We spent 14 nights on Koh Phangan island in Thailand. It was a great two weeks full of beaches, temples, and cool restaurants and bars.
To get to Koh Phangan we flew into Koh Samui and arranged a ferry to the island. When we arrived in Koh Samui to discover that my bag did not arrive. Great start, but not much that we could do. The staff at the airport were very helpful to file a lost luggage report. They didn’t have much information about where the bag was located but said they would keep the resort updated (as we did not have a local phone number for them to contact us).
I used 12Go Asia (https://12go.asia/en) to book our ferry (with Seatran Discovery), which included transport from the airport to the ferry terminal. The booking confirmation provided instructions on locating the transport desk on arrive at the airport, which was easy to find. I provided our booking details and they directed us to the transport bus. From there we were dropped off at the ferry terminal, where I had to check in for the ferry. We had to wait about an hour for the ferry, but there is a small shop and drinks counter, along with a number of benches to use while waiting for the ferry.
There are multiple ferry options between the islands. We selected a slightly slower ferry trip, but it departed from a pier close to the aiport. The ferry was supposed to be 30 minutes, but took a bit longer because of rough water. There is a faster ferry but it departs from a pier further from the airport (and traffic isn’t great on the island). Selecting the slower ferry was probably overall much faster to get to the island.
We got off the ferry in Koh Phangan and had family waiting for us to take us to our resort, so we didn’t have to worry about arranging transportation on the island. Our resort did offer pickup service for an additional charge (150 baht) should we have needed it.
It was really tricky to find a hotel on the island. All the hotels had a mix of reviews, most had a mix of really good and really bad reviews. We decided to only book the first week of our two week stay so that we weren’t stuck in a bad hotel or bad location.
We ended up booking Long Bay Resort on Haad Yao beach. Haad Yao is a great beach, lots of resorts with restaurants and bars. The beach is only about a 10-minute walk in length, so it’s easy to explore and find great options for meals and drinks. After exploring other beaches on the island, Haad Yao was one of our favorites – it was great for swimming, relaxing, and walking to restaurants. It was also in a good position on the island. We weren’t too far from the south coast and could easily explore further north.
For our second week we decided to stay on Haad Yao beach. We looked at several other resorts on the beach, but Long Bay Resort (https://www.longbay-resort.com/) was the best (especially for the price) so we spent the whole two weeks there.
We were lucky to have family that were familiar with the island, so they took us to a number of great beaches and restaurants. Below is a full review on everything we did while there.
Day 1
We arrived later in the day on Koh Phangan and checked into our resort.
After checking in, we explored Haad Yao beach. We then walked to Locco’s Pizza Bar for dinner. They have yummy homemade pizza and pasta options. We went there several times during our stay. They have a large downstairs and upstairs area. Every night we went there, they always had great live music.
Day 2
On our first full day on the island we hired a scooter. The rates depend on the season, but averages around 200-250 baht a day in high season. It’s easy (maybe too easy) to hire a scooter, so you can hire it on the day(s) you need it, or full the whole time if you prefer. Everyone travels by scooter and it’s super easy (and fun) to get around the island.
After sorting the scooter, we went shopping in Thong Sala. Since my luggage didn’t arrive, I needed a change or two of clothes. There are lots of clothing stores, and most are super inexpensive – dresses and shirts are around 200-250 baht each. After getting a few dresses, we walked across the to food market. There are lots of stalls selling a variety of yummy food and drinks.
Later in the day we headed to Freeway Bar to watch the sunset. Freeway is on the beach and there is a shallow path out to a sandy area. We walked out there to check out the beach view and watch the sunset.
After Freeway we headed back to the resort and ate dinner at the resort next to us (at the end of the beach), Bayview Resort. They had a BBQ with meat and seafood options available. The food was very good and the lookout over the length of the beach is beautiful (especially at sunset).
