What order should you visit the Thailand islands?
Thailand has two island coasts with opposite weather, and mixing them badly costs whole days in transit. The order that works is the one that moves in a straight line along one coast, with a hub in the middle where the day trips are cheapest.
Pick one coast, then travel along it in geographic order. On the Andaman side that means Phuket, then Phi Phi, then Krabi, then Koh Lanta, then Koh Lipe. On the Gulf side it means Koh Samui, then Koh Phangan, then Koh Tao. Krabi belongs in the middle of the Andaman run because every boat trip is cheaper and shorter from there.
The mistake almost everyone makes on a first trip is treating the islands as a menu rather than a line. Thailand's islands sit in two clusters, roughly 700 kilometres apart, and hopping between the clusters means a domestic flight or a very long overland day. Do that twice and you have spent three days of a two-week trip sitting still.
Which coast should you start with?
Let the calendar decide. The Andaman coast, which includes Phuket, Phi Phi, Krabi, Lanta and Lipe, is at its best roughly November to April. The Gulf, meaning Samui, Phangan and Tao, has its calmest and driest stretch roughly January to August and its heaviest rain late in the year.
That inversion is why there is no single correct answer to this question, only a correct answer for your dates. March and early April are the closest thing to a shared sweet spot, which is exactly when both coasts are busiest. We go into how the two coasts differ beyond the weather in our comparison of Koh Samui against Krabi.
| Months | Andaman route | Gulf route | Best plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov to Feb | Peak conditions, calm water | Wettest part of the Gulf year | Andaman only |
| Mar to Apr | Dry, hot, very busy | Dry and settled | Either, or both if you have two weeks |
| May to Jun | Monsoon building, swell increasing | Reliable | Gulf |
| Jul to Aug | Wettest, outer trips cancel more often | The Gulf at its best | Gulf only |
| Sep to Oct | Heaviest Andaman rain, Lanta quiet | Turning wet | Shoulder either way |
What is the Andaman route in order?
Fly into Phuket, take the ferry east to Phi Phi, continue to Krabi, drop south to Koh Lanta, then finish at Koh Lipe if you have the time. Every leg moves in one direction, and no leg needs backtracking, which is the whole point of doing it this way.
| Leg | How | Rough time | Nights that make sense |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arrive Phuket | International flight | 1 to 2, mainly for logistics | |
| