Flying to Koh Tao is one of the most popular options to get to the island and probably the fastest one. However, as there is no airport on the island, it is necessary to find another one. Some options are to fly to Koh Samui, Chumphon or Surat Thani. Here are a few itineraries you can use to plan your trip.
If you are looking for Koh Tao flights, you won’t find any, but we are going to give you some options to book your flight to arrive at the Turtle Island. The three options you will be looking at are Koh Samui, Chumphon and Surat Thani.
For many people, this is the preferred option because it’s probably the most comfortable one. If you have a comfortable budget, this option would be the smartest. Koh Samui airport is run by Bangkok Airways, so make sure to book your ticket with them. You can easily fly from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Krabi or even Kuala Lumpur.
But if you decide to fly to Koh Samui to go to Koh Tao this is also a good option. At the airport, you will find many companies offering you a transfer to the pier and will sell you directly the ferry ticket. Therefore, at your arrival at Koh Samui airport, you’d have all your trip completely wrapped up.
his is probably the best solution to get to Koh Tao. Chumphon is the nearest port to get to the Turtle Island, although not many companies fly there. If you want to go to Bangkok, for instance, you’ll find it easy to book a flight with a low-cost company like Air Asia. But if you are coming from Chiang Mai, there is no direct flight to Chumphon at the moment. From Chumphon, you will find only direct flights to Bangkok.
But, if you are stopping by Bangkok, this would be a good option, especially because there are many boats from Chumphon to Koh Tao and the trip will take you less than 2 hours. Therefore, it’s quite convenient to travel by plane to Chumphon.
Another option would be to arrive at Surat Thani and then take a boat to Koh Tao. However, the boat trip is longer than from Chumphon and less frequent. Usually, Surat Thani is the preferred option when traveling to Koh Samui or Koh Phanghan as it is further away from Koh Tao. There are only two boats from Surat Thani, overnight at 10:00 pm and in the early morning.
However, Surat Thani airport is a good option as there are low-cost flights to get to Koh Tao. From Surat Thani airport you will find direct flights to Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Kuala Lumpur with good prices with Air Asia, Lion Air or Nok Air.
Due to the size of the island, there is no airport. Therefore, if you want to fly to the islands in the Gulf of Thailand you need to go to Koh Samui and then take a ferry. Another option would be going to Chumphon or to Surat Thani. The preferred option would be flying to Chumphon and take the ferry as it’s closer to Koh Tao than Surat Thani.