Day 3
We spent an afternoon on Mae Haad and Ko Ma beaches. To get to the beaches you have to walk through the Koh Ma Beach Resort restaurant which leads straight onto the beach. From the main beach area you can walk/swim to Ko Ma island. The beach surrounds and view at sunset are pretty spectacular. The walk between the beaches Is not great as it is coral sand, so it would be a good idea to have water shoes, or plan to swim alongside the path (which is what we did). There is a little bit of coral near Ko Ma island with lots of fish and eels, so bring your snorkel gear.
We headed back to the resort to get cleaned up. We ate dinner at Haad Yao Resort (a few doors down from our resort). This was our first Thai meal of the trip and it was good.
Day 4
We decided to venture to the other side of the island and visit Haad Than Sadet.
The ride there is beautiful. There is lots of jungle along the road and beautiful outlooks. There are lots of hills so make sure you are prepared to go up and down the hills (go full throttle before you hit the hill) – you will need to have a good scooter to make it up some hills.
Near the beach are a couple of waterfalls (Deang Waterfall and Than Sadet Waterfall). We didn’t go to the waterfall (or any waterfall for that matter) as there hadn’t been much rain so the waterfalls were pretty dry and not much to see.
The beach has an entry fee (100 baht per person) collected along the road before the beach parking area.
There’s a resort up the hill that surrounds the beach, as well as bungalows along the beach. The outlook is amazing with the resort on the hill. There’s also a handmade wooden bridge leading to another area of the beach.
The beach is beautiful; however, it is basically small rocks – not the most comfortable to walk across.
Along the beach there is a restaurant for food and drinks. The fried fish was delicious!
After the beach we got dried off and went to Vagga Bar on Haad Yao for dinner. The bar is super cool – swings around the bar, lounge nets over the beach, and tables/chairs on the beach looking toward the water.
The vibe and food at Vagga Bar is great – highly recommend checking out.
Later in the evening we went to see Muay Thai Fighting near the ferry pier. Admission to the fight was 800 baht each. There were drinks available for purchase as well (and they aren’t stingy on the pouring). There were 6 fights scheduled for the evening, including a couple matches between young boys and one female match.
There was an announcer during the matches, as well as a crazy mix of music choices – everything from Gangnam Style to YMCA, as well as Sarama (traditional rhythmic Thai music, played during the fight).
There were lots of traditions that took place during the night.
Most of the fighters enter the ring wearing a Mongkon. A Mongkhon is a type of headgear worn by the boxer. The headgear is given to the boxer by their trainer once they feel that they have become an experienced fighter and have a great deal of knowledge about Muay Thai. The Mongkhon is worn when entering the ring to show the fight is not all about the fighter. It is also about the people around them that have helped them along the journey (including the trainer, the gym, and family).
Once the fighter enters the ring they perform the ceremonial wai kru ram muay (or wai kru), The ceremony pays respect to the fighter’s trainer and those that have helped them along their journey. It can also calm nerves and clear the ring of bad luck.
Day 5
We had a relaxing day spent lounging on the beach at our resort.
We walked across the street for lunch to Pura Vida Cafe & Restaurant. This is a great café with lots of food options and yummy looking sweets.
After a relaxing day we headed to Zen Beach a couple of hours before sunset. When we arrived, there weren’t that many people on the beach, but as it got closer to sunset more and more people arrived. It was a great mix of individuals, couples, and families along the beach. A small group were doing yoga on the beach, another group were doing acroyoga, and then at sunset a drumming group started up. There was a large group of people with different instruments jamming as the sun went down. There are two bars on the beach, one that serves great Thai food.
It was a very fun and lively beach with a great variety of people hanging out. It was a great way to end the day.
Day 6
We spend the day at Secret Beach (aka Haad Son). It’s a small beach with a few bars and food huts at the entrance. We ended up eating a Koh Raham Restaurant (located at Haad Son Resort). The restaurant is super cool. It’s perched on the end of the headland and is styled with strings of sea mango pods.
