Koh Tao to Surat Thani: speedboat and bus options (2026)

4 ways to make this trip, from ฿800 one way, and 3h–4h20 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

3h–4h20 · ฿800–฿1,200 · Lomprayah High Speed Ferries, Seatran Discovery

Our pick for budget

Speedboat / catamaran

฿800–฿1,200 · 3h–4h20 · Lomprayah High Speed Ferries, Seatran Discovery

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 Tao to Surat Thani: every option with mode, time, fare, operators and frequency
Option	Time	Fare	Operators	How often	Change
Speedboat / catamaran	3h–4h20	฿800–฿1,200	Lomprayah High Speed Ferries, Seatran Discovery	Once or twice daily, routed via Koh Phangan	Direct
Speedboat / catamaran + Ferry	3h45–6h10	฿800–฿1,000	Lomprayah High Speed Ferries, Raja Ferry	About two direct departures a day from Nathon, around 08:00 and 13:00 · Through the day from Donsak, first sailing around 05:00	via Koh Samui
Speedboat / catamaran + Ferry	4h–6h25	฿770–฿1,000	Lomprayah High Speed Ferries, Raja Ferry	Two departures a day on the Samui–Phangan–Tao chain · Several sailings a day from Donsak to Thong Sala	via Koh Phangan
Bus + ferry (one ticket) + Day train	21h25–25h30	฿1,278–฿1,678	Lomprayah High Speed Ferries, State Railway of Thailand (trains 40/41 diesel railcar)	One overnight combination a day, bus around 22:00 from Pinklao or Khao San · Daily	via Bangkok

Booking notes

Speedboat / catamaran · 3h–4h20 · ฿800–฿1,200

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.

Speedboat / catamaran + Ferry · 3h45–6h10 · ฿800–฿1,000

Koh Tao → Koh Samui: 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.

Koh Samui → Surat Thani: ฿200 is Raja's own published passenger fare on the Donsak–Lipa Noi crossing, one of the few numbers on this page that comes straight off an operator's board. Donsak pier is 60–90 minutes by road from Surat Thani town.

Speedboat / catamaran + Ferry · 4h–6h25 · ฿770–฿1,000

Koh Tao → Koh Phangan: 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.

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.

Bus + ferry (one ticket) + Day train · 21h25–25h30 · ฿1,278–฿1,678

Koh Tao → Bangkok: 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.

Bangkok → Surat Thani: Air-conditioned 2nd class seats, about 9 hours in daylight. Cheaper than a sleeper but it costs a full day rather than a night.

Both ends of the trip

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.

Surat Thani

Not a destination — the mainland interchange every Gulf island ticket routes through.

Airport URT: The cheap way into the Gulf islands: low-cost flight here, then a bus-and-ferry combination to the pier.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to get from Koh Tao to Surat Thani?

3h–4h20 on the quickest option we hold — speedboat / catamaran with Lomprayah High Speed Ferries. The slowest of the 4 options here takes 21h25–25h30, so the spread between them is about 19h48. Times are for the scheduled leg and exclude the transfer at either end.

How much is Koh Tao to Surat Thani?

From ฿800–฿1,200 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 4 options here runs to ฿1,278–฿1,678. That bottom figure comes off the operator's own fare board.

What else runs between Koh Tao and Surat Thani?

3 other options. The next one after speedboat / catamaran with Lomprayah High Speed Ferries is speedboat / catamaran + ferry with Lomprayah High Speed Ferries at ฿800–฿1,000 and 3h45–6h10, changing at Koh Samui — cheaper and slower. All of them are in the table above with their operators and frequency.

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

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. Once or twice daily, routed via Koh Phangan.

Going the other way, or further

The return trip is on the Surat Thani to Koh Tao 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

Lomprayah High Speed Ferries route list and journey times — the carrier's own fare board.
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.
seat61.com Thailand rail fares (page updated 8 July 2026) — a dated route reference.

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

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