Koh Chang is an island in Trat Province, Eastern Thailand. Thailand's second largest island after Phuket is also known as ‘Elephant Island’ named like this because of its shape of an elephant. Planning a trip to Koh Chang in Thailand? This detailed Koh Chang travel guide with travel tips will help you discover the island and its best things to do.
Even if tourism and development has increased significantly over the last few years, Koh Chang is still not heavily populated and nowhere near as touristy as Phuket or Koh Samui.
Things to Do in Koh Chang
As the Elephant Island is one of Thailand's most beautiful islands with long white sandy beaches, flourishing coral reefs, jungle covered mountains and spectacular waterfalls. The island is a great place for jungle trekking, snorkelling and scuba diving, but first of all the island is a perfect place for beach holiday. Discover the best things to do in Koh Chang.
Koh Chang Beaches
All island's main beaches are on the west coast. White Sand Beach is the northernmost, next is Klong Prao Beach (the longest beach on the island), then Kai Bae Beach and Lonely Beach in the south.
Hat Sai Khao (White Sand Beach)
White Sand Beach is the closest to the ferry piers and the busiest beach on the island. The choice of accommodation, restaurants and bars is really wide here, meaning that everything you need for your holidays will be within an easy walking distance from your place.
Klong Prao Beach
Klong Prao Beach is the longest beach on the island. The beach is divided into three parts. The number of resorts on Klong Prao Beach is relatively low if compared to the length of the beach making it possible to find a quiet spot on it. There are plenty of restaurants and shops near the northern part of the beach and a village just a few minutes by foot form the southern part of it.
Kai Bae Beach
Kai Bae Beach is also divided into two parts. The southern part has nice sand and the northern part is the place where you can find good resorts. You can find small charming shops and restaurants on the main road.
Hat Tha Nam (Lonely Beach)
Lonely Beach is the southernmost of island’s four most popular beaches. It’s the furthest beach from the ferry piers making it less busy than other beaches. Lonely Beach is the place where you can find most of cheap accommodations on the island.
Snorkeling
There are many beautiful coral sites around Koh Chang. Not far from the island there's also Koh Rang National Park which is another great place for seeing the colorful underwater world. Both areas are stunning and offer prime snorkeling spots. The sites around the island include a shipwreck, while the National Park sites include a beach stop.
Enjoy a day trip to the beautiful reefs or wreck sites around Koh Chang or Koh Rang National Park. Cruise to 3 snorkeling spots where you can snorkel and enjoy the under water world. See schools of fish, coral and, on some days, a shipwreck.
Diving
While on the island, you can also learn the basics of scuba diving and even obtain your PADI licence in just 3 action-packed days.
Viewpoints & Waterfalls
On the island you can also visit numerous viewpoints and waterfalls to enjoy the spectacular view.
You can visit the most popular viewpoints such as Kai Bae Viewpoint, White Sand Beach Viewpoint, Long Beach Viewpoint, as well as picturesque Klong Plu Waterfall and Than Mayom Waterfall, and other places of interest on the island by taking Koh Chang Full-Day Private Day Trip, which lets you to pick the locations you want to visit and relax as you are driven around the island.
Muay Thai Fights
Without a doubt, Muay Thai (Thai Boxing) is the number one national sport in Thailand and part of Thai culture. On your upcoming trip, don't miss a chance of seeing a Thai boxing match by choosing one of the best places to watch Muay Thai in Koh Chang.
Koh Chang Muay Thai Boxing Stadium is open air venue in the center of the island, located in Klong Prao Beach area, near Zong Zi Pad Pad restaurant. Here you can spend an action-packed evening as you watch authentic Muay Thai fights.
Where to Stay in Koh Chang
There are plenty of beaches on the island and you just need to choose the beach you like the most, there will be a number of accommodations for your stay on it.
Some of the most popular and best rated hotels on the island are listed here: best Koh Chang hotels.
To get the best deal on accommodation, make sure to compare hotel deals on Booking.com with often better special offers on Agoda.
How to get to Koh Chang?
You can get to Koh Chang from Bangkok by bus or by plane.
Flights to Koh Chang
Bangkok Airways has 2 daily flights from Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) to Trat Airport (TDX), which is the nearest airport to the island. From the airport you can reach Koh Chang ferry piers with a short minivan ride.
Flight tickets can be booked online here: Flights from Bangkok to Trat.
To make the journey to the island much easier, book an all-inclusive Shared Transfer from Trat Airport to Koh Chang.
Otherwise, you can choose the most convenient way to travel by booking a private transfer from Trat Airport to Koh Chang.
Bus to Koh Chang
There are regular bus services from Bangkok’s Ekkamai Bus Terminal and a bus from Suvarnabhumi Airport to the mainland ferry piers in Laem Ngop (pier for ferries to the island).
Direct bus from Bangkok Airport to the island is really convenient for travelers who are not planning to make a stopover in Bangkok.
The governmental 999 bus leaves from Ekkamai Bus Terminal directly to the ferry pier in Laem Ngop every morning. The bus makes a stop for 20 mins long food and toilet break at about half way. The total journey takes about 5-6 hours. The bus returns to Ekkamai from Laem Ngop in the afternoon.
Another way to reach Koh Chang by bus is by taking a bus from Ekkamai Bus Terminal to Trat and then to take a songtaew or motorbike to Thammachat Bay (Ao Thammachat). Buses depart from Ekkamai to the bus station of Trat every hour and the journey takes about 6-7 hours, with a stop in Chanthaburi.
Bus tickets on this route can be booked online here: Bus from Bangkok to Trat.
Vans to Trat are also available with departures from Ekkamai Bus Terminal and from Mochit Van Terminal in Bangkok. Van tickets for the trip can be booked here: Van from Bangkok to Trat.
Ferries to Koh Chang depart from Laem Ngop and Thammachat Bay (Ao Thammachat) piers and run daily from 6:30 to 18:30.
Combined bus and ferry tickets can be bought here: Bus + Ferry from Bangkok to Koh Chang.
Private Taxi to Koh Chang
You can also take a private taxi from Suvarnabhumi Airport or from your hotel in Bangkok all the way to Koh Chang. Pay attention that in many cases you might just drop you at the ferry pier on the mainland and then you will need to take a ferry as well as arrange transportation to your hotel on the island by yourself. That's a normal practice when taking private taxi from Bangkok Airport.
To avoid such misunderstandings, it is best to book online Private Transfer from Bangkok to Koh Chang so you would be sure that the price includes the entire journey from your hotel in Bangkok to your hotel on the island.
Other Transportation Options
More transportation options for a trip can be found and transport tickets can be booked by this search form.
Weather in Koh Chang
The island has only two seasons - the wet and the dry. Between November and April the weather is mostly dry with little rain expected for much of this time.
The rains start to hit the island earlier than elsewhere. The island experiences similar weather patterns to the beaches along the Andaman Sea coast with wet season occurring between May and October. Koh Chang and other nearby islands get much more rainfall than elsewhere as early as May.
For the best time to visit the island check weather in Koh Chang.
Next Destination after Koh Chang?
Bangkok is the capital of Thailand and the largest city of the country with tons of things to do and see, so you can easily spend days or weeks there and not get bored. Pattaya is a large city, where you can enjoy shopping malls, water parks, infamous nightlife and much more not so far from the island. Koh Kood is famous for its solitude and tropical scenery and is a tourist destination not to be missed if you want to get away from hustle of daily life to immerse yourself in the real island life and nature. Siem Reap in Cambodia is the gateway to Angkor Archaeological Park, home of the magnificent ruins of ancient Khmer civilization.
