Which coast should we book?

Your dates decide it. November to April: the Andaman, so Krabi or Phuket. May to September: the Gulf, so Koh Samui and Phangan. January to April is the one stretch when both are reliable, and that is the only window in which we would build the crossing into a short trip.

Krabi for the limestone, the long-tails and a twenty-minute transfer from the airport to the sand. Phuket for the choice of hotels, direct long-haul flights and Phang Nga Bay from the northern beaches. Three hours apart by road, same season, very different in character.

What happens if the sea is too rough?

We hold a named inland alternative for every boat day — the Tiger Cave temple and the Emerald Pool at Krabi, the interior and the waterfalls on Samui — and we decide the evening before rather than at the pier. It costs you the boat, not the day.

Is two nights enough on Samui?

It is one full day, which covers Ang Thong or the crossing to Phangan and nothing else. Three nights is the honest figure for the Gulf leg, and if your month favours the Gulf we would rather start the trip there and give Krabi the two nights instead.

Thailand Islands in 8 Days

Overview

Two coasts, two calendars, one decision

The Andaman coast — Krabi, Phuket, Phi Phi, Koh Lanta — runs from November to April, with January to March the most reliable stretch of all. The Gulf, eighty kilometres over the isthmus, runs a month or two behind and takes its heaviest rain in November, precisely when the Andaman comes good. A trip in late June or July is a gamble on the west coast and usually straightforward in the east.

That is the whole planning job, and it is why this page does not name one island in its title. We pick the coast from your dates, put you on one of them rather than both, and only cross the isthmus when the calendar makes it worth a flight. Two coasts in eight days is a scheduling exercise; one coast in eight days is a holiday.

Limestone cliffs covered in greenery rise above turquoise water near Railay Beach in Krabi, Thailand.

Vivid sunset over the sea with distant island silhouettes seen from a hillside on Koh Samui, Thailand.

Railay · Ang Thong

Length: 8 days, 7 nights
Group: Private, up to 12
Starts: Bangkok
Ends: Koh Samui or Krabi
Boat days: Two, sometimes three
Best months: January to April for both coasts

JFMAMJJASONDAndaman — Krabi, Phuket, Phi PhiGulf — Koh Samui, Phangan, Tao

Three means the sea is usually calm and the boats run as booked, two means it works with a plan and a flexible morning, one means swell, rain or cancelled crossings. January to April is the only stretch when both coasts are in the top band at once.

Nights

The nights, in order

Bangkok2 nightsRattanakosin, the river, and Chinatown after dark.→Krabi3 nightsAo Nang or Railay, with two boat days out of them.→Koh Samui2 nightsBophut, and the marine park when the Gulf is calm.

Day by day

What happens each day

Day 1

Into Bangkok

The river at dusk from a commuter ferry

Suvarnabhumi to the centre is 45 minutes to an hour and a half depending on the hour. Nothing is scheduled. If there is an evening left, the public river ferry north from Sathorn pier costs almost nothing and orients you better than any tour.

StayHotel near the river, BangkokMealsNone includedTravel45 minutes to 1.5 hours from Suvarnabhumi

Day 2

The old city and the eating streets

Chinatown on foot after nine

At the Grand Palace gate when it opens, with the dress code respected because it is enforced without discussion, then Wat Pho two minutes away for the reclining Buddha and a slower hour. The middle of the day is off. Late afternoon is the Thonburi canals by long-tail, and the evening is Yaowarat road, which is the best eating in the country and free to walk.

StayHotel near the river, BangkokMealsBreakfast, dinnerOn footAbout 4 km, in two pieces

Day 3

South to the Andaman

The limestone standing straight out of the water

An hour and twenty in the air to Krabi, and twenty minutes from the airport to Ao Nang. If you have chosen Railay the last stage is a long-tail from the beach, about ten minutes, because there is no road in — which is the reason to stay there and also the reason not to. The afternoon is the sea.

StayAo Nang or Railay, KrabiMealsBreakfastTravel1 hour 20 by air, then 20 minutes by road

Day 4

The lagoon that empties with the tide

The Hong lagoon at low water, before anyone else arrives

The Hong islands, north of Ao Nang, on a private boat leaving at eight rather than half past nine with the fleet. The lagoon fills and empties with the tide and is a different place at each end of the morning. Lunch aboard or on the sand, snorkelling at two stops, and back by mid-afternoon.

StayAo Nang or Railay, KrabiMealsBreakfast, lunch

Day 5

Inland when the sea is rough, out to Phi Phi when it is not

Phi Phi at half past seven, or the steps before the heat

Two versions and we choose on the forecast the evening before. The good-weather version is Phi Phi, ninety minutes west, privately and early, before the day fleet out of Phuket arrives. The alternative is inland: the Tiger Cave temple outside Krabi town, 1,237 steps to a summit shrine and about an hour in the cool of the early morning, then the Emerald Pool and the hot springs at Khlong Thom. Both are better than a rough crossing.

StayAo Nang or Railay, KrabiMealsBreakfast, lunchOn foot1,237 steps if you take the temple; steep and hot after eight

Day 6

Across the isthmus

Arriving on a coast with an entirely different sky

Krabi to Koh Samui is about an hour by air, usually connecting through Bangkok, which makes this a half-day rather than a hop. It is worth it only when the calendar makes it worth it — from roughly May to September the Gulf is the better sea, and from November to April the Andaman is. When your dates do not justify the crossing we say so and give you the two extra nights at Krabi instead, on Koh Lanta or at Railay.

