Ferry From Surat thani
to Koh Tao
car ferry
In May 2023, we took the ferry from Surat Thani to Koh Tao. We wanted to take our car to Koh Tao but there are only a few ferries that offer this service. One of them is Ko Jaroen and another is Seacrest. These are both night ferries and they will leave at Tapee pier in Surat Thani, but keep in mind they do not leave every night so itโs best to contact them before you drive to Surat Thani. They charge 3,700 baht including one person. Price for an additional person is 700 baht. So for a car and 2 people it would come down to 4,500 baht for one way. The boat will leave around 10pm and will arrive around 6am. We found this a bit expensive and we were told that the roads in Koh Tao were not very good so in the end we decided to leave our car in Surat Thani. We booked one night in a hotel called Evergreen suites hotel in Surat Thani. They have a very large parking lot and didn’t mind us leaving the car in their parking lot for 1 week. The parking is very big and it is secured by a security guy and CCTV.
Passenger ferry
Ferry to Koh Tao
Since we decided to leave the car in Surat Thani, we could now look for normal passenger ferry and then of course you have more choice. 12go.asia is a good site offering the different ferries. You can choose to take an overnight ferry. These usually leave at 10pm and take about 7-8 hours. Some options are Ko Jaroen and Seacrest (as mentioned above). These are probably the cheapest options (700 baht per person for 1 way). In our opinion the boats don’t look that good but they do offer a place to sleep and since you will be on the sea all night you can skip one night of hotel that way. So if you are on a budget this is a good option. Places on these ferries can only be reserved by phone. The people on the phone do not speak English very well so it is not easy to make a reservation but with some effort you will succeed.
Other option is with Lomprayah. They offer a high speed catamaran that will take you to Koh Tao in 4 hours. Through 12go.asia you can book your ticket and see when the boat leaves. Normal price is 900 baht/p.p. Since we changed our plan last minute, everything on the site was sold out for that day but through the hotel, we were able to get some tickets. The hotel asked 1,100 baht/p.p. so make sure you book your tickets through the site on time as it will save you 200 baht per person. You can also buy your tickets at the pier for 900 baht but then of course you have the chance that the boat is already fully booked.
You need to be at the Tappee pier in Surat Thani at 10 am. There you have to wait for the bus to take you to Don sak, about 1 hour drive from Tappee pier. This bus ride will be arranged for you and is included in the price. Once there you can board the catamaran. We have read on several blogs that if you get easily seasick, the catamaran will be a nightmare but I get seasick extremely quickly and, with the help of some snacks and travel pills, didn’t notice anything so it is quite okay!
You can also take a ferry from Chumpon. This costs around 650-700 baht per person for 1 way. So this is cheaper and another advantage is that the ride takes only 2 hours. If you are planning to drive to northern Thailand you will most likely have to pass by Chumpon so it is not even a detour. When we planned the trip, we were certain that we were going to take the car with us and because we couldn’t find a car ferry from Chumpon we drove to Surat Thani. Afterwards we were a bit upset because they told us it would be 3.700 baht for both ways, we did not think further about the planning and immediately booked the hotel in Surat Thani so we could leave Surat Thani the next morning. But since it is cheaper and the travel is shorter if you leave from Chumpon, this does seem like a better idea to us.
Ferry to Surat Thani
For the return trip we went to Lomprayah office to buy the tickets. We did this the night before we wanted to take the boat. Tickets were 900 baht per person. We recommend to buy your tickets just before closing time so you can check in for the next day right away. Then will get your boarding sticker and you can avoid having to queue for a long time in the heat to check in the next day. Anyway this was in our case, maybe we were just lucky that we were allowed to check in already. The boat leaves at 9:30 a.m. We got there around 10 past 9 a.m. and were able to get past the whole line and get on the catamaran right away. We must admit that we felt a tiny bit guilty (but with a little smile on our face that we were trying to hide) as we looked out the window and we saw a hundred of sweaty people with way too heavy backpacks standing outside in the blazing sun.
