Ko Chang Transportation

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The best way to travel in the island is by renting a motorbike. You can rent it anywhere for 200 baht per day (6USD), no deposit required! They don’t charge you for the mileage either, so is really cheap transportation. We used that bike so much poor little thing!

Gas is also cheap, you can buy a bottle by 30 or 40 bahts, depends where you buy it (1 USD aprox) . 3 bottles and you have a full tank! You can park anywhere.

We rent our bike in our hotel to make sure everything was fine, but there are rental places everywhere.

The law mandates that you have to wear a helmet, but almost 95% of the people don’t do it (we never had any problems)

Just be aware that they drive “on the other side of the road” (well... depends where YOU live!) Have fun!

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Before you get on a bus or van or taxi to Koh Chang, please note that the LAST FERRY to Koh Chang leaves at 7pm and it will take you around 5 to 6 hours to get to the ferry from Bangkok, depending on the method and the traffic (I know by experience! we lost the ferry and we had to sleep in Tran... NOT a good idea, LOL, you'd be better in BKK and leave for Koh Chang early the next morning)

There are 2 different ports for the ferries and they leave every 30 minutes, round trip is 120 Baht (4 USD). It takes 45 minutes and it's fun.

We took a van to get there and the bus to come back, we liked the bus better than the van and it's a LOT cheaper (more leg room!). Taxi would be around $100 USD, bus is $6 USD each, Van was $40 for us and the luggage... Ferry is 2USD round trip (45 minutes) and then the taxi on the Island depends to where you go, and if you are willing to share it or not (they called them "taxis" but they are trucks with seats... pretty funny!)

ALSO; if you take the shared van, they will charge you extra for the luggage (since it takes the spot of another person)

Anyone would like to go to Koh Chang by bus.
You can take a free shuttle bus from Suvarnabhumi International Airport to Bus Terminal (around 3 kilometers) http://www.ikohchang.com/busterminal-suvarnabhumi.htm

The road between Bangkok to Trat via Pattaya is popular with travellers heading to Koh Chang and Cambodia and there is a daily minibus service. I have not been to Trat before but guess there will be a travel agents or guesthouses somewhere in town that will be able to arrange this for you. Travelling in Thailand is pretty easy. you can always use the local buses aswell.

In Koh Chang you will find plenty of travel Agents that will arrange bus and ferry to Pattaya.

If you take the minibus, you might change minibus in Bang phe where travellers depart for the ferry to Koh Samet. From Bang Phe they go direct to Bangkok or to Pattaya then onto Bangkok.

Getting around on Koh Chang may be easy, but if you want to travel off regular business hours and to odd places it pays off to use a reliable driver who will sit out the time you need. we used Mr. Suittiporn Paholpakdee on a couple of occasions, once travelling all the main roads on the island, landing us late night on the southeastern side for an evening meal. Suttiporn had time and friends everywhere and did not hurry us.
"Wherever you would like to go. Please call me 24 hrs" says his business card. I can second that. Useful contact on Koh Chang

Go to Laem Ngob to catch a ferry to go Chang. Ferries from this pier land at Tha Dan Kao (meaning Old Post Pier). The ferries depart every hour during the high season (November to April)and long weekends starting from 7.30 am till 5.00 pm. The frequency is less during other times of the year depending on the crowd, and the weather. However, you can expect a ferry to depart at least every 2 hours. Travelling time is about 30 to 45 minutes and the cost is 60 Baht for each return ticket and 150 Baht per vehicle inclusive of the driver.Other passengers in the same vehicle are charged 60 Baht per person. It is worth noting that all ferry fares should be the same no matter which pier you go to, a legacy of open competition! On arrival at Koh Chang you will find some Songthaews ready to take you to anywhere in Koh Chang. The fare ranges from 40,60 to 80 Baht per person depending on the distance. This applies to other piers as well.

To get to Koh Chang go to Ekkamai or Morchit bus station .Air-conditioned and ordinary buses depart almost every hour and a tickets to Trat is about 240 baht .The trip takes 5 hours.
There are 3 piers servicing Koh Chang. All of them are located in the Amphur (district) of Laem Ngob the most eastern point of Thailand .To go to these piers take one of the Songthaews in Trat. They can be easily found around the municipal market from as early as 6.00 am. The fare is about 20 Baht per person. Vehicle-carrying ferries and taxi or chartered boats are ready to take you to Koh Chang '

We bougth a one way tour from Bangkok with a minivan. When we got to the ferry we needed to walk onboard as the boat was a passenger ferry/boat. The salesperson in the ticket office insisted that we MUST buy a ticket for the return trip to Bangkok. I told her that we did not plan to go back to Bangkok by minivan, and after some discussion she settled if we bought return boat ticket (70 B). I paid, but should have insisted on not buying anything more than the single boat ticket I allready had, as we chose another company for our return trip.