Koh Tao
Thailand
Where half the world learns to dive
Photo by Darren Lawrence on Unsplash
Photos by Frankie Spontelli, Hasmik Ghazaryan Olson, Jonny Clow and Il Vagabiondo on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Thailand
March to September
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 292mm in Oct
Where it is
10.10°N, 99.84°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Several days- Take an open water diving course
- Snorkel at Koh Nang Yuan
- Climb to John-Suwan viewpoint
- Swim at Shark Bay with blacktip reef sharks
- Kayak the west coast at sunset
- Free-dive the pinnacles
Koh Tao travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Thailand
Good valueA small island with few booths and unremarkable rates. Change money before you arrive if you can.
ATMs & cards
Machines are concentrated in Sairee and Mae Haad and do run out. The 220 THB foreign card fee applies; dive schools mostly take cards, beach bars mostly do not.
Avoid these
- assuming your card will work at the first machine — the island has a handful and they fail
Use these instead
- Bangkok Bank
- Kasikornbank — in Mae Haad
220 baht per withdrawal. Dive schools take cards; almost nothing else on the island does.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Thailand
SafeSafe, with two things worth knowing. Scooter rental scams — damage claimed on return that was already there — are more common here than elsewhere in Thailand, so photograph the bike from every angle before you leave the shop. And choose a dive school on its safety record rather than its price; the cheapest courses cut corners on equipment servicing.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (5 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- The steep concrete roads, which are the single commonest cause of injury on the island
- Diving with a hangover, or with a school that skips the checks
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Thailand visa rules
No visa neededup to 60 days
Extendable once by 30 days at an immigration office inside the country. You may be asked for onward travel.
Other passports
Visa on arrivalup to 15 days2,000 THB
Visa required in advance
How to get it: Nothing to arrange in advance for visa-free entry. Everyone must file the online arrival card (TDAC) shortly before travelling.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Before you fly: the arrival card
Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC)RequiredFree
In the three days before you arrive. Submitted earlier than that, it is rejected.
Have these in front of you before you start:
- passport
- flight number
- the full address of your first night
- your onward or return flight date
The official page puts "No Fees Required" in its own title, because a trade in charging for this exists.
Use the official link above. Sites that charge a "service fee" to submit one of these for you are not the government, and they want the same passport details the real form does.
Health & emergencies all of Thailand
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
- Rabies if you will be near animals or staying a while
- Japanese encephalitis for long rural stays
Getting treated
One of the best places in the world to have an accident. Private hospitals in Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai are excellent, fast, English-speaking and cheap by Western standards — a consultation runs a few tens of euros. They expect payment or an insurance guarantee up front.
Dengue is present year-round and worse in the rainy season; there is no prophylaxis, so repellent is the defence. Rabies is present in street dogs and monkeys — any bite or scratch means a clinic the same day.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
GoodMae Haad has the cheaper local kitchens; Sairee is priced for divers. The 995 THB open water course lunch is usually included — ask, because it is often the best value meal of the day.
Nightlife
A dive island, so the nights are dive-school nights: loud, young, and over by two because everyone is in the water at seven.
- Sairee Beach — the whole scene, in one strip
- Chalok Baan Kao — the quiet bay at the other end
Closing: 02:00.
A beer in a bar: 80–150 THB
Diving with a hangover is how people get hurt here; the schools will turn you away and they are right to.
Getting around
Limited- BoltWorks here
- GrabWorks here
- inDriveWorks here
- MaximWorks here
- UberNot here
inDrive you name the price and drivers accept or counter
- Against a taxi
- A metered taxi is cheaper still if the meter is used. The app exists so that it is.
The motorbike option is half the price and a quarter of the time in traffic.
Time zone and your working day
Asia/Bangkok — 11 hours ahead of you
0 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — — your time, — theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 22:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 22:00–06:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Thailand
Why these are Thailand's numbers and not Koh Tao's
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 2.3× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Good. Maps, calls and streaming, and enough to tether a laptop for an afternoon. Mobile runs at 1.2× the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Koh Tao, so these are medians for all of Thailand. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Thailand, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Thai
- Helloสวัสดี — Sawatdeesa-wat-DEE khrap/kha
- Pleaseกรุณา — Karunaka-roo-NA
- Thank youขอบคุณ — Khop khunkop-KOON khrap/kha
- Yes / Noใช่ / ไม่ — Chai / Maichai / my
4 more phrases
- Excuse meขอโทษ — Kho thotkor-TOAST
- How much is it?เท่าไหร่ — Tao rai?tow-RYE
- The bill, pleaseเช็คบิล — Check binchek bin
- Cheers!ไชโย — Chai yo!chai YO
End sentences with khrap if you are male and kha if female — it is what makes a sentence polite rather than blunt.
Religion
Theravada Buddhist
About 93% Buddhist, and it governs a lot of daily etiquette. Monks may not be touched by women. Never point your feet at a Buddha image or climb on one — people have been prosecuted for it.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Return the wai greeting — palms together, a slight bow — when someone offers it first
- Remove shoes before entering temples and homes
- Cover shoulders and knees at temples, including for men
- Keep your cool; visible anger loses you the argument and the respect
Don't
- Do not touch anyone’s head, including children — it is the most sacred part of the body
- Do not point your feet at people or at Buddha images, and never step over someone
- Do not say anything critical of the royal family; lèse-majesté carries prison sentences and is enforced
- Do not climb on Buddha statues for photographs
Where to stay in Koh Tao
No Holistay rentals in Koh Tao yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Koh Tao on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Samui USM
2h 30mfrom the airport· 66 km as the crow flies
Then 90 min on the Lomprayah catamaran.
Also worth pricing: Surat Thani URT — or the ferry from Chumphon, which is the shorter crossing.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
