Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Getting There & Around
Boats will drop you off at the nearest pier to your guesthouse; otherwise you'll have to
walk 15 to 30 minutes along a narrow forest trail.
Bang Bao Boat
(
www.bangbaoboat.com
)
is the archipelago's inter-island ferry running a daily
loop from Ko Chang to Ko Kut. Boats depart Ko Chang at 9am and arrive at Ko Wai
(one way 300B, one hour) and continue on to Ko Mak (one way 400B, one hour) and Ko
Kut (700B, three hours).
During high season, speedboats run from Ko Wai to the following destinations:
TOP OF CHAPTER
Ko Mak
Little Ko Mak measures only 16 sq km and doesn't have speeding traffic, wall-to-wall
development, noisy beer bars or crowded beaches. The palm-fringed bays are bathed by
gently lapping water and there's a relaxed vibe. But Ko Mak is not destined for island
super-stardom: the interior is a utilitarian landscape of coconut and rubber plantations
and reports of sand flies make visitors a little nervous. The vast majority of tourists are
Scandinavian and German families, but a growing number of independent travellers con-
gregate here, too.
Visiting the island is easier in the high season; during the low season (May to Septem-
ber) many boats stop running and bungalow operations wind down. Storms also deposit
uninvited litter on the exposed southern beaches.
Sights & Activities
The best beach on the island is
Ao Pra
in the west, but it's completely undeveloped and
hard to reach. For now, swimming and beach strolling are best on the northwestern bay of
Ao Suan Yai
, which is a wide arc of sand and looking-glass-clear water that gets fewer sand
flies than the beaches on the southern side of the island. It is easily accessible by bicycle
or motorbike if you stay elsewhere.
Offshore is
Ko Kham
, a private island that was sold in 2008 for a reported 200 million
baht. It used to be a popular day-trippers' beach but is currently being developed into a
superluxury resort.
