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Ferry
Don Sak Pier leaving for Ko Samui Thailand
Your journey to Ko Samui Thailand may begin with a train trip or a
plane arriving in Surat Thani, Thailand. From here you will likely
get into a taxi or van for the hour and 15 minute trip to Don Sak
Pier for the Seatran ferry boat which leaves every hour from early
morning - 6am ish until after 7 pm for the last ferry to Ko Samui
thailand.
The taxi ride is optional, you may have set up some motorbikes to
get to Don sak pier, but I'm not sure where you would get those in
Phunpin - the city that the train arrives in. From the airport it is
not possible to rent motorbikes, this I know. The airport is quite a
distance from Don Sak pier and you will want to take a van or taxi
into Surat or straight to the pier in Don Sak.
When my wife and I ride the motorbike from Surat it takes
approximately 1 hour to reach the Seatran Ferry at the pier. It is
66km from our house to the pier. The road is nearly all highway but
there are a handful of stoplights and we always seem to get caught
at a few.
From Phunpin to Don Sak is a little further - add another 16km to
the distance and another 20 minutes since the road from the Phunpin
train station to Surat Thani town has traffic lights, traffic, and
slower roads.
There is no need to worry about something to eat if you're on the
way to the Don Sak pier, as you can see from this picture they have
places to eat there! There is a Thai kitchen as well as a coffee
shop with desserts and fruit juices. There is a fan-cooled section
by the ticket counters that has a TV and ATM machines for every
major bank in Thailand.
The tickets for the Seatran ferry are very inexpensive... we even
pay to ship our motorbike over with us and we pay a total of 250
baht for each way. That's just $12 dollars USD for both ways!
Thailand is incredibly inexpensive for ferry, bus, and train travel.
Even planes are cheap considering that in Hawaii you cannot go
island to island for under 4000 Thai baht and here - one can travel
from Bangkok to anywhere for less than 2000 baht usually and
sometimes at only half that!
Once at the ferry - purchase your tickets and get something to eat.
There isn't much to see at the pier - but you can watch the stream
of people and cars and other vehicles (buses, dump trucks,
motorbikes) get off from the Seatran ferry that arrives before you
get to leave. The water can be rough at times for this journey - and
recently with the storms that rolled through Surat Thani province
from China, there were quite a few days where there was NO Seatran
(or any other service) ferry. Check the weather before you go. On my
ThaiPulse.com site we have a link to the weather so you can check
the weather status before arriving in Surat Thani.
When you board the ferry you'll be pleasantly surprised to find a
snack bar and air conditioned compartment with comfortable chairs,
TVs and restrooms just outside the door. They have hot coffee and
you can make "Mama's" soup in a paper container. Get the Tom Yum
Goong flavor - it's quite tasty. If you don't like spicy don't put
the whole contents of the spice pack inside because it can be pretty
spicy hot!
The trip from Don Sak pier to Ko Samui Thailand island takes about
90 minutes. If there is a lot of wind or waves it may take an extra
5-10 minutes to dock because the boat gets blown around a bit. The
boat is huge and can hold buses and all kinds of vehicles. It is
VERY safe. This is not true for the smaller and faster boats which
we advise you NOT to take -anywhere in Thailand. If someone offers
to get you there FAST - just turn them down politely... the boats
here can be quite dangerous and many have died in the past on small
boats going fast!
Once arriving at Ko Samui Thailand port you can find a taxi or tuk
tuk to take you wherever it is you wish to go. There is a small town
right at the Ko Samui pier and you could just walk down the pier and
eat, shop or whatever you like. There are motorbikes for rent here
and many taxis to take you to Chaweng or Lamai... wherever it is you
want to get a hotel room.
Hopefully you've pre-booked your hotel room because during the high
season there are not many rooms available on a minute's notice. They
are pre-booked from January through May pretty solid. Even during
other times -like holidays and some Thai holidays too! Keep in mind
that Thailand has a large expat population that teaches. I am one of
them. When we get vacation days and have summer break - we go to Ko
Samui, krabi, phuket and other islands to relax for a month or so.
Sometimes you may be shocked to find little available in the way of
accommodations during these times too.
Best to pre-book. We have one company we work exclusively with for
travel reservations for accommodations. Ko Samui Thailand hotel
reservations > (let the page load fully before attempting to do
something)...
They have a WIDE range of hotels of different style and prices.
You'll find one to your liking, I'm sure.
If you'd like to stay close to the "Action" stay in Lamai or Chaweng
beach areas. If you'd like something quiet - look at the Big Buddha
area...
Please look around the site and see if there are any more bits of
information that can help you have a fun trip to Ko Samui Thailand!
Ko Samui Maps >
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