Big Blue Travel

Thailand’s South Islands

As you have been reading we have been travelling in a big circle around South East Asia we now find ourselves in South Thailand ready to explore the beautiful islands.

Flying from Siem Reap to Phuket we planned to see roughly 5/6 islands whilst working our way back to Phuket for our next flight. We decided to spend time in Phuket on our return trip so we jumped on a boat to Krabi and spent one night here merely as a stop over to reach the eastern islands, First stop Koh Samui.

Koh Samui.

We stayed off Lamai Beach in Koh Samui a beautiful sandy beach filled with tourists and water sport activities. In my opinion Koh Samui is one of the more expensive and touristy islands. Don’t get me wrong it’s still a beautiful island however I’m not sure I would rush back as there are plenty of other beautiful places to see. As per all the islands the best way to get around is hiring a scooter (generally around 200baht per day), take yourself around the island past Chaweng beach the main tourist beach on the island along to the big buddhas, beautiful monuments built for worship. They truly are a spectacle towering meters above you looking over the island. Please ensure to be respectful and cover your knees and shoulders, In some places they offer shawls at a cost for you to wear but you should always have something with you just in case.

Naturally there are some beautifully secluded sunset viewpoints on the island, some of which are mapped others you will just stumble across. Go Explore!

At one of the viewpoints is the grandmother grandfather rock, based on an island myth of grandparents setting out across the seas to arrange a marriage for their granddaughter and came across a storm and fell shipwrecked, they came returned to earth as rocks on the island to watch over their family. Use your imagination when you see the rocks, or just enjoy the beautiful views.

A vision underwater.

After a few days spent on Koh Samui we headed to the pier for our next stop, Koh Tao the diving island.

Whether it’s your first time diving or you are an experienced diver you will find a dive centre for you. I can highly recommend Buddha View dive centre where we spent a week achieving our open water Padi qualification.

The centre was understanding to all our needs, let us take our time if we needed to take a day out and just generally cared for us perfectly with the most wonderful instructors. Generally staying on site at dive centres and taking a course you get discount for accommodation which is what we did or of course you can stay elsewhere and travel in each day for your course or dives.

If you have never been scuba diving before, which I hadn’t, once you reach the depths of the ocean it truly is a magical world, however if diving isn’t for you there are plenty of snorkelling bays and trips which will ensure you see the underwater magic like everyone else.

Take yourself on a rocky walk up to John-Suwan view point for the most breath taking views of the island and all that surrounds. I stood up here taking it all in for some time before heading back down to earth for a snorkel back to base. Time really does stand still here on the islands and you can end up staying for a lot longer than planned if you’re not careful.

Our last stop in Koh Tao was on Sairee beach, we stayed at a little place 10 minutes inland. Sairee beach is the more touristy area filled with bars restaurants and the infamously Thailand alcohol buckets (not for everyone), you can also find some amazing food restaurants down these little alleys, I would recommend the Mexican/grill restaurant called the Flaming hog, it seemed to be two restaurants attached but the food was unreal if you need a break from local food.

If after all that you need even more excitement take yourself to one of the many island Muay Thai gyms for either a group session or a private session. We booked in for a private hour and a half session and it was amazing. Truly shows the hard work and effort these sportsmen and women put into the craft.

Full Moon

The only island people head to for the infamous full moon party is Koh Pha-nang and is really the only reason people now go there. We stayed a few nights here to head to the warm up Jungle party with live music and food and drink stands all around with a Glastonbury feel to it. It cost 700baht for the ticket of which you can stay as long as you please and if you chose stay up to see the sunrise.

The main event on the island is the full moon beach party – however most regulars and locals prefer and find the lead up parties more enjoyable. As you can imagine the full moon beach party is very much filled with tourists drinking in the various bars along the Haad Drin beach. There is all kinds of music playing down the different venues from RnB to House music. Take your pick, get right in there or find a spot to sit on the beach and take it all in.

Naturally after all this partying you have done you may want to head to somewhere to chill... and that’s exactly what we did.

From Koh Pan-nang we took another ferry taking us to Krabi and then onwards by minibus all the way to Koh Lanta for our next stop.

Koh Lanta

Koh Lanta is what I imagine all of Thailand to have been like a far few years ago, very laid back, very back to basics and generally sums up ‘island life’.

Koh Lanta is a province of Krabi and is very easy to get to by either boat or car from Krabi, as soon as you enter the island you can sense the change of lifestyle. ‘No rush no hurry’ sums up general life in South East Asia but even more so here on the Island. Embrace it, Relax!

