Getting Here

First get to Bangkok - that’s easy, most of the worlds major airlines have international routes that either pass through or terminate in Bangkok.

Next you’ve got a choice of surface travel or air to Samui.

Surface Travel

Traveling from Bangkok to Samui over land you basically have two choices, bus or train.

The bus is generally the cheapest option of all, V.I.P. Bus tickets generally start at around 400-450 Baht. The V.I.P. buses are laid on specially for foreigners (Farang as the Thai’s call us) and they are normally cheaper than the Thai alternative. The best place to pick one up is from Koh San Road in Bangkok - shop around the many travel agencies there to get the best price - the price should include the ferry across to Samui! The buses normally leave Bangkok early evening and get to Samui around midday the next day.

The next surface travel choice from Bangkok to Samui is the overnight sleeper train. If your not in a hurry, I think this is the best value option. The tickets normally start at around 800 Baht - at that price it’s more than the bus but allot less than flying! On the bus you get a recliner seat which some people manage to sleep in but I never have - the journey takes a day and you need another day to get over it! The journey by train is just as long but least you can move around, there’s a buffet car and above all you get your own bed where you can lay down and get a decent nights sleep so your not ruining the next day. The trains leave from the main Bangkok train station early evening and arrive the following day at Suratthani station. From here you’ll need to get a bus to Donsak and then the ferry across to Samui (these maybe included in the price - it’s worth checking, if not it shouldn’t be expensive though.) The bus from Suratthani to Donsak takes around 1 hour and the ferry from Donsak to Nathon on Samui takes a further 1 hour 45 minutes. The overnight sleeper is a popular choice for both Thai’s and farang alike so you may find it better to book your trip a day in advance - you can do this at the ticket office in the staion at Bangkok.

Whether it’s the bus or the train that you choose to take you’ll end up on Samui in Nathon town. Nathon is the islands port town and also serves as a base for government offices and services. There’s not a lot to see here so you’ll probably want to continue your journey to one of the resorts on the island. Most places are accessible from Nathon by “SongTao” which is a Pick Up style bus that has seats facing inwards down each side ( SongTao literally means Two Lines - two rows of people sitting). In the daytime a Songtao from Nathon to most places on the islands ring road will not cost more than 50 Baht per person. At night this price will go up massively as they all operated as private hire after around 6pm.

By Air

www.bangkokair.com). If you want to save some money check out their first and last flights of the day for special online promotional fares that can easily shave a thousand Baht off each ticket. Bangkok Air own the airport here on Samui and they do not allow any competition to land so don’t waste your time looking for other cheaper operators - you won’t find them, Bangkok Air have the monopoly!

www.thaiair.com , or Orient Thai www.fly12go.com . With the extra hassle involved it’s probably not worth taking this option if you can get one of the the promotional seats and fly direct with Bangkok Air.