The overnight coach and boat on one ticket. You leave Bangkok at nine at night and are on Koh Tao by half past eight, having paid for no hotel in between. Flying to Koh Samui and taking the boat on is quicker if the fare is not the point.
Bus and catamaran
Lomprayah's own through ticket: coach to Chumphon, then the catamaran, arriving 08:30. Pinklao is across the river from Khao San Road, and Lomprayah also sells departures from Khao San itself.
Bus and ferry
The same coach with the slower ferry for the sea crossing, leaving half an hour earlier and arriving 08:15. The cheapest way onto the island.
The season changes this. The northeast monsoon runs down the Gulf from November to February. These are the months the crossings are roughest and the occasional sailing is cancelled; from March to October the sea is usually easy. Book something you can move by a day if your dates sit in the rough months.
These times and fares are read off the operator's own published timetable, not an agent's. Gulf timetables change with the season and the sea, so confirm before you build a day around a departure. Last read on 2 October 2026, from Lomprayah's 2026 timetable (PDF) and Lomprayah.
