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| There are flights to both Phuket and Koh Samui; Phuket in particular has a number of flights each day, including international flights. Within Thailand taking a plane is quite cheap, but from farther afield the prices can, obviously, skyrocket.
If traveling on a budget by air, it will almost certainly be cheaper to buy a ticket to Bangkok and then buy the flight to your island from the airport. Purchase a connecting flight from your point of origin, and you’ll pay a hefty premium.
From Bangkok, you can also take an overnight bus to a port city, and then ride a ferry to your favored island. This is a long trip – to get to the closer, eastern islands will be about 12 hours by bus, a long early morning layover waiting for the ferry, and then a few more hours to the island. The plane isn’t much more expensive, so you should only take the bus and ferry if you’re on a tight budget, or time is not a factor. Beyond that, if you aren’t nearby, the flight is a better option. |
When traveling within the island clusters, ferries are the way to go. They run a few times a day, traveling each direction.
On any particular island, you’ve got a number of choices. Some – such as Koh Tao – are small enough you can walk basically the entire thing. Cheap tuk-tuks, taxis, and pick-up trucks abound, while motorcycles are available for as little as 100 baht a day.
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Koh Tao, Koh Samui, and Koh Phanghan are clustered nearby off the eastern edge of the top of the narrow southern strip of Thailand, in the Thai Bay. Phuket, Phi Phi and other smaller islands are farther south, and off the western edge of the strip, in the Indian Ocean.
For that reason, the recent tsunami in the region did significant damage to Phuket and Phi Phi, and virtually leveled structures on some nearby islands. Much has already been rebuilt, but the area hasn’t fully recovered yet.
This is not necessarily a bad thing; tourism in the area hasn’t fully rebounded, so you’ll find less people cluttering your favorite beaches, and plenty of discounts as hotel and bungalow owners try to bring the leisure dollar back. This unusual situation isn’t likely to last long, so if you’ve always wanted to go, now is as good a time as you’ll find.
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