Surat Thani to Koh Phangan: ferry options (2026)

5 ways to make this trip, from ฿270 one way, and 2h30–2h45 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

Ferry

2h30–2h45 · ฿270–฿350 · Raja Ferry

Our pick for budget

Ferry

฿270–฿350 · 2h30–2h45 · Raja Ferry

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

Surat Thani to Koh Phangan: every option with mode, time, fare, operators and frequency
Option	Time	Fare	Operators	How often	Change
Ferry	2h30–2h45	฿270–฿350	Raja Ferry	Several sailings a day from Donsak to Thong Sala	Direct
Ferry + Speedboat / catamaran	2h45–4h55	฿450–฿650	Raja Ferry, Lomprayah High Speed Ferries, Seatran Discovery	Through the day from Donsak, first sailing around 05:00 · Several catamaran departures a day from Nathon, Maenam and Bangrak	via Koh Samui
Ferry + Ferry	3h15–5h40	฿400–฿550	Raja Ferry, Seatran Discovery	Through the day from Donsak, first sailing around 05:00 · Through the day	via Koh Samui
Speedboat / catamaran + Speedboat / catamaran	4h30–8h	฿1,300–฿1,850	Lomprayah High Speed Ferries, Seatran Discovery	Once or twice daily, routed via Koh Phangan · Two departures a day on the Samui–Phangan–Tao chain	via Koh Tao
Day train + Bus + ferry (one ticket)	22h25–27h10	฿1,328–฿1,828	State Railway of Thailand (trains 40/41 diesel railcar), Lomprayah High Speed Ferries, Seatran Discovery, Raja Ferry	Daily · Overnight departures from Pinklao and Khao San	via Bangkok

Booking notes

Ferry · 2h30–2h45 · ฿270–฿350

฿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.

Ferry + Speedboat / catamaran · 2h45–4h55 · ฿450–฿650

Surat Thani → Koh Samui: ฿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.

Koh Samui → Koh Phangan: 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.

Ferry + Ferry · 3h15–5h40 · ฿400–฿550

Koh Samui → Koh Phangan: 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.

Speedboat / catamaran + Speedboat / catamaran · 4h30–8h · ฿1,300–฿1,850

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.

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.

Day train + Bus + ferry (one ticket) · 22h25–27h10 · ฿1,328–฿1,828

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

Bangkok → Koh Phangan: 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.

Both ends of the trip

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.

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.

Frequently asked questions

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

2h30–2h45 on the quickest option we hold — ferry with Raja Ferry. The slowest of the 5 options here takes 22h25–27h10, so the spread between them is about 22h10. Times are for the scheduled leg and exclude the transfer at either end.

How much is Surat Thani to Koh Phangan?

From ฿270–฿350 one way by ferry, 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 5 options here runs to ฿1,300–฿1,850. That bottom figure comes off the operator's own fare board.

What else runs between Surat Thani and Koh Phangan?

4 other options. The next one after ferry with Raja Ferry is ferry + speedboat / catamaran with Raja Ferry at ฿450–฿650 and 2h45–4h55, changing at Koh Samui — dearer and slower. All of them are in the table above with their operators and frequency.

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

฿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. Several sailings a day from Donsak to Thong Sala.

Going the other way, or further

The return trip is on the Koh Phangan to Surat Thani 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

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