Thailand has over a thousand islands, and choosing between them is genuinely confusing — partly because most guides list them all as if they’re interchangeable, and partly because the single most important factor is one nobody mentions until page four.
So let’s start there.
First, choose your coast — not your island
Southern Thailand has two coastlines with opposite weather patterns. Get this right and everything else is preference. Get it wrong and no amount of good planning saves the trip.
| Andaman coast (west) | Gulf coast (east) | |
|---|---|---|
| Islands | Phuket, Phi Phi, Lanta, Railay, Similans | Samui, Phangan, Tao, Chang |
| Best months | November – April | February – April, July – September |
| Wettest | May – October | October – December |
| Looks like | Sheer limestone karsts, dramatic | Palm groves, gentler, rounder |
| Water | Clearer, more dramatic scenery | Calmer, better for learners |
The practical rule: pick the coast whose season matches your dates, then choose islands within it. Travelling in October? Andaman. In August? Gulf. In February or March? Either — that’s the narrow window when both are good.
Full month-by-month season guide →
The Andaman islands
Phuket — The big, easy one. International airport, every kind of hotel, real restaurants, nightlife, and things to do when it rains. Less dramatic scenery than its neighbours and more traffic than you’d expect from an island. Best as an arrival base or a first-timer’s whole trip.
Krabi and Ao Nang — Our usual recommendation for a first Andaman trip. Spectacular limestone scenery, cheaper than Phuket, and the shortest boat rides to the good stuff: the Hong Islands in 30 minutes, the classic four-island tour in under an hour.
Railay — Technically part of Krabi, practically its own world. Cut off from the mainland by cliffs, so it’s boat-access only, with no cars at all. World-class rock climbing, a stunning main beach, and Phra Nang cave beach next door. Two or three nights here at the end of a trip is close to perfect.
Koh Phi Phi — Genuinely beautiful and genuinely busy. Maya Bay (the Beach beach) is now managed with visitor limits and closed periods to let the reef recover, which is a good thing. Phi Phi Don has a party scene in Tonsai and much quieter bays elsewhere on the island. Stay two nights, not five.
Koh Lanta — The relaxed alternative. Long flat beaches, a laid-back old town, no nightlife to speak of, and a very loyal following of people who go every year. Excellent with families and with anyone who found Phi Phi exhausting.
The Similan Islands — Not a place you stay but a place you dive. Arguably Thailand’s best underwater scenery, typically open from mid-October to mid-May, reached on day or liveaboard trips from Khao Lak or Phuket.
The Gulf islands
Koh Samui — The developed one: an airport, good resorts, decent restaurants, a road right round the island. Chaweng is busy, Bophut’s Fisherman’s Village is charming, the south and west coasts are quiet. Flights in are noticeably pricier than to Phuket.
Koh Phangan — Famous for the Full Moon Party, which is a fraction of what the island actually is. The north and east coasts are beautiful, quiet and full of small resorts; Thong Nai Pan is lovely. Check the moon calendar before booking, in whichever direction suits you.
Koh Tao — The cheapest place in the world to get scuba certified, and it has built an entire island economy around that. Small, social, walkable, superb snorkelling straight off the beach. Backpacker-leaning but far from exclusively so.
Koh Chang — The outlier, up near the Cambodian border and reachable from Bangkok by road and ferry in about five hours. No flight needed, which makes it a genuinely good option for a short trip. Jungly, mountainous, with quiet beaches down the west coast.
Three routes that work
Andaman classic — 10 nights Krabi/Ao Nang (4) → Koh Phi Phi (2) → Koh Lanta (4). All connected by scheduled ferries with no backtracking, and each hop is under two hours.
Gulf classic — 10 nights Koh Samui (3) → Koh Phangan (3) → Koh Tao (4). Frequent boats, 30–90 minutes each. Finish on Tao if you’re diving.
Short and easy — 5 nights Fly to Krabi, stay in Ao Nang (3), boat to Railay (2). Minimal transit, maximum scenery, and no ferry longer than 15 minutes.
What it costs to move around
| Journey | Type | Price per person | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Krabi ↔ Phi Phi | Ferry | ฿400–600 | 1.5–2 hrs |
| Phi Phi ↔ Phuket | Ferry | ฿400–700 | 2 hrs |
| Phi Phi ↔ Koh Lanta | Ferry | ฿400–600 | 1–1.5 hrs |
| Samui ↔ Phangan | Ferry | ฿300–500 | 30–45 min |
| Phangan ↔ Koh Tao | Ferry | ฿500–800 | 1–1.5 hrs |
| Ao Nang ↔ Railay | Longtail | ฿100–150 | 15 min |
| Private longtail day charter | Boat | ฿1,500–3,000 total | Full day |
Indicative 2026 guide prices. Speedboats cost roughly double a ferry and halve the time.
Seven things nobody tells first-timers
- Two islands, not four. Every hop costs most of a day. Four nights on two islands beats two nights on four, and it costs less.
- Never connect a boat to a flight on the same day. Ferries get cancelled or delayed for weather with no notice. Build in a night on the mainland.
- Longtails are wet. Bring a dry bag. Your luggage will sit in an open boat that takes spray over the bow.
- Not every island has an ATM — and the small ones that do run out. Take cash from the mainland.
- Beware the low-season rip currents on Andaman west-coast beaches. Red flags mean don’t swim, not “be careful”. People drown every year.
- Book the ferry the day before in high season. Same-day is usually fine from May to October.
- Island transport is a cartel almost everywhere. Taxi and songthaew prices are fixed and non-negotiable, and often surprising. Factor it in, or stay somewhere you can walk from.
Let us handle the chain
Flights, piers, ferry times, transfers at both ends, and hotel check-in windows that don’t quite line up — the logistics are the least fun part of an island trip and the easiest part to get wrong.
We book the whole chain so it connects, and we’re on the phone if a boat gets cancelled.
Plan your island-hopping trip → · Tailor-made tours → · Phuket vs Krabi →
