Island Guide to Koh Phangan

Get your sunscreen, bathing suit, selfie stick and flip flops ready because we’re about to give you the lowdown on one of Thailand’s most incredible islands. It’s an absolute must visit while island hopping around and is easily our favorite island in all of Thailand!

So let us introduce you to Koh Phangan…

Koh Phangan offers visitors luxurious resorts, great places to eat, pristine white sand beaches and world class snorkeling and scuba diving. Although we did some of these activities on the surrounding islands of Koh Samui and Koh Tao, Koh Phangan offers access to the Angthong National Marine Park, Sail Rock, and many other water activities.

It is one of the several islands making up the Samui Archipelago in the Gulf of Thailand and is also home to the original Full Moon Party.

What is a Full Moon Party?

If you’re traveling to Thailand and haven’t heard of a full moon party, we’d strongly suggest checking when the next one is and including it on your list of things to do.

It’s an all night party on the night of, before or after a full moon and takes place on Haad Rin beach. It usually draws a crowd in excess of 10,000 people (no, we didn’t accidentally add an extra zero, 10,000 is correct – mind blown). It’s similar to a music festival in the US or Europe but lasts all night and attracts visitors from all over South East Asia and beyond.

Unfortunately, while we were in Thailand we weren’t able to attend a Full Moon party, but we were able to rage at a Half Moon Party. It’s similar to a full moon, but instead of being on the beach it takes place in the middle of the jungle and it’s celebrated when there is half a moon (makes sense, right?).

If you’re visiting Thailand and you like to party, a Full Moon or Half Moon party on Koh Phangan is an absolute must!

The Beaches

Besides the great parties, this little island is home to some of the best beaches we’ve visited. Our two favorites were Thong Nai Pan Noi and Thong Nai Pan Yai, both of which are located in the northeast part of the island. They are exactly what you would imagine when you think of the perfect beach: soft white sand, clear waters and calm ocean waves.

There is also a great view point a little bit past the two beaches, however, the road to get there is extremely steep! In fact, so steep one of us had to walk to the top because our motorbike couldn’t handle the two of us. If only we didn’t eat so much Pad Thai!

Where to stay

Koh Phangan has many options of places to stay, and we were fortunate enough to have stayed at Anantara Rasananda Villa Resort which is located right on the Thong Nai Pan Noi beach (our favorite beach that we just listed above!). It’s on the northeast part of the island and if you’re an early riser you can watch the sun rise just outside of your room!

One thing that really made this resort so unique was how they effortlessly embraced the quintessential island lifestyle. Yes, this hotel is luxury in every sense of the word, but also has a very relaxed atmosphere allowing guests to fully enjoy the essence of Koh Phangan. The keys to our room even had cowrie shells on it… we’re pretty sure that is the international symbol for relax and enjoy life.

We also took full advantage of their Bistro @ The Beach Restaurant. We ate delicious food, with a postcard type view in front of us and didn’t even have to wear shoes! Most of the tables are literally on the beach, so guests are welcome to kick off their footwear and feel the sand between their toes.

Besides being located on the most relaxing beach, the resort itself was a perfect example of island paradise. To start off, all of their rooms are villa style with their own plunge pools and the grounds are equally as impressive. To get to our room we walked along a path that was covered by a canopy of palm trees and crossed over small foot bridges with koi fish swimming below. Our room, a Pool Suite, was a secluded paradise right in the middle of white sand beaches and the lush Thai tropics!

During our stay we were constantly pinching ourselves to make sure we weren’t dreaming!

Where to eat:

The only times we didn’t eat at Anantara was when we were off exploring the other side of the island and were too far to get back in time before Nick’s “hanger” started to set in. This ended up working out though, because we discovered two other great eateries on the island: Fat Cat and L’Alcove.

The Fat Cat is a small cafe owned by a Portuguese couple and they offer delicious food and homemade ice cream for either breakfast or lunch. Ice cream for breakfast? Sign us up!

The other great place we found was L’Alcove. It’s a small French Bistro owned by a French family and offers delicious French cuisine (how many times can you say French in one sentence?). We had the Duck Confit while sitting on the beach watching the sun set… It was almost better than eating in Paris.

Of the islands we visited in the Samui Archipelago, Koh Phangan was our favorite. It offers a plethora of things to do, great beaches for relaxing and crazy parties to feed your wild side.

Thank you Anantara Rasananda Villa Resort for hosting us during our stay!

As always, our opinions are our own as we Talk Travel.