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Ferries from Phuket to Ko Phi Phi Don, Thailand

Vi — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:01:46 +0000

Just before New Year I needed to get to Ko Phi Phi Don island. It is probably the most popular and visited island in Thailand. In all travel guides I looked at it says “Ferries operates from Phuket to Phi Phi at ww:ww, yy:yy time and return trip at zz:” or something like this. I understood there is one ferry which leaves at ww:ww, another leaves at yy:yy and both goes back at zz:zz. That was wrong. All information on internet I found looked like ferry operator doesn’t sell ticket directly. Only through tour agencies which looked very alike so booked in advance on internet with one of them. That morning one couple wanted to get tickets for the same day and after receptionist made a call the answer was: “No more tickets for today”… But when I was transferred to the pier I saw 7-8 ferries docked there and all are going to Phi Phi almost at the same time.

It was packed, but you still could get ticket to the one of those boats. I felt sorry for that couple which missed trip because probably workers in hostels gets payments from one of company and don’t sell tickets from others. Can’t confirm this, but I don’t see any other reason why receptionist didn’t call to another company. Or may be it is not only me but locals are confused too because it is a little bit mess with information about those ferries? So in case somebody will tell you – no tickets to Phi Phi island from Phuket, go directly to Rassada Pier and check for tickets there. Also you can see the boat which you gonna board, as I am not sure I would love to spend 1.5 hours in the sea on boat like this one:

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Ferries from Ao Nang to Railay, Thailand

Vi — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:01:44 +0000

After staying couple days in Ao Nang on my last day I decided to visit probably nicest beach in area – Hat Phra Nang. Although Lonely Planet calls Railay(Rai Leh) most stunning beach location in all Thailand I would name it nice but not the “most”. Ok is not about this today. How you can get there from Ao Nang? Only by long tail boat. It takes about 15-20 minutes and cost 80BTH at the moment. You can go from Ao Nang directly to Hat Phra Nang beach or go to Hat Rai Leh West and then walk to Hat Phra Nang beach. It is about another 20 minutes walk, but I would recommend to do that walk to see how different is Hat Rai Leh East side of peninsula.
Day was not the best for beach. It started raining, so didn’t stay on the beach more then half an hour. Was no any long tail boats on Hat Phra Nang beach so I went back to Hat Rai Leh West. It looks was no shortage of long tail boats here.

I showed my return ticket to Ao Nang and guy pointed where I should wait. Long tail boats go when there are at least 8 persons. In Ao Nang it took about 10 minutes till was enough people to go. But different story in Railay. The couple I met in waiting area was waiting for a boat more then an hour. It was strange because boats were leaving almost every five minutes. I didn’t realize there are at least two different companies which transfer people from Ao Nang to Railay and back. I did wait less then an hour, but situation wasn’t very pleasant – I needed to catch bus to Bangkok that afternoon, another couple was going to airport – and boat owners even didn’t discuss possibility to go earlier. It was happy ending and I made on time to my bus, but don’t make mistake I did – don’t buy return ticket (it is not saving you any money anyway) and check which boats will leave earlier (i.e. more people are waiting) before buying your ticket.

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Cook strait ferries in New Zealand

Vi — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:01:44 +0000

After living over a year in Auckland(New Zealand) I decided it is time to visit South Island. This means I need to go by ferry from island to another. I was living here for so long and didn’t realize that there are two companies which could take you across Cook Strait. I thought that only Interislander exists. I don’t know for what reason, but at Auckland i-SITEs” was no information about another company – Bluebridge. May be it was because Intersilander was(is) marked as “Qualmark Endorsed Visitor Transport”? But I think it is not fair from point of visitor to hide competitor. Especially then Bluebridge had better deals (30% cheaper then Interislander) at the time I was travelling and I didn’t see anything wrong with ferry I was on. So in case you need cross Cook strait in New Zealand check both companies (Bluebridge, Interislander) for deals and save some money which you’ll definitely will find where to spent in New Zealand.

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