Road trip to Samui.

Post by **usual suspect** » Sun Nov 29, 2015 6:59 pm

A mate of mine has just asked me for info about taking a car to Samui..?
Well I've never done this trip, but indeed it did get me thinking that once down there, & onto the island it would be nice to have the liberty of driving where you want & not be at the mercy of taxis etc.
However what's the format for booking the ferry? Is there two vehicle ferries..? Is it pre-book only..?
Am I right in thinking one of the ferries leaves from about 30km south of Surat Thani..?
Any trip-info would be welcome..both for my mate & for possibly many others on the forum...

Post by **Felipesed** » Sun Nov 29, 2015 8:32 pm

I returned from a trip to Songkhla last week.
What should have been a 9 hour journey was 11 hours.
The southern carriageway on the AH2 is being repaired/remade; but instead of digging up a section, fixing, then moving to another bit they have dug up at least half (no exaggeration) of the main road from China to Singapore, between Pranburi and Chumpon, and a bit towards Surat Thani, and consequently use contra-flow on the Northbound carriageway.

It is very dangerous now, particularly at night.
Remember that Fortuner owners think that a tin roof and 2 extra seats on a pickup makes them immortal and above the normal rules of considerate driving!
I strongly recommend the train until the roadworks are finished.
Of course, then they will need to re-surface the Northbound carriageway and similar problems will then apply!

Post by **Nereus** » Sun Nov 29, 2015 10:11 pm

Aside from the highway to get there, yes, you need a car on Koh Samui. I used the Seatran Ferry that leaves from Donsak port south of Surat Thani. Look it up on Google, no booking required, and regular sailings all day.

Post by **usual suspect** » Tue Dec 01, 2015 5:40 pm

Thanks for the info you two..will forward it to my mate.
I myself will leave any thoughts of going there with the Ranger till after roadworks have ended..(about 5 yrs from now if the road to Ranong is anything to go by!)
Nice to hear from someone with the same sentiment towards Fortuner-drivers..

Post by **Francois** » Fri Dec 11, 2015 5:46 pm

Thank for the info. I'm interested in a trip to Samui by end of February. I hope the road will be in a better shape.

Post by **brianks** » Sat Dec 12, 2015 12:29 pm

I live 20km from Don Sak ferry terminals and it should take you about 7 hours from Hua Hin to Don Sak (the ferry terminals). Can take Seatrain or Raja ferries and both have websites. Don't have to pre book car as space is usually available on ferry. Raja ferry has trucks and they take up the center of those boats. Transport time to Samui is 1.5 hours and seems painfully slow to me.

Yes, nice to have car when on Samui so don't have to depend on taxi's but roads can be narrow and windy in places.

Post by **Francois** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 8:20 am

Thanks for this update. We are about leaving HH in 2 weeks. I just hope the road won't be too bad :-)

Post by **buksida** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 9:09 am

The road between Prachuap and Chumphon is shocking, they're resurfacing so it is down to one lane in many places, allow double the time.

Post by **hhinner** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 9:55 am

Not that good between Pranburi and Prachuab either. Several contraflow sections where southbound side is being repaired (about time too). I think this could go on for several years because the whole road is in need of repair.

Post by **eatuae** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 12:12 pm

Planning a trip to Samui later in the year. We are going to drive down but don't know as yet if we will take the car over. Two questions, how much further is the car ferry from the passenger ferry and 2 is there a safe place to leave the car if we decide to do passenger ferry. We are going for a month.
All the comments so far have been excellent

Post by **brianks** » Sat Feb 06, 2016 2:45 pm

Both the Raja and Seatrain ferries take cars and passengers. You can pre book cars on either ferry online to insure you get the time you want. I know Raja is not much of a problem just arriving and booking car (passenger is no problem) but don't know about Seatrain. Both terminals are within a km of each other. The catamaran Lompriya Ferry is passenger only and takes half the time BUT besides costing quite a bit more than the other ferries is usually late, A friend almost got stuck on Samui because they tried to keep him to getting on due to overbooking. His boat was an hour and a half late in arriving on the mainland where I picked him up. He said it was just a big disorganized mess inside the boat with the luggage stacked everywhere both inside and outside the boat.

After reading that the road south is a big mess you might consider stopping in Surat Thani overnight and going to Don Sak the next morning. Only 45 minutes to ferry terminals from Surat Thani.

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