Ko Samui & the Gulf Coast - Thailand - page 511

Samui International Hospital ( 0 7742 2272; www.sih.co.th ; Hat Chaweng) Emergency
ambulance service is available 24 hours and credit cards are accepted. Near the Amari Re-
sort in Chaweng.

Tourist Information
Ko Samui Tourist Authority of Thailand (TAT; 0 7742 0504; Na Thon;

8.30am-4.30pm)

Getting There & Away

Air
Bangkok Airways ( www.bangkokair.com ) operates flights roughly every 30 minutes
between Samui and Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport (50 minutes). Bangkok Air
also flies direct from Samui to Phuket, Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Singapore and Hong
Kong.
Firefly ( www.fireflyz.com.my ) operates direct flights from Samui to Kuala Lum-
pur's Subang airport.
During the high season, make your flight reservations far in advance as seats do
sell out. If Samui flights are full, try flying into Surat Thani from Bangkok and taking
a short ferry ride to Samui.

Boat
There are frequent boat departures between Samui and Surat Thani. The hourly
Seatran ferry is a common option. Ferries take one to five hours, depending on the
boat.
There are almost a dozen daily departures between Samui and Ko Pha-Ngan.
These leave from the Na Thon, Mae Nam or Big Buddha pier and take from 20
minutes to one hour. The boats departing from Big Buddha service Hat Rin, and the
other boats alight at Thong Sala. From the same piers, there are also around six
daily departures between Samui and Ko Tao. These take 1¼ to 2½ hours.

Getting Around