5 easy ways to travel to Koh Samet

Located in Rayong – a southeast province of Thailand, Koh Samed or Koh Samet is perfect if you don’t have enough time for Krabi or Phuket. It offers more than 16 beaches with white sand and crystal clear water to enjoy your beach trip to the fullest. In this post, we will show you the 5 easiest ways to travel to Koh Samet.
No matter where you depart, there is always a way for you to travel to Koh Samet. You need to travel on land/air to Ban Phe, then take the ferry to Koh Samet.

1. By bus

One of the most popular ways to travel to Koh Samet is by bus. There are regular buses and minibusses departing from Bangkok Eastern Bus Terminal (Ekkamai) to Ban Phe’s Nuan Thip Pier where you can take the straight ferry to Koh Samed.

• Departure from: Bangkok
• Trip duration: 3-5 hours depending on the traffic

Regular bus

• From Bangkok to Ban Phe: Every 1.5 hours from 07:00 – 17:00
• From Ban Phe to Bangkok: Every 2 hours from 05:00 – 18:00
• Fee: 155 THB/ pax

Minibus

• From Bangkok to Ban Phe and vice versa: Every hour from 07:00 AM – 06:00 PM
• Fee: 200 THB

Make sure you choose the suitable bus to match with the last boat to Koh Samet to avoid a night on land if you miss the ferry. To make things less hassle, we highly recommend you to book both bus and ferry at one vendor for them to help you with the direct travel to Koh Samet. You can check for many bus ticket choices or taxi options that depart from various places here.

2. By airplane

Another way to travel to Koh Samed is by airplane to Utapao-Rayong-Pattaya Airport. There are direct flights from/to Koh Samed from Chiang Mai, Udon Thani, Hat Yai, Koh Samui, and Phuket operated by Bangkok Airways, AirAsia, and Thai Lion air. If you decided to take the flight, do check the schedule on the airport website.

The airport is 60 kilometers from Ban Phe, you may need to manage the transport to the pier by taking a taxi or catching a van/minibus at the airport.

3. By car/ motorbike

The most convenient way to travel to Koh Samet is by car if you depart from Bangkok. You can rent a car, or if you have a car, you can drive there. There are many car parks near the pier. Parking fee is 100 THB ( ~ 3 USD/ car/ night). They have the 3-wheel vehicle to transfer you from the car park to the ticket station, and to the boat as well.

Trip duration: 3-4 hours

If you are in a nearby area such as Pattaya, Rayong, or Chanthaburi, you can even ride a motorbike to Ban Phe and park your vehicles in the parking area and catch the ferry to Koh Samed. The parking fee is 50 THB /motorbike/ night.

Bear in mind to keep the parking ticket carefully so you can easily take your vehicle out when you are back from the island.

4. By taxi

This should be the last option you choose to travel to Koh Samed as it is quite expensive. Depending on where you depart, the price starts from 2500 THB onwards. There is a taxi service at the pier for you to choose from as well. The price can be negotiable.

Trip duration: 3-4 hours

You can check this out to find the best taxi option to travel to Koh Samed for your information.

5. By speedboat or ferry

No matter what ways you take, you finally end up taking the ferry/speed boat to travel to Koh Samed.

There are 2 main means of transportation to travel to Koh Samed which are speed boats and normal ferries. You can have many options on which piers you want to depart and arrive at; however, our suggestion is always to depart from Nuan Thip Pier from land, and arrive at Nadan Pier on the island.

You may see a plethora of beaches where you can arrive on the island, but after the pandemic, it has changed a lot so arrival at Nadan Pier on the island is a wise choice.

Remember to always check the schedule of the ferry or the speed boat to arrange your arrival time to Ban Phe accordingly to avoid the long waiting time.

Regular ferry

Schedule:

Nuan Thip Pier (Ban Phe) – Nadan Pier( Koh Samed): 9:30, 11:00, 12:30, 14:00, 15:20, and 16:00
Nadan Pier (Koh Samed) – Nuan Thip Pier (Ban Phe): 08:00, 12:30, and 16:00

Ticket fee: 75 THB / person/way.

Trip duration: 45 mins – 1 hour (Not recommended for seasick travelers)

Speed boat

Schedule:

Nuan Thip Pier (Ban Phe) – Nadan Pier( Koh Samed): Every 20 mins from 9:20 AM
Nadan Pier (Koh Samed) – Nuan Thip Pier (Ban Phe): Latest at 17:00, call 1 hour before you want to go back.

Ticket fee: 200 THB / person/ way

Trip duration: 15-20 mins

Normally the ticket seller will offer you a round trip. You can either book one way or buy the speed boat/ ferry ticket at Nadan Pier when you are back. It costs 150 THB/person for the speed boat and around 50 THB for the ferry.

If you buy a round-trip ticket from Ban Phe, the price will be higher than buying it separately. However, for our convenience, we buy a round-trip speed boat. When we want to go back, we can just call the ticket seller and tell them our ticket number and the time we want to be back, and they will arrange for the speedboat to pick us up back to the land. This is really time-saving and we don’t need to wait for too long.

You may wonder how you can get to your hotel from the Pier. No worry! It is super easy to grab a green truck (Green Songthaews) at the pier and ask them to bring you to your hotel/ resort at a price starting from 20 THB depending on your hotel location.

Have you ever been to Koh Samed? Do you have further tips for better travel to Koh Samet? Do share with us in the comment, so we can spread to good experience to other travelers.