StayBophut or the north coast, Koh SamuiMealsBreakfastTravelAbout 1 hour by air, usually via Bangkok

Day 7

The marine park, or the quiet half of Phangan

The inner saltwater lagoon at Ang Thong

Ang Thong is a marine park of forty-odd limestone islands west of Samui and it runs in the calm months: a full day, kayaks in the inner lagoon, and a viewpoint climb that is steeper than it is sold as. When the park is closed or the sea is up, the alternative is the ferry thirty minutes north to Koh Phangan and the northeast coast, which is the quietest coastline in the Gulf and nothing like the beach it is famous for.

StayBophut or the north coast, Koh SamuiMealsBreakfast, lunch

Day 8

Home from Samui

Samui airport is small, privately operated and open-sided, and it is fifteen to thirty minutes from most of the island. Flights to Bangkok take an hour and ten and fares are higher than elsewhere in Thailand for that reason. We keep at least three hours before an international departure.

MealsBreakfastTravel15 to 30 minutes to Samui airport

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Paperwork

Entry, and the rule that changed in September 2026

Nothing about an island route makes the paperwork harder, but two Thai rules changed recently enough that older advice is wrong.

The visa exemption is 30 days, not 60, for sixty countries and territories including the United Kingdom, the EU, the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan. It has been 30 days since 15 September 2026 and it is for tourism only.
The Thailand Digital Arrival Card is compulsory, free, and filed within three days of arrival. It is checked.
Entering overland on the exemption is capped at twice per calendar year. This route flies in and out and uses neither.
Visa on arrival now covers three nationalities only; everyone else is exempt or applies for an e-visa.
Your passport needs six months of validity.

Checked 20 September 2026

We do not publish visa fees. The current figure is on the official Thai portal, and your coordinator confirms it in writing, with the date your arrival card must be filed. What matters more on this route than paperwork is the forecast: every boat day here is weather-dependent and we hold an inland alternative for each of them.

Pictures

What the eight days look like

Bangkok

Railay

Limestone cliffs frame a turquoise lagoon and distant island near Krabi, with boats passing through the channel.

The Hong islands

Krabi

Koh Samui

Ang Thong

Cost

How we quote it

Travellers	Comfortable hotels	Boutique and luxury
2 travellers	On request	On request
4 – 6 travellers	On request	On request

Every route is quoted for your own dates, party size and hotel standard, itemised.

The two columns diverge most on the islands, where the same bay holds a plain, good room fifty metres back from the sand and a villa with its own pool. The boats are the same boats in both columns; what changes is how many people are on them. Ask and the figure comes back within a working day, itemised, with every hotel named.

Included

What the quote covers

What the price includes

Private air-conditioned car and driver in Bangkok, at Krabi and on Koh Samui, with all transfers including the long-tail to Railay if you stay there.
English-speaking licensed guides for Rattanakosin and for each boat day. Free afternoons have no guide.
Internal flights — Bangkok to Krabi, and Krabi to Koh Samui — in economy with checked baggage.
Seven nights with breakfast: two in Bangkok, three at Krabi and two on Koh Samui.
Lunch on every boat day and on the inland alternative, and dinner in Chinatown with a guide.
Two private boat days from Krabi with national park fees paid, and the Ang Thong day or the Koh Phangan crossing on Samui.
A named inland alternative held for every boat day, so a rough morning costs you the boat and not the day.
Entrance fees to everything named above, including the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew, Wat Pho, the Tiger Cave temple and the marine park charges.
All airport transfers, with the Suvarnabhumi run built to ninety minutes.
A coordinator on a Thai number for the whole trip, and the arrival card filed on time for every traveller.

What it does not include

International flights into the first city and out of the last.
Visa fees and entry charges. We do not publish these figures — the current ones are on the government’s official portal, and your coordinator confirms them in writing before you travel.
Travel insurance, which we ask every traveller to hold.
Meals not named in the day-by-day, and all drinks.
Tips for guides, drivers and boat crew.
Personal expenses: laundry, telephone, spa treatments, anything bought.

Straight talk

Who should not book this route

An island week is the easiest holiday to sell and the easiest to get wrong. Five travellers should book something different.

Anyone who wants both coasts in eight days regardless of the month. Crossing the isthmus costs half a day through Bangkok, and doing it in the wrong direction means arriving on the coast that is having its monsoon. If your dates do not support the crossing we will not sell it to you.
Anyone who needs certainty from a boat. Every boat day here depends on the sea. We hold an inland alternative for each one, and we still cannot promise Phi Phi or Ang Thong on a given morning.
Anyone booking Railay who has an early flight. There is no road in. The last long-tails run in the early evening and the crossing does not run in heavy weather, so an early departure means moving hotels the night before.
Travellers who want culture with their coast. Two Bangkok days is all there is. Ayutthaya, the north, the temples and the cooking schools are on the other two Thai routes, and squeezing one of them in here costs a boat day.
Anyone who came for the full moon party. We do not build trips around it and we will not pretend otherwise. Koh Phangan is on this itinerary for the northeast coast, which is the quietest coastline in the Gulf and the opposite of that beach.

One coast, chosen on your dates.

Plan My Trip

Start from this route

Send us your dates and we will tell you which sea they belong to before we quote anything.

Plan My Trip

Thailand islands in eight days