Travel: Flights to Koh Samui from London (lon)

Ko Samui Airport (USM) is a private airport originally built by Bangkok Airways, which is still the main operator and the only airline with services to Ko Samui from Thailand. They have near-hourly departures to/from Bangkok; tickets are expensive by Thai standards, but advance bookings can be tolerable (around 2000B), while a walk-in booking may be twice as much. There are also daily flights to/from Phuket for 2200 baht, U-Tapao, and Singapore; four direct flights a week from Chiang Mai (but no direct flights in the opposite direction); and twice weekly flights to/from Hong Kong.

In addition to Bangkok Air, Ko Samui is served by Berjaya Air from Kuala Lumpur and Firefly from Penang, both in Malaysia.

Visa-on-Arrival and Visa-Free entry is available at Samui Airport for some nationalities - see Thailand for more information.

Ground transportation from the airport is readily available. A seat in a minibus for the 20-minute ride to Chaweng costing 100 baht/person; a faster taxi will cost 150-300 baht. Be sure to negotiate the rate to your destination before you get into the taxi since many drivers refuse to use their meters.

A cheaper but less convenient option is to fly to Surat Thani or Chumpon and connect by road and then ferry.