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How to get to Koh Samui from Bangkok

We won’t be original, but the easiest and most convenient way to get to Koh Samui, it's a plane.

There is a beautiful airport in Koh Samui, built by the company Bangkok Airways. Only they and also Thai Airways have direct flights from Bangkok to Koh Samui, and, therefore, prices are kept in an appropriate level. For example, here's the ticket price on November 10, 2014 Bangkok Airways - 3890 Baht (http://www.bangkokair.com/eng), the ticket price on November 10, 2014 on the Thai Airways website - 4790 Baht (http://www.thaiairways.com). Not too cheap for the hour flight, but certainly convenient and comfortable.

If your budget does not allow spending money on Bangkok Airways, but you still want to fly, end of! So, consider the options for the Air Asia and Nokair. It is much cheaper, but the way to Koh Samui will take half a day, if not more. What do these companies offer us? It will be a 3 in 1 ticket – plane, bus, ferry. From Don Muang Airport in Bangkok, the aircraft will deliver you quickly to the mainland city of Surat Thani; this is the closest city to Koh Samui, where there is an airport. Next, you will be put on a bus to the port Donsak pier (about a half hour to go), and the final part of your expedition will be a large ferry to the port of Nathon pier in Koh Samui (an hour and a half too, as for the time). By the way, you won’t need to worry about transfer matters: if you choose the airline final destination “Samui”, in this case, bus and ferry are included in the price. And if you buy a plane ticket from Bangkok to Surat Thani, then, upon arrival, take a shuttle service "Airport Surat Thani - Koh Samui" (the bus + ferry), at the exit of the airport. Sometimes it turns out even cheaper than a combined ticket to Koh Samui. In order not to get stuck on the mainland, note that the last ferry departs from Donsak at 19:00. So look and learn. For reference, the ticket price as on November 10, 2014 on the AirAsia site – 1483 Baht (http://www.airasia.com/th/en/home.page), and on the Nokair site – 1490 Baht (http://www.nokair.com/).

Then, there still are other ways to get to Koh Samui, but they are not as comfortable, in our opinion. At a minimum, you will have to spend the night sleeping in a train or sleeping bus.

So, the train. At the Hua Lamphong Railway Station in Bangkok, right in the box offices you can buy a combined ticket: train + bus + ferry. In October 2014, it cost 1066 baht. You can take even three suitcases, and it’s a huge plus, in our opinion. The entire journey takes about 16 hours (for example, at 19:30, the train leaves Bangkok, and at about 11:30 am the next day you’ll get in Koh Samui). We caught the South Korean train, 1998, which was rattling, like a frustrated band. It was the second-class sleeping car with air conditioning. However, there has been the news in the press recently, that the Thai railway buys 115 cars with air conditioning in China. Perhaps, some of them will go on the path from Bangkok to Koh Samui, it would be great.

Then goes the bus. This path is not checked by us personally, but many people use this method to get to Koh Samui. Buses depart from Bangkok Southern bus Terminal or Khao San road; the prices are from 600 to 700 Baht for the most uncomfortable bus with transfers, until from 1300 to 1400 Baht for VIP bass with lying places.

And, of course, the taxi has not been canceled, if you have about 10 000 Baht and a terrible aerophobia.