When we’re looking for a fun, laid-back, and inexpensive beach vacation in Thailand, our go-to spot is Koh Chang. A Thai friend of ours introduced us to this island several years ago and since then we’ve gone back several times. During this latest trip to the island, we took some close friends with us and showed them our favorite things to do on Koh Chang.
As it turned out, it’s been their best vacation in Thailand to date. And it could be yours, too.
Koh Chang (pronounced gaw chahng) is Thailand’s second largest island to Phuket. It’s in the Gulf of Thailand, much further north than the more well-known islands of Koh Phi Phi, Koh Samui, and Koh Pha Ngan, but its beaches still look like what you’d see in travel magazines.
Koh Chang offers visitors the best of all worlds. It’s clean and beautiful and relaxing. It’s international traveler-friendly (i.e., you don’t need to speak Thai to go there). And the island as a whole is easy on the wallet. There’s no other island we’ve been to (yet) that offers all of these perks.
PIN IT FOR LATER!
Things to do in Koh Chang
We spent ten days vacationing in Koh Chang with our good friends Elias and Kati. It was the perfect amount of time to unwind, which we spent alternating between ‘do nothing’ days and days with mild activities.
We also ran into Caitlin from tinyrambler.com and spent a few days with her while she was on the island for a friend’s wedding. Small world!
Kayak to Koh Man Nai
There are several islands near Koh Chang. Some, such as Koh Mak and Koh Kood, are best visited if you have at least 24 hours to spare but others nearby can be visited in a few hours.
One morning, we kayaked to the nearby island of Koh Man Nai (a 30-minute paddle from the dock) and spent a few hours lounging around, searching for seashells and coral, and hunting for hermit crabs. This island can be seen from the shoreline of Kai Bae Beach as well as from the Kai Bae Viewpoint.
We rented kayaks from a little shop on the northern end of Kai Bae Beach, right beside Kaibae Hut Resort. The equipment, which included good quality life vests, paddles, and kayaks, cost 100 baht per hour or 300 baht for four hours.
| TIP: There is nothing on this island aside from sand and trees so pack water and some snacks. Bring a waterproof bag to store your towel and electronics. |
Enjoy Beach Cocktails at Tapas Bar
Our favorite beach bar on the island by far is Tapas Bar at White Sands Beach. We’ve vacationed in Koh Chang three times, and each trip we’ve made our customary visit because the bartenders at Tapas Bar are friendly and know how to pour the best cocktails.
It’s the epitome of a tropical bar. Guests can stroll up to the wooden hut decorated with seashells, feet in the sand, and order cocktails and then plop themselves down in colorful lounge chairs under the broad-leafed trees with a lovely view of the beach.The Long Island Iced Teas and mango coconut smoothies are to die for.
Kai Bae Viewpoint
If you have an hour to spare, stop by the Kai Bae Viewpoint for a scenic view of the nearby islands (which includes the one that we kayaked to!) It’s a nice place to stop off on your way to another part of the island and is well-marked from the road. There are also bathrooms if you need a pit stop.
Visit the Gypsy Village at Bang Bao Pier
Near the ‘end’ of the island is the Bang Bao Pier, which extends far off the shoreline. Along the pier is a little community with shops and residences suspended several meters above the water.
There are tiny, one-room bungalows perched on top of stilts along the pier, several highly rated restaurants, and lots of shops selling water gear, beachy knick-knacks, and even leather goods.
Snorkel with Sea Adventures
Our splurge of the trip was a day trip with Sea Adventures. Captain Angelo – who looked every bit of a seafaring captain – took us to three different islands where we went swimming, snorkeling, and kayaking. The boat was a no-frills but orderly 13-meter catamaran with a nice bathroom (Soap! TP! Thank you!), a canopy that provided plenty of shade, and two front-of-the-boat nets that suspended sunbathers above the water.
The crew prepared us fresh fruit for snacks and a hearty lunch of freshly grilled skewers of chicken and veggies, chicken wings, vegetarian green curry, mixed rice, and stir-fried vegetables. Beer and sodas were available to buy at about the same price as you’d buy from a convenience store.
Although we booked through a no-name tour agency along the main road in Kai Bae, you can book a day trip by contacting Sea Adventures directly. It was a great way to see the mountainous Koh Chang island from a distance and enjoy the fresh sea breeze.
Phone: (092) 801-4369 or (084) 728-6387
Email: seaadventureskohchang@yahoo.com
Facebook: Sea Adventures
Price: 1,750 baht per person (includes lunch and hotel pickup and drop off)
If you’re planning a trip to Koh Chang, you might also like…
The Island Lover’s
7-Day Guide to Koh Chang
This week-long itinerary is a collaboration of the best things to do in Koh Chang, Thailand plus our personal recommendations for where to stay in Koh Chang, best restaurants, vehicle rentals, and more.
Lounge on the Best Beaches
We spent the first two days of our trip driving up and down the west coast of the island and getting the lay of the land with our friends. After taking a peek at the beaches, we decided that White Sands Beach and Kai Bae Beach were our favorites. (Here’s a detailed map of Koh Chang’s beaches). They are both several kilometers long, very clean, and have shops and restaurants conveniently nearby.
Every other day between more adventurous activities we sunbathed, napped, read, walked, and played Frisbee on the soft cream-colored sand. Relaxing on these beaches was among our favorite things to do on Koh Chang.
