Koh Phangan Activities - Introduction

Haad Rin Beach - Koh Phangan - The one stop shop for backpackers by backpackers!

BackpackersThailand.com - Thailand & Asia's premier specialist dive and Tour operator!

LONELY PLANET THAILAND 2009 states "Backpackers Information Centre (www.backpackersthailand.com)  is a must for travellers looking to book high quality tours (diving, liveaboards, jungle safari's etc). The friendly staff can attend to any of your water-sports needs. The Eco nature tour offers a 'best of' island trip which includes snorkelling, the chinese temple, a stunning viewpoint and Phang waterfall and bookings can be made at Backpackers Information Centre (www.backpackersthailand.com)".

Koh Phangan is an island of beautiful tropical rainforest with an amazing jungle interior. There are treks to the top of Khao Ra mountain (go with a guide) and easy treks along the coasts. The North of Koh Phangan is great for cycling and if you are experienced with mountain bikes it offers some great off road rides through the jungle. There are a number of buddhist temples to visit including the beautiful and colourful Chinese Temple, There are spa, yoga and meditation retreats offering a variety of classes and courses and there are a number of Thai boxing schools and work-out gyms in both Thongsala and Haad Rin.

Koh Pha-Ngan island has many outdoor, adventure and watersports activities. There are amazing coral reefs along the north-west coast of the island, with an amazing underwater world making it an excellent place to snorkel. It is also one of the cheapest and least busy places to scuba dive in Thailand with Sail Rock being virtually the daily dive site which is recognised as the premier dive site in the Gulf of Thailand with the most sightings of whalesharks in South East Asia!  There are snorkel tours and fishing trips around the island, snorkeling boat trips to Ang Thong National Marine Park and Koh Tao and lots of watersports on offer including windsurfing, kayaking, waterskiing, wakeboarding, catamaran sailing and sea fishing.

Listed in the left side navigation are many of the activities on Koh Phangan, many of which can be booked on-line through BackpackersThailand.com and others that you can book directly with Backpackers Information Centre on Koh Phangan, Hadrin Beach.

Thinking of 'going it alone?' - Well, getting around the island can be problematic with narrow concrete roads, big hills, dirt roads, sand covered trails, crazy drivers, many drunk drivers due to the parties and jungle roads across many parts of the island. There are many transport options on the island including Songthaew taxi's (covered pick-up trucks), Jeep rentals, motorbike rentals, lontail boat and bicycle but beware as there are heavy fines for any damage to vehicles so we recommend not to rent vehicles as there is no insurance either!

Longtail Boats are negotiable but cheaper when full and Taxi's should be a fixed price from Thongsala Port to Haad-rin and from Thongsala Port to Thong Nai Pan unless the taxi is empty which means they will charge what they want!

It's better from a safety and cost saving point of view to undertake tours on the island as most activities can be done this way - taxi fares can be very expensive to get around, as can longtail boats and  as the island is very mountainous with 'blind' corners, steep hills, sandy roads and pot-holes in the roads, if you do decide to rent a jeep or bike and 'go it alone' be careful & check the condition of the vehicle, especially the brakes! Remember, we advise not to rent any vehicles on the island for your own safety!

Thailand has also been in the press recently for 'scams' being run by Jet-ski operators and as such, we advise you strongly not to rent any Jetski's on the islands. 

Be careful out there!  For ease why not check out our list of Activities and pre-book online here as most of the tours will pick you up either at Backpackers Information Centre, Haadrin or at your resort,