Travel to Koh Tao, Thailand on a Budget

Finally, we were there. In paradise. Koh Tao, Thailand. Turtle Island. Ready to enjoy the best beach experience of our lives.

Main reason the 10 of us decided on Koh Tao? Quiet beaches. Koh Tao is significantly less crowded than any of the other, more accessible beaches we'd been to in Thailand. Phuket was too touristy and crowded. Koh Samui was too party-filled and crowded. Pattaya was too sleezy and crowded.

Noticing a trend here? We didn't want the crowds or the parties or the onslaught of European men trying to hook up with Thai women. We wanted to be able to actually relax.

After snorkeling all around the island last year, the other main reason I wanted to come back was scuba diving. Koh Tao is becoming famous for its diving. Because it isn't crowded, the water around the island is crystal clear, with at least 15 to 20 meters of visibility, but sometimes it exceeds 30 meters.

The prospect of spending the 10 days on an island that the average tourist wouldn't have the patience to find also appealed to us. Half decided to spend more money to arrive early. Half took a mid-priced route.

The previous year I'd taken the cheapest route, riding on a stuffed, stuffy overnight bus from Bangkok, which dumped us at the pier in Chumphon around 3 a.m. to sleep on the floor of a restaurant for three hours while waiting for the three-hour daytime ferry to the island. Not ideal, but economical (about $5 for the bus and $15 for the ferry). Warnings abound about leaving valuables in your stowed luggage during the bus and boat rides because people sometimes scavenge through belongings on the lower deck, but I put padlocks on my zippers and had no problems.

After hearing stories of the long sleepless travel I'd endured last year, the group decided to take slightly more expensive routes to get to the island.

Half the group went luxury, flying directly from Chiang Mai to nearby Koh Samui (about $150 US one way on Bangkok Airways (http://www.bangkokair.com) - the only airline flying there), then took a 3-hour ferry to Koh Tao (about $10). Not surprisingly, this part of the group also opted to be pampered at a resort nestled at the Southern end of Mae Haad Beach, next to the piers where the ferries arrive.

The five of us who went were planning to spend our money on scuba diving opted for a mid-priced travel option. We flew on a discount airline (Thai Air Asia - http://www.airasia.com) from Chiang Mai to Bangkok (about $37), then hopped on another flight from Bangkok (Orient Thai Airways - http://www.fly12go.com) to Surat Thani (about $47), then took a super-slow overnight ferry (about $15). It left around 10 p.m. and arrived at about 7 a.m., just as the sun was rising. On the ferry ride, about 70 people slept on thin pads side-by-side in an open room.

Since the five of us were spending our money to get certified as open water scuba divers (about $275 for a 4-day course), we opted to stay at a resort affiliated with a dive center further north on Sairee Beach. That saved us $6 per per person, per night from the cost of our $15-per-night, two-bed fan-cooled room. For the days we dove, our accommodations were about $3 a person.

For the true backpacker, the other cheap way to travel to Koh Tao from Bangkok is to buy a seat on the overnight train ($8-11) to Chumphon. But, for those who want any sleep, it pays to spring for an air conditioned second class sleeper bed (about $20). For times, see http://www.railway.co.th/English/Time_HTML.asp

On the island, there was a growing array of things to do. We rode motorbikes across the island. We ate good Mexican and Italian food, in addition to excellent burgers and Thai dishes. We scuba dove. We snorkeled. There was even a music festival (the annual Koh Tao Turtle Festival takes place at the beginning of February). While there was more partying than we'd hoped, it was still quaint and the beaches were never lined with people.

All in all, it was a fantastic, low-priced vacation for a group of 20-somethings on a budget.
For more information on travel to Koh Tao, you might find the following websites useful:

http://www.kohtao.com/howtoget.php and http://www.travelfish.org/feature/57 feature travel information on getting to Koh Tao, but some of the prices were dated by the time I traveled in February 2007.
Thai Air Asia: http://www.airasia.com

Bangkok Airways: http://www.bangkokair.com

Orient Thai Airways:http://www.fly12go.com

State Railway of Thailand:http://www.railway.co.th/English/Time_HTML.asp

Ferry travel times from Chumphon, Suratthani and Samui:http://www.samui.org/kohtao/kohtao_transfer.html