One particular place we continued to gravitate to was K. B. Resort. It was a stone’s throw from our hotel (which wasn’t on the water itself), so we’d pack our towels and Frisbee and hang out at the stretch of Kai Bae Beach in front of the resort. We enjoyed several meals at its restaurant as well as a few piña coladas. The resort also let us use their bathroom facilities and outdoor shower to rinse the sand off our feet.
Thailand is sorely lacking in domestic beers varieties, but we came across a new kind during our beach trip: Shogun Orange Lager by Cheers. It’s refreshing – not unlike a summer shandy – and was a welcomed change from the usual pale lager Thai options (Leo, Singha, Chang). It’s definitely worth seeking out at a nearby 7-Eleven or mini Tesco.
Hike and Swim at the Moh Koh Chang National Park
Koh Chang’s national park is huge and one of its major attractions is the Khlong Phlu Waterfall. Beginning at the ticket booth, there’s an easy-to-hike 1-kilometer long trail that goes through the cool forest and opens up to a tall waterfall. It’s unique in that it also has a natural swimming pool. A word of warning: the water is quite chilly and it’s home to schools of fish that aren’t afraid to nibble swimmers!
We brought our woven mats (around 150 baht from a street vendor), water and some snacks. No alcohol is allowed, but it’s a nice spot to enjoy a picnic. Be sure to wear your bathing suits under your clothing. There are clean bathrooms with soap and toilet paper at the park’s entrance but not at the waterfall.
Price: 200 baht for adults, 100 baht for children
Watch the Sunset
With several sporadic evening showers, we weren’t sure if we’d catch a good sunset during our time on the island. It turned out that most days it was pretty but one particular evening it was GORGEOUS.
Where to be when there’s a sunset? Here are our favorite spots:
- Nature Rocks at Nature Beach Resort
- Saffron by the Sea
- K. B. Resort
How to get to Koh Chang
Koh Chang is a 5-hour drive by car (rental car or private driver) from central Bangkok. It’s in the northeastern area of the Gulf of Thailand, just off the mainland of the Trat Province.
By bus, it’s roughly a 6-hour trip from Bangkok’s Mo Chit Bus Terminal or Ekkamai Bus Terminal to Koh Chang. You can buy tickets online up to two days in advance or buy them in person at least one day in advance. Some ticket prices include the cost of the ferry ride, too.
⮞⮞⮞ Check prices for Bangkok to Trat bus tickets ⮜⮜⮜
There is no airport on Koh Chang, but you can fly to Trat Airport (TDX) (20-minute drive to the ferry) and Utapao International Airport (UTP) (3-hour to the ferry). After landing at the airport, book a VIP van, bus, or rental car the rest of the way to the island from one of the airports’ transportation kiosks. We made a rental car reservation at UTP during our latest trip and the pickup was effortless.If you take an early morning flight to Suvarnabhumi Airport, you can buy a VIP van ticket from a kiosk on the ground floor. The driver will take you all the way to your hotel on Koh Chang.
Once you’ve arrived at the mainland pier (Centre Point Ferry or Laem Ngob Pier), hop on the ferry for a 45-minute ride to the island. After arriving at Koh Chang, it takes another 45 minutes to drive from the pier to the farthest point on the island.
If you are making the trip from Bangkok or Chiang Mai, we’ve written an in-depth transit guide to Koh Chang.
If you’re hungry for more affordable beaches in Thailand, check out Koh Lanta and Ao Nang, two places we’ve enjoyed on a handful of occasions. And if you need help planning your trip around central Thailand (or anywhere in Thailand for that matter), just ask!
If you’ve ever been to Koh Chang, what was your favorite part of the island?
I actually took a month of of work as a Bangkok real estate agent and spent it in Ko Chang in February 2015. The entire time I was there, the only thing I wanted to was fly! The entire time I saw para-gliders above and always wondered where they were coming from. After some research it appears they originate some where on the mainland. What a beautiful view they must have!
Nice Roundup of a nice island. We spent two months in 2015 and 2016 on the quiet east coast and liked it.
One thing though, as far as I know the island is smaller than Samui, so actually the 3rd biggest island in Thailand. At least according to Wikipedia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ko_Chang_District
Cheers, guys. Check out the actual sizes of both islands listed within their respective Wikipedia pages. According to the content on the pages Koh Chang is 429 km² while Koh Samui is 228 km². If you look at each of their Wikitravel pages they both claim that each island is the second largest, but say Koh Chang is 429 km², while Koh Samui is 247 km². Google on the other hand states Koh Chang is 217 km² while Koh Samui is 228 km². Some of these pages must be taking elevation into account while others are not. We’ll just go… Read more »
Were are you looking over my shoulder today at work. I had a good laugh when I saw your email after I got home. This is the island I spent a good portion of the day researching for my next trip to Thailand. I’m thinking this will be the second week of my next two week trip back to Southeast Asia. With the first week being at Angkor Wat. I’m telling you I just can’t get thailand out of my brain. thanks for a very timely post
Hah, perfect timing! Love it when that happens :)
Never been to Koh Chang, though Koh Samet off Rayong was great. A favourite holiday spot for Thais. Off the ferry turn right for the falang enclave or left for thai. Maybe vice versa!
Koh Samet was among the final contenders (we made a big list of all the islands and then whittled them down based on a few factors). We like that it’s so close to Bangkok because that means minimal traveling time. But since our friends had already been there, we decided to go with Koh Chang. Good to know you like Koh Samet – we’ll keep it on the list.