Koh Tao is 21 square kilometres and you can ride around it in a morning, but the list of things you could do is longer than the days you have. Most backpackers stay three to five days, and in that time you choose. That is fine, because this is not an island you tick off.
A few things really belong on your trip, and nearly all of them are in or under the water. Others look great in photos and fill half a morning nicely, next to the time you give to an empty bay. Choosing up front gets you more here than booking an extra day.
So where do your Koh Tao days go, and what do you save for next time?
Below are the places themselves. Where to sleep, how to get there and how many days to plan are all on our Koh Tao page.
Going underwater
There are around 25 dive sites around the island, and between February and August you can see up to thirty metres ahead of you. That is the reason this island exists the way it does: a handful of streets, a beach and, behind it, more dive schools than restaurants. You will see coral, parrotfish, turtles and rays, and at Chumphon Pinnacle the odd whale shark.
Never dived before? Join a half-day try dive, or go straight for your Open Water. The certificate costs around ฿11,000 here, about €290, and there are few places in the world where it is cheaper. How the course days fit into your stay is laid out on our Koh Tao page, so we will leave that there. Want small groups and a briefing that is actually a briefing? Then Below Zero Divers is the school we send people to.
Two things to sort out before you go. Check that your travel insurance covers diving, because plenty of policies stop at eighteen metres and you will go deeper than that at most sites. And leave eighteen hours between your last dive and a flight, so count that day into your plans.
Our verdict: absolutely, even if you never planned to
Our own pick
Diving with Below Zero Divers
Small groups, and instructors who take the safety briefing seriously instead of reciting it. You can go from a first try dive all the way to divemaster with the same school, which means the people teaching you actually know how you dive.
Reader discount with the code REBELSONTHEROAD. Mention it when you book, because they will not apply it for you.
See Below Zero DiversOur partner on Koh Tao
Snorkelling at Shark Bay
You do not need a tank to see the best of Koh Tao. At Shark Bay, blacktip reef sharks and green sea turtles swim at snorkelling depth, and you just swim out from the beach. The sharks are small and shy, and they vanish the moment you get too close.
It costs you nothing but the rental of a mask. The bay is in the south of the island, around the corner from Chalok Baan Kao, so it pairs easily with the climb up to John-Suwan. Aow Leuk and Tanote Bay on the east side are the two other bays with good snorkelling water.
Go early, while the water is still calm and before the day boats arrive. Later in the day you mostly see sand kicked up by other swimmers.
Our verdict: a must, especially since it costs you nothing
Koh Nang Yuan
Three rocky islets joined by a white sandbar, a short boat ride from Mae Haad. From the viewpoint at the top you look straight down on that sandbar, with clear blue water on either side. It is the most famous shot in this part of Thailand, and in real life it lives up to it.
Take a longtail over from Koh Tao, or join the snorkelling trip that stops at several bays and docks here. You are on top of the viewpoint within a fifteen-minute climb. Afterwards, take your snorkel into the water, because the coral around the sandbar is good.
Every island-hopping tour on Koh Tao stops here, so between eleven and three it is packed. Get on the first boat and you will have the viewpoint almost to yourself.
Our verdict: go for it, on the first boat of the day
John-Suwan Viewpoint at sunset
The hills on Koh Tao rise steeply from the coast, which means fifteen to twenty minutes of climbing already gets you a view over half the island. From John-Suwan you see Chalok Baan Kao on one side and Shark Bay on the other, with the rocks in between. Of all the views on the island, this is the best.
The viewpoint is right at the southern tip. The last stretch is a scramble over rocks, so this is not a flip-flop moment. Bring water, because there is nothing for sale at the top.
Go in the late afternoon and stay for the sunset. In the full midday sun the climb is harder and the light is flat, and you miss exactly what you came up for.
Our verdict: worth the climb, at the end of the afternoon
The southern and eastern bays by scooter
The other side of the island is the Koh Tao where almost nobody sleeps: Tanote Bay, Freedom Beach and Sai Nuan. Small bays with rocks in the water, barely any buildings and rarely more than a handful of people on the sand. From Sairee you are there in twenty minutes.
A scooter costs about €6 a day, and one day is enough to cover the whole east side. Stop wherever it looks good, bring your snorkel and plan on lunch at one of the little places on the bay.
This is also where the island needs the most care. Those hills are shorter and steeper than they look on the map, and this is where backpackers here come off most often. Take photos and video of every existing scratch when you pick the bike up, never leave your passport as a deposit and do not ride in flip-flops. Not comfortable on one? Take a taxi to the bay you want to see.
Our verdict: the best day on the island, and best with some scooter experience behind you
The night market in Mae Haad, then Sairee
Koh Tao lives off tourism, so on the beach you will find as many Western breakfasts as Thai curries. The good food is somewhere else: at the night market in Mae Haad, where the dive instructors get their own dinner. €1.50 a plate, roughly a fifth of what the same thing costs by the water.
Then walk over to Sairee. Two kilometres of beach with bars, live music and fire shows in the sand, and a beer costs about €1.80. It is more laid-back than Koh Phi Phi or Koh Phangan, and that is exactly why people stay longer than they planned.
Where it happens on any given night changes, because the bigger parties move around. Just ask at your hostel, which works better here than searching online.
Our verdict: part of the deal, just not the night before your first dive day
Got time to spare on Koh Tao?
Another bay or viewpoint
Bays and viewpoints are scattered across the whole island. Pick two you really want, say Tanote Bay and Aow Leuk, and add John-Suwan for the view. If you still have an afternoon after that, doing nothing on an empty beach is time just as well spent here.
Getting around the island
If you can ride a scooter, a loop of the island is the best day you will have here. If you have never ridden, this is not the place to learn: the hills are short and steep and the road surface is poor in places. A taxi to the bay costs you a bit more than a day’s scooter rental and saves you a grazed leg.
Koh Tao between October and December
That is monsoon season: rough seas, less visibility underwater and ferries that sometimes do not run for days, most often in November. Prices are at their lowest and the island is quiet, so if you are mainly coming for the atmosphere it can work well. If you want the clear water Koh Tao is known for, pick the months either side.
Diving and your evenings
Sairee is one of the most fun beach strips in Thailand, and it is not going anywhere. Keep the night before your first course day quiet and save the beer for after your last dive of the day: alcohol and nitrogen do not mix, and diving with a hangover wastes a beautiful morning.
Our top five on Koh Tao
Only got a few days? These are the five we would do no matter what:
- Going underwater, with a try dive or your Open Water
- Snorkelling at Shark Bay, early in the morning straight off the beach
- Koh Nang Yuan on the first boat, viewpoint first and then into the water
- John-Suwan Viewpoint at the end of the afternoon
- A plate at the Mae Haad night market, then Sairee Beach
Still got time after that? Grab a scooter and ride the east side to Tanote Bay, Freedom Beach and Sai Nuan. That is the day most people on Koh Tao wish they had made room for.
So what do you really have to do on Koh Tao?
Honestly? Almost nothing on this list is compulsory. Koh Tao has no temples, no waterfalls and no row of sights you have to have seen. What it does have is water, and the travellers who got the most out of it are the ones who spent most of their time in it.
If we had to pick just one thing: get in the water, one way or another. With a tank on your back if you are up for it, otherwise with a mask off the beach at Shark Bay. The difference between Koh Tao from a sunbed and Koh Tao from below is bigger than anywhere else in Thailand, and it takes you half a day to find that out.
And keep one afternoon completely free. Ride or walk to a bay on the east side where nobody sleeps, sit down in the sand and do nothing. That, not the list above, is why backpackers stay here longer than they planned.