The restaurant has a set of “steps” leading to the water. There are tons of fish that you can swim with. The restaurant staff feed the fish so there are tons around. Watch out as the staff and onlookers like to throw food right in front of you while swimming and the fish go crazy! Too funny!
For dinner we headed to the Friday night food market near the Thong Sala pier. There were lots of food stalls and shops to visit along the street.
Day 7
We spent another day hanging around the beach near our resort. We ate lunch at the café across the street again (Pura Vida). The great thing about Koh Phangan is that there are a lot of beaches and the best day is spent hanging around a the different beaches.
For dinner we went to an Italian restaurant, Romanzo Tropicale. The restaurant is split across two buildings – one on the beach and the other across the street. Both places were decorated with cool luxury. We sat on cushions setup on the floor around a table. The beach view was great, especially at sunset.
Day 8 and 9
We got up early in the morning to head to the Ang Thong National Marine Park. We were going with a day trip, but staying the night on Ko Wua Ta Lap island. There’s so much to share about this great day boat trip and overnight stay on the island. For more details please see my post A Night on an Island in the Gulf of Thailand – Ang Thong Marine Park.
Day 10
This was a total down day. Yes, another one, but hey we are on a beautiful island (that’s what you’re supposed to do!). We spent the day at the resort swimming and lounging. Then we got pizza from Locco’s and watched a movie in our room.
Day 11
We headed south to check out Haad Rin. The beach famous for the Full Moon parties. Getting to Haad Rin was a bit of an adventure – lots of big hills and scooters. I didn’t get enough speed before going up one hill and we almost didn’t make it. Going super slow on a scooter makes it hard to stay balanced, so I was swerving all over the road while other scooters were trying to pass. It was a bit sketchy for a moment, but we made it!
The Haad Rin area was much more touristy than the area we were staying in. It was OK, but not nearly as nice as other beaches that we visited on the island. It was our least favorite beach. I’m sure the Full Moon parties are great (if you are into that kind of thing), but for us it was our least favorite beach. The place had a completely different feel to it, which wasn’t really our thing. The beach itself is pretty, but the area was more touristy and targeted for the party crowd.
Along the road to and from the beach we did see monkeys. They were sitting on the side of the road, climbing the trees, and crossing the road.
For dinner we headed to JJ’s Bar and Restaurant. The sitting around is around a covered deck area, with hammocks hanging around the edge of the decking. The food, which included English comfort foods, was delicious. The homemade chocolates were super yummy.
After dinner we went to a sound healing session at One Yoga. The island is full of activities like this. We were told about a website – Phangan Daily (https://phangandaily.com/) – which lists all of the activities taking place on the island for each day. The site lists all of the activities (paid and free) that you can enjoy. I wish we would have known about the site earlier in our trip because we would have made time to try a few other sessions.
The sound healing was great. I have a hard time shutting down my mind, so I had trouble fully relaxing but was able to switch on and off throughout the hour-long session. I love the sound of the singing bowls and throat singing (which among other sounds) were demonstrated during the session. Ben on the other hand can shut off in an instant so he fully enjoyed the sound healing session. I need to work on my mindfulness and ability to relax and shut off.
Day 12
We decided to visit Bottle Beach for the afternoon. To access Bottle Beach you can take a boat taxi from a nearby beach, or you can drive. The drive to the beach requires a 4×4 vehicle. If you don’t have 4×4 you can still drive but you will need to park and then walk (quite a distance) to the beach. There are 4×4 taxis that go between the beach and the parking area that you can take as well.
The road to the beach is very bumpy and has one or two big hills that require the 4×4 vehicle.
Day 13
We spent the day visiting different beaches along the north end of the island.
We started by going to Haad Salad. This beach was a smaller version of Haad Yao. There are lots of resorts and restaurants along the beach, just like Haad Yao, but a little smaller. We also noticed that the beach was full of families with small children. The resorts and area in general seemed very family friendly.
