Boats & Ferries, Ko Samui

It's possible to take a bus/ferry combination to Ko Samui from Hua Hin. I booked my trip from the Tourist Information Office beside the Clock Tower on the main highway near the temple in Hua Hin, who were very helpful. The ticket is a bit pricey at 1300 baht as the 3.5hr ferry isn't cheap. The rather posh VIP double-decker bus leaves at about 8.30am from the clock tower and picks up more people along the way before it meets up with the ferry outside Chumphon. The ferry arrived on Ko Samui at about 5.30pm.

A comfortable,fast and safe way to get to Samui ,Koh Phangan and Koh Tao is by this high speed Cat.You can catch the catermaran from Suratthani to Koh Samui .However I got it from Mae Nam pier Samui to Koh Tao at 8 am .There is also another one at 12:30 pm daily .From Koh Tao it then heads to Koh Phangan . The catermaran also travels from Chumpon to Samui.
It's a very relax way to get to these popular Islands as the catamaran is air-conditioned with coffee,snacks, movies and lots of life jackets!

You can buy the train/ bus /boat combo ticket at any travel agent down Khaosan Rd.The tickets are cheap no more than 300 baht. It's a long trip but you have a sleeper on the over night train .During the journey a guy comes around selling food ,beers and coffee in the morning.You can even have a shower if your up for it.A coach picks you up at Surat Thani station and takes you to the pier where you can have breakfast before you catch the boat to Samui.The boat is aircon with lots of life jackets and a movie to watch.This type of ticket is good value if you are on a budget.

From Surat Thani on the mainland, there is passenger and vehicle ferry run by different boat companies to Ko Samui. Travel time around 1.5 hour but depend on boat company and which pier destination in Ko Samui. They depart from different piers in Surat Thani.

When you are on a ferry and a foreign tourist, you will be immediately swarmed by free lance agents trying to sell your hotel accommodations and tours.

As there is a bit of travelling time, there is no harm considering if you have no prior reservation.

Once arrival at Ko Samui, again there will be a horde of tourist agents. There are pick-up trucks ready to carry tourists to different destinations of the island. Just relax and get to your first destination safely unruffled.

To get to the other islands (Koh Phangan and Koh Tao) from Koh Samui the shortest crossing point is from the Bophut and Mae-Nam areas where several services operate. The quickest and most comfortable is the Lomprayah Catamaran, around 45 mins. Around 500 bahts each.

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From Nathon pier in koh Samui you can take a boat to the other islands around-about or you can take a ferry to the mainland near to Surat-Thani.
This first photo is the passenger and vehicle ferry that you can board in Nathon.
More photo's in my Koh Phangan transport page.

As Sarah and I came into port on the P&O Cruise ship, the captain announced that we would be tendering into the actual landing in Koh Samui. As a veteran of tendering on cruise ships, we made sure to schedule a cruise tour that had the early departure off the ship, so we would get priority.

The ferry tenders would hold about 150 passengers at a time, which was plenty for the old boats on a thirty minute one way trip. People were selling water and drinks for the day on board, but almost everyone on the trip just looked out into the beautiful ocean view, and watched as other fishing boats went off to sea for the day.

There was no cost for this tender ferry, but if you were to need boat transportation to the mainland, it is best to proceed directly to the port.

Sarah and I may be considered "old souls" when it comes to travel, because we do enjoy cruising as a easy form of overview travel. It gives you the ability to see many smaller locations that you may or may not want to invest an entire week of vacation in. Koh Samui for example was one place I preferred to spend a single day in, and move on.

We sailed to Koh Samui on P&O Cruise's Pacific Sky. The Pacific Sky is a grand old ship, which probably needs to be put out to sea and turned into an artificial reef. Shortly after our 7 day cruise, the ship ended up being stranded off the west coast of Malaysia when it's motor stopped working.

During our 7 day cruise however, there were no major problems, and I would recommend Koh Samui as a destination for cruising!

Enjoy your trip!

EDIT: Please note that P&O has since sold the Pacific Sky, so this cruise line will no longer serve Ko Samui.