Koh Phangan to Koh Tao: ferry and speedboat options (2026)

6 ways to make this trip, from ฿500 one way, and 45min–1h10 on the quickest, direct. Below: what each costs, who runs it, how often it goes and the pier or station it actually leaves from.

Fares checked 7 September 2026 and quoted as one-way bands per adult. They move with season, fuel and demand — the flight bands move fastest of all.

Our pick for time

Speedboat / catamaran

45min–1h10 · ฿500–฿650 · Lomprayah High Speed Ferries

Our pick for budget

Speedboat / catamaran

฿500–฿650 · 45min–1h10 · Lomprayah High Speed Ferries

Same option twice: on this pair the quickest way is also the cheapest, which is rarer than it sounds — it usually means one operator has the route to itself.

All options

Koh Phangan to Koh Tao: every option with mode, time, fare, operators and frequency
Option	Time	Fare	Operators	How often	Change
Speedboat / catamaran	45min–1h10	฿500–฿650	Lomprayah High Speed Ferries	Two departures a day on the Samui–Phangan–Tao chain	Direct
Ferry	3h–3h40	฿550–฿700	Seatran Discovery	One or two sailings a day	Direct
Speedboat / catamaran + Speedboat / catamaran	2h45–5h15	฿850–฿1,150	Lomprayah High Speed Ferries, Seatran Discovery	Several catamaran departures a day from Nathon, Maenam and Bangrak · About two direct departures a day from Nathon, around 08:00 and 13:00	via Koh Samui
Ferry + Speedboat / catamaran	3h15–6h	฿800–฿1,050	Raja Ferry, Seatran Discovery, Lomprayah High Speed Ferries	Through the day · About two direct departures a day from Nathon, around 08:00 and 13:00	via Koh Samui
Ferry + Speedboat / catamaran	6h15–9h35	฿1,070–฿1,550	Raja Ferry, Lomprayah High Speed Ferries, Seatran Discovery	Several sailings a day from Donsak to Thong Sala · Once or twice daily, routed via Koh Phangan	via Surat Thani
Bus + ferry (one ticket) + Bus + ferry (one ticket)	25h45–30h50	฿1,750–฿2,650	Lomprayah High Speed Ferries, Seatran Discovery, Raja Ferry	Overnight departures from Pinklao and Khao San · One overnight combination a day, bus around 22:00 from Pinklao or Khao San	via Bangkok

Booking notes

Speedboat / catamaran · 45min–1h10 · ฿500–฿650

The shortest of the three Gulf hops. Doing Samui to Tao with a Phangan stop costs about 2h30–3h in total and one extra ticket — which is why most people put Phangan in the middle rather than at the end.

Ferry · 3h–3h40 · ฿550–฿700

Three hours-plus against the catamaran's hour, for roughly the same money. It exists mainly as the fallback when Lomprayah is full.

Speedboat / catamaran + Speedboat / catamaran · 2h45–5h15 · ฿850–฿1,150

Koh Phangan → Koh Samui: Thirty minutes. The choice that matters is which Samui pier you leave from — Bangrak is next to the airport, Nathon is the far side of the island from Chaweng.

Koh Samui → Koh Tao: Lomprayah runs this one nearly alone. Children 3–11 travel at roughly half fare. In rough weather this crossing gets cancelled before the shorter Phangan hop does.

Ferry + Speedboat / catamaran · 3h15–6h · ฿800–฿1,050

Koh Phangan → Koh Samui: The vehicle ferries take twice as long as the catamaran for about ฿100 less, and they carry motorbikes — which is the actual reason to take one.

Koh Samui → Koh Tao: Lomprayah runs this one nearly alone. Children 3–11 travel at roughly half fare. In rough weather this crossing gets cancelled before the shorter Phangan hop does.

Ferry + Speedboat / catamaran · 6h15–9h35 · ฿1,070–฿1,550

Koh Phangan → Surat Thani: ฿270 is Raja's published passenger fare for the Donsak–Thong Sala crossing. Around the Full Moon these sailings fill; book the day before rather than at the pier.

Surat Thani → Koh Tao: Nothing runs Surat Thani to Koh Tao directly — the boat calls at Phangan or Samui on the way, which is why the time band is so wide. Coming from Bangkok, Chumphon is the shorter door.

Bus + ferry (one ticket) + Bus + ferry (one ticket) · 25h45–30h50 · ฿1,750–฿2,650

Koh Phangan → Bangkok: Two routings sell under the same name: the Chumphon catamaran down through Koh Tao, and the Surat Thani coach across to Donsak. The Chumphon version is faster and pricier; check which one the ticket actually is.

Bangkok → Koh Tao: The bus runs overnight to Chumphon and hands over to the 08:00 catamaran, landing on Koh Tao around 10:30 — 12 to 13 hours door to door. Lomprayah's own promoted fare for the combination was ฿850 in May 2026; the top of the band covers VIP coach seats and high season.

Both ends of the trip

Koh Phangan

Half an hour from Samui by boat: Full Moon on one beach, near-silence on the north coast.

Koh Phangan has no weather station of ours; the nearest one we track is driest Feb–Aug and wettest Sep–Jan.

Koh Tao

The dive-certification island — small, steep, and reached only by boat.

Koh Tao has no weather station of ours; the nearest one we track is driest Feb–Aug and wettest Sep–Jan.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to get from Koh Phangan to Koh Tao?

45min–1h10 on the quickest option we hold — speedboat / catamaran with Lomprayah High Speed Ferries. The slowest of the 6 options here takes 25h45–30h50, so the spread between them is about 27h20. Times are for the scheduled leg and exclude the transfer at either end.

How much is Koh Phangan to Koh Tao?

From ฿500–฿650 one way by speedboat / catamaran, checked 7 September 2026 — and on this pair that is also the quickest way, so there is nothing to trade off. The dearest of the 6 options here runs to ฿1,750–฿2,650. That band comes from a dated route listing rather than a published tariff, so treat it as indicative.

What else runs between Koh Phangan and Koh Tao?

5 other options. The next one after speedboat / catamaran with Lomprayah High Speed Ferries is ferry with Seatran Discovery at ฿550–฿700 and 3h–3h40 — dearer and slower. All of them are in the table above with their operators and frequency.

Where does the Koh Phangan to Koh Tao service leave from, and how often does it run?

Going the other way, or further

The return trip is on the Koh Tao to Koh Phangan page — fares are the same in both directions on almost every leg here, but the timetables are not. To string this hop into a longer trip with a pace check, use the route planner, and see the island comparison for which coast is dry in the month you are travelling.

Sources

InsideSamui Koh Samui–Koh Tao ferry guide (2026 edition) — a dated route reference.
Raja Ferry Port fare and timetable board — the carrier's own fare board.
Lomprayah High Speed Ferries route list and journey times — the carrier's own fare board.

Checked 7 September 2026. Every figure on this page is a range, because every one of them moves.

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