Road too. Several places can only be reached on foot: the lighthouse, Laem Thian, Mao Bay and most of the mountain viewpoints, including John Suwan in the south, Two View in the centre and Fraggle Rock in the north. Reckon on three or four days to see most of the island this way.
- When
- Any time; daylight strongly preferred off the main road
- Takes
- Mae Haad to Sairee about 20 to 30 minutes on the Brick Road; Mae Haad to Chalok Baan Kao about an hour; viewpoint climbs 30 to 60 minutes
- Fare 2026
- Free, apart from the 100 to 200 baht some private roads charge to reach their beach
SeasonYear-round. Trails are slippery and the ditches fill in the October to December rains. BookingNone. Take water and a torch. Run byNone.
Rules, permits and closures
Monsoon, October to December
Affects every boat to and from Ko Tao, and the island's dirt roads
Ko Tao sits on the Gulf side of the peninsula, so its wet season is the opposite of Phuket's: the rough months are October to December, with November the worst. Boats are cancelled at short notice and sometimes for days at a time, the dirt roads over the middle of the island turn to mud, and underwater visibility collapses from a normal 15 to 20 metres to about 5 metres in November. The sinking of a Ko Tao night ferry in high seas in December 2023 is the reminder that the small overnight boats are the wrong choice in this window. Practical rules: fly or travel by day, take the catamaran rather than the night boat, do not book a connecting flight for the same day you leave the island, keep a spare day either side, and check the operator's own weather page and social feed the evening before – Lomprayah publishes a weather page and both companies announce cancellations there first. Peak season, and the busiest boats, are December to March and July to August.
- When
- Annual, roughly October to December, worst in November
- Takes
- Individual cancellations of a day to several days
- Fare 2026
- No charge. Cancelled sailings are usually rebooked rather than refunded; Boonsiri refunds 80 percent only if you cancel seven days ahead, and charges 50 baht for the first date change
SeasonOctober to December. BookingNothing to book. Confirm the sailing the day before at lomprayah.com/weather or the operator's Facebook page. Run byLomprayah, Boonsiri, Songserm and the night boat owners.
What we could not find out
8 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
Two corrections to the brief. Songserm no longer runs to Chumphon at all – Wikivoyage's Chumphon article says so outright, and Songserm's own published timetable covers only Ko Tao, Ko Pha Ngan, Ko Samui and Donsak. And Seatran Discovery no longer appears to operate its own Ko Tao boat: its booking system now sells Ko Tao only as Boonsiri or Lomprayah sailings, so it is functioning as an agent on this route. The operator to add in their place is Boonsiri Sealine, which runs Chumphon Pak Nam to its own Mae Haad pier and a through coach from Khao San Road.
- 02
Pier taxes could not be confirmed. Nothing on any of the four operator sites, and nothing in Wikivoyage, names a harbour or pier fee at Mae Haad, and there is no live government page for the Ko Tao municipal pier. The only landing charge verified anywhere near the island is the 200 baht Ko Nang Yuan fee. Lomprayah's terms do add 200 baht for luggage over 20 kg and 400 baht for a surfboard on a bus-and-boat ticket, which is what many travellers mean when they say pier charge. Worth asking at the pier before assuming there is nothing to pay.
- 03
There is no published fare table for Ko Tao's pickup taxis or its longtail boats. The 300 baht minimum and 100 baht per head come from Wikivoyage and are at least two years old; the longtail figures are older still. Both are almost certainly low now. A local survey of the Mae Haad, Sairee and Chalok ranks would be the only way to fix this.
- 04
The Chumphon night boat rotation is not verifiable online. The Ko Charoen, Talay Sub and Pontaweesin day-of-week pattern and the 400 to 450 baht fares come from Wikivoyage and pre-date 2024. The Surat Thani side is better attested – Chor Mae Tapee is named as a current operator on the island's own guide site – but its only channel is a Facebook page, which could not be read from here. Ring the pier or ask a hostel in either town on the day.
- 05
Boonsiri's own search-route page returns its homepage to a plain GET, so its live times and fares here come from Seatran Discovery's booking API, which resells Boonsiri. The two should agree but have not been cross-checked against Boonsiri directly.
- 06
Songserm's published timetable JSON showed a single service date, 13 October 2026, when read in September 2026. The route structure and fares are almost certainly the standing pattern, but the day-to-day frequency could not be confirmed and Songserm's fares and departure times should be re-checked for the date you actually want.
- 07
The April 2024 fire on a Ko Tao-bound ferry and the December 2023 night ferry sinking are both well reported, but the news sites carrying the detail are behind Cloudflare and only the headlines could be read. Which operator and which route in each case is unconfirmed.
- 08
Ko Nang Yuan's 200 baht landing fee and the ban on plastic bottles come from Wikivoyage and were last checked there in 2024. The resort that owns the island sets both, and the fee has risen before.
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 Tao is this.
- Y
- Scheduled flightsNa Thon (Ko Samui Island) (USM), 65 km
- Y
- Trains and coachesTransitous carries 1 timetable feed for this country, 0 with real-time
- Y
- Ferriesferry terminal, 2 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.