Ferries to Nakhon Si Thammarat Airport

Nakhon Si Thammarat Airport is not a port but the starting point for combined bus-and-ferry tickets on Thailand's Gulf coast. From here you can reach Koh Samui, Ko Phangan and Koh Tao. Together the services add up to as many as 43 departures a day. Journey times run between 3.5 and 4.75 hours, with Koh Tao the most thinly served at four connections a day and the longest trip. The routes are operated by Lomprayah High Speed Ferries, Raja Ferry and Seatran Ferry.

Getting there and the terminal

The boat does not leave from the airport. Raja Ferry lists the airport as a departure point but names Raja Ferry Port in Don Sak on the Gulf coast as the actual ferry berth; in between comes a bus ride that is included in the ticket. In practice that means the operator sets a fixed departure time at the airport, 7:30am in Raja Ferry's case, and you are on Koh Samui or Ko Phangan by around 11:30am. So book around the landing time of your flight and not around the departure time of the ship, because the two are hours apart. Cut it fine and you lose the connection in the arrivals hall, not at the quay.