After Haad Salad we headed further north to Haad Chalok Lam. The road along the beach is full of restaurants and shops. The beach is divided in two, with a pier in the middle. The pier is used by dive centres and ferries/taxis to other beaches. On one side of the pier there was no one on the beach, it was really quiet, with a number of restaurants. We walked down from the pier and found a great seafood restaurant for lunch.
After lunch we went to a few shops and then walked down the other side of the beach. This side had more people along the beach, lounging and swimming.
After exploring Haad Chalok Lam, we visited a couple of temples. First, we went down the road to Wat Pha Sang Tham. This Buddhist temple has a huge golden rock at the top of a small hill. You can venture up the hill to see the rock and shrine close up, from there you can go higher up the hill to see additional statues. We made a small donation and purchased a “lucky” bracelet from a small shop at the temple. We were offered water, which was blessed by the monk before drinking.
Closer to Chalok Lam is another temple, Wat Chaloklum. This is a small temple, with very few tourists (we were the only ones there). There were a few monks working around the temple. They invited us inside the temple to see the large Buddha statue. The temple building is beautiful, the design includes mirrored pieces that reflect the light to make it look like it is sparkling. All of the temple buildings that we saw contained this same design, which was beautiful in the evenings – they were sparkling buildings in the night.
After the temples we went a bit further to Haad Khom. This was a beautiful beach area, small but very pretty with rocks along the water edge. We went for a swim here and were a bit disappointed because the water was full of small rocks and water slugs along the bottom. As we were walking into the water I nearly stepped on a ray (not sure if it was a manta ray or a sting ray). Luckily I was watching where I was walking (I had to because of all the rocks and slugs), so I didn’t step on him.
As we were getting ready to the leave the beach, we heard a group chanting further down the beach. We walked down to investigate and it was a chanting session in a building along the beach. We, along with a number of others, stood outside listening to the chanting. It was beautiful to listen to, while watching the sunset.
Day 14
Today we did something a bit different – we went for a flying boat ride. Yep, you read that correctly.
It’s basically a seaplane but looks like a boat with wings. You take off into the air from the water. You can select the duration of your flight, which gives you a great opportunity to see the island from above.
Unfortunately, there is only room on the “boat” for two people – the pilot and you – so Ben and I had to take separate rides. Ben went along the south coast, then north along the east side of the island, I went the other direction north up the west side of the island. It was a great tour and so much fun. I loved watching the reactions from people along the beaches – not every day you get to see a flying boat!
After our “boat” ride, we headed to take pictures at the Hanging Palm Tree (along Hin Kong Road). We tried getting pictures a couple other times, but always seemed to be there at low tide. This time, it was high tide so we took a few pictures of the palm tree hanging over the water.
After the pictures, we headed to JJ’s Bar and Restaurant (again) for a late lunch. The atmosphere is great, and the food is yummy. After we ate, we hung around for a while to relax and chill – Ben climbed into one of the hammocks while I rested amongst the cushions.
The rest of the evening was spent at the resort relaxing and swimming.
Day 15
Sadly, this was our last full day on the island. We spent the day hanging out with family.
Later in the evening, we went for a Thai massage at our hotel. Along Haad Yao there are a few massage huts setup along the beach. We headed to the one near the hotel and had the “original Thai massage”. It was amazing! It was a good mix between a relaxing massage and a physio session. Most the of massage felt great, but there were a few times that it just started to get painful but then they would move on to another area. Some of the positions they bend your body into felt great – amazing stretches for your legs and arms. I wish we would have had more massages throughout our trip. The huts all had a variety of massage options – relaxing, oil massages as well as firm options. The pricing is ridiculous – about 300 baht for a full hour massage!
Day 16
We had to check out of our resort today – it was sad to say goodbye. We had such a great time and the staff at Long Bay Resort were amazing. We went to have breakfast, then back to the room to finish packing. The night before I had casually mentioned to the reception staff that we had a ride coming at 9am. Once we were finished packing, we headed outside our hut and there was a golf cart waiting to take our luggage to the front. This is the level of service provided at this resort (which is why it was so sad to leave).
