How to Get to Koh Lanta from Krabi Phuket
Koh Lanta is one of the biggest islands in the Andaman Sea. It’s an absolutely stunning island, and it’s a bit less explored than some of the other islands in the area. That might be because it doesn’t have an airport of its own, and therefore it takes a little bit of work to get to. In this Thailand travel guide, I’m going to explain exactly how to get there from pretty much anywhere in the country.
Getting to Koh Lanta from Krabi Airport
By far the easiest airport to fly into to get to Koh Lanta is Krabi Airport. If you’re travelling from Bangkok, Chiang Mai or anywhere else afield, I strongly recommend flying into Krabi Airport because this is the quickest and easiest way to get to Koh Lanta. I’ll explore how to get there from other places later on, but let’s first take a look at how to get there from Krabi Airport.
From Krabi Airport, the most convenient option is hiring a private minivan to take you there. This is definitely the best option if you travel in a big group because the driver will be waiting there for you to take you directly to Koh Lanta. You won’t have to wait around for the bus to fill up, and you’ll have an air-conditioned van all to yourself. The journey will take about 2 hours, and it will cost around 2,800 Thai Baht.
Alternatively, if you want to save a bit of money, or if you’re travelling by yourself or in a small group, you can do this in a shared minivan. This only costs 350 Thai Baht to take you from Krabi Airport to Koh Lanta. The disadvantage of doing this is that you’ll first have to wait for the van to fill up before it leaves. If you’re unlucky, this could take over an hour, or if you’re lucky, you could be the last one to get in the van, in which case it will leave immediately. Similarly, the minivan will drop you off at your hotel, but it also might have to drop everyone else off first. This can add up to 2 hours to your journey, meaning it’s somewhere between 2 and 4 hours to get to your hotel.
If you’re not flying at the airport but you’re already staying in Krabi, you can still get the private minivan or shared minivan options. Speak to your hotel, and they should be able to organise the van to come to your hotel and pick you up to take you to Koh Lanta. You can also catch a boat from Krabi to Koh Lanta for around 500 Thai Baht. However, this does seem to have a longer waiting time, so I don’t see why you would take this option rather than the minivan because, additionally, you’d also have to make your way to your hotel afterwards from the pier as well.
Getting to Koh Lanta from Phuket
What about if you’re travelling from Phuket? Well, the best way to travel from Phuket to Koh Lanta is to first go to Rassada Pier. Rassada is about an hour’s drive away from the main tourist beaches in Phuket. The speedboat from Rassada takes about an hour and a half to get to Koh Lanta, but you’ll have to make sure that you get there considerably earlier to check in and make sure you get on the boat on time.
The ticket price depends on which company you take, but it looks like most tickets can be available for about 1,200 to 1,500 Thai Baht. There is only one pier in Koh Lanta, Saladan Pier, so you will still have to make your way from the pier to your hotel. However, taxi drivers tend to know what time the boats come in, so there will be plenty of drivers willing to take you once you arrive.
Getting to Koh Lanta from Koh Phi Phi
There are no direct ferries from Phuket to Koh Lanta. However, there is one that first stops off at Tonsai Pier in Koh Phi Phi. The total journey time for this ferry is 4 hours from Phuket to Koh Lanta, which is obviously a lot slower than the speedboat. However, in my opinion, the ferries are much more comfortable than the speedboats. You can easily walk around, go to the toilet and buy snacks, so if comfort is more your thing, this might be the best option for you.
It’s also considerably cheaper at 500 Thai Baht per ticket. As far as I can tell, there’s only one ferry that runs each day. This leaves at 1:30 p.m. and arrives around 5:00 p.m.
If you’re travelling from Koh Phi Phi, there are multiple boats each day, all even from Tonsai Pier, which is the main pier on the island and probably the one that you arrived at. Speedboats take approximately 30 minutes and cost 700 Thai Baht, whereas the ferry takes over an hour and costs 440 Thai Baht.
Getting to Koh Lanta from the Gulf of Thailand
So I actually don’t recommend coming here from the islands in the Gulf of Thailand. That means Koh Tao, Koh Samui and Koh Phangan, unless you have a lot of time to spare on your trip. I would recommend choosing one side of Thailand and sticking to it, just so that you don’t waste whole days travelling across the country. But that’s not going to stop people doing that, though.
If you are travelling from the Gulf of Thailand, I recommend using the Lomprayah travel company. I recommend using Lomprayah because a single ticket includes your boat journey from the islands to the mainland and also your bus journey across the country to Krabi.
The boat leaves Koh Phangan at 8:00 a.m. and then travels to Koh Samui for 8:30 a.m., which then takes you to the mainland. Once you arrive at the mainland, there’ll be people waiting for you to help you transfer to your bus. The bus will then take you across the country to Krabi, at which point you’ll have to follow the earlier instructions for getting from Krabi to Koh Lanta.
The Lomprayah bus ticket costs around 1,700 Thai Baht, and I estimate that this journey will take you between about 10 or 11 hours. Like I said earlier on, I don’t recommend doing this route because it will burn a whole day of your trip.
Getting from Koh Lanta to Bangkok by Bus
If you want to get really wild, there’s actually a bus that runs from Koh Lanta to Bangkok. This could actually be a decent option if you need to get back for your final flight leaving from Bangkok. This journey does take at least 15 hours, but it’s pretty cheap and only costs about 1,500 Thai Baht. It also includes pickup from your hotel in Koh Lanta.