I had no idea that Koh Lanta was a mainly Muslim island so instead of our regular viewings of the stunning temples we now see and hear the gorgeous mosques calling for daily prayers.

Koh Lanta is home to Mu Ko National park which will cost around 200baht per person to enter. You can easily get here by renting a bike (you will have to pay for the bike to enter also). We spent the most part of the day wandering around the white sandy beaches, walking up to the view points and taking a beautiful walk, albeit very sweaty, round the natural trail. Also part of the national park are the surrounding islands of which you can take a day boat trip and snorkel around the hidden caves, islands and beaches. The array of corals and underwater life here are breath-taking, we even had a turtle sighting which was extremely exciting!

Whilst on Koh Lanta you must visit the old town, originally the main trade port of the island and inhabited by sea gypsies has now transformed into a trade village. Beautiful buildings on stilts out in the water remain there now housing the restaurants, cafes and local shops. Take a moment to have lunch or a drink in one of the restaurants over looking the sea and surrounding islands. Take it all in…

Koh Phi Phi

Phi Phi is such a beautiful island with amazing viewpoints and beaches giving you that typical picturesque Thai landscape you see on postcards.

We took a traditional long boat trip around the main sights including monkey beach, shark point and long beach which included a snack breakfast and a packed lunch. On this boat trip we also made a stop at the famous Maya beach where Leonardo DiCaprio starred in ‘The Beach’, due to so many tourists visiting over the years the beach itself has been closed off so the land and wildlife can rejuvenate but if you want to see it still the tours take you as close as you can for a few minutes.

Other boat trips will take you to the national park beaches which will cost around 400baht to step onto land. The beaches are beautiful but you can see many gorgeous beaches without paying to go on them so it’s up to you.

Unfortunately for Phi Phi it has turned into a tourist hub for party goers, with numerous beach clubs, pool parties, bars and even a bar for tourist to take part in a Thai boxing match against a fellow intoxicated punter. Difficult to steer clear of however there are many lovely hotels, hotels and home stays to continue a relaxing stay on another beautiful Thai paradise.

Take a walk for sunset one day up to one of the many view points all of which now have information boards of the tsunamis that have hit over the years and you can truly take in the devastation that hits this small islands.

Phuket- floating villages

We didn’t stay in Phuket too long as cities aren’t really the one for us and we had heard that Phuket is just very resorty. So we stay about half an hour from the airport in the old town and booked straight onto a boat trip to head to an island that I’d been wanting to go to for a long time.

Koh Panyee is a floating village with schools, shops, restaurants and a wonderfully pleasant community, Made famous for its floating football field and the players this island did not disappoint. I would definitely recommend spending the money to take a trip here.

Finding a trip to Koh Panyee wasn’t all that easy, in fact we couldn’t find one that would take us just to this island alone so we had to stop at several stops on the way. We made stops at ‘James Bond island’ a tourist trap where the famous ‘Man with the golden gun’ was filmed, ‘ice cream cone cave’ a cave off an island that homes stalactites and stalagmites which are so beautiful and a lovely edition to our tour, we also stopped at a little beach on our way back to the main land which was slightly underwhelming after some of the other islands we have seen on our southern Thailand adventures but a welcome dip in the sea to cool off.

Who to choose?

The Cheapest boat company we found to hop from island to island seemed to be Songserm. Just be prepared these boats run on Thai time. Generally they run around 30-45 minutes late, have no system of where luggage will go in accordance with what stop people are getting off at, but you will eventually make it to you next stop, even if it may not feel like it.

Say NO!

On our way round South Thailand and South East Asia as a while we have noticed that there are more and more signs about regarding litter and preserving the environment however there is still an unimaginable amount of litter around the streets and oceans. Plastic bags and packaging are completely overused in Asia so please try to carry a reusable bag around with you when out and about and always Say No to Plastic!

General animal abuse in South East Asia is getting addressed however there are still tourist attractions that require animals to live and work outside their natural habitat, please Say No to riding elephants, watching monkey tricks or anything that has you paying for animal abuse, please do not promote this awful businesses.

Although my final few words were not necessarily positive South Thailand has been the most beautiful adventure and I would recommend to anyone who is thinking about travelling here to stop thinking and just book your flight. You will not regret it, experiences new foods, cultures, scenery and so much more.


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Stop thinking. Just book it!