Our flight from Koh Samui wasn’t until the following day, but the ferry times didn’t align with our flight very well so we decided to spend the night on Samui. We took the morning ferry over to the island with family, and then had lunch with them at Treehouse Silent Beach Restaurant. The restaurant was along the beach with different lounge areas and tables (covered and uncovered). The smoothie drinks were refreshing, and the food was great.
After lunch we said goodbye to our family and made our way to our hotel for the night – Samui Family. We weren’t sure what to expect because the pictures looked amazing, but the price was super cheap. Believe it or not, the hotel was better than the pictures and the staff were fantastic. We checked into our room – which was huge – and then had a sneaky little nap. After our nap we went to arrange a scooter with the hotel. They work with an outside company that brings the bike to the hotel. While we were waiting, we went for a swim in the humongous pool (1 of 3 pools I might add). About 20 minutes later, the scooter showed up. The guy handed us the keys, we signed an agreement, and then he left. We didn’t have to give a deposit or handover our passport – which made us feel more confident about the transaction as we have heard stories of scooter companies trying to con people into paying for damage that was already there.
The scooter hire was super cheap – only 180 baht for the day. The scooter was actually quite good (lots of power) but we did have an issue with Ben’s helmet. The strap around the chin wouldn’t clip, so he basically couldn’t wear it. We were fortunate because the amazing staff at the hotel tracked down another helmet for him to use.
For the evening we headed to Fisherman’s Village for dinner. The village area was great, so much better and more than we were expecting. There were lots of shops to browse through and restaurants to pick from. After checking out the shops we decided to go to Gusto Italiano for dinner. We were seated on the beach and had a great meal along with great service.
After dinner we walked along the beach to Coco Tam’s. Every night at 10pm they have a fire show on the beach. We got there a bit before, picked a good beanbag, ordered a drink and waited for the fire show.
The show was fantastic. The performers setup along the beach in front of Coco Tam’s and latest for about 30 minutes. The music and show were great. After the show we hung out for a bit before heading back to our hotel.
Day 17
On our very last day we went to visit a few temples. Near our hotel there was the Wat Bo Phuttharam temple. It has a huge monk statue on a boat platform. Around the boat is a small lake filled with catfish. Inside the temple you can purchase fish food and feed the fish from the bridge to the temple.
After seeing the big monk we went to lunch at a nearby cafe, called King of Bread. They had delicious homemade bread (croissants, sandwiches, etc.). It was very yummy.
After lunch we went to see the Big Buddha at the Wat Phra Yai temple. There is a set of stairs (about 75 steps) to the large Buddha. It’s a great photo from the bottom of the stairs looking up to the Buddha, and a great view from the top looking out over the water around the Buddha. Near the temple there are lots of stops and food stalls to explore. We spent more time than expected at the temple and shops so we didn’t have much time left before our flight.
Near the Big Buddha is the Wat Plai Laem temple. Unfortunately, we were running out of time, so we only quickly looked around the temple. I wish we would have had more time as there was lots to see.
After the temple, we hurried back to our hotel. There was a taxi waiting for us (arranged by the hotel) so we headed straight to the airport. We didn’t get to see much of the airport when we arrived, because we were directed to the buses right away, so we were surprised by how pretty the Samui airport is.
In the check in area there are machines to self-check in and drop your bags. It was all very easy and smooth. Once we dropped off our bags, we made our way to the gates. The walk to the gates felt like being at a resort. You walk outside along a covered area filled with shops and cafes. There is also a massage place or two where you can relax before your flight.
Once we got to the gate, there was a complimentary snack area. They had sandwiches, chocolate muffins, and juices available while we waited to board the plane – it was fantastic.
Not long after enjoying our snacks, we jumped on the bus to take us to our plane. We were said to be leaving – we had a great time on the islands! We will be back (hopefully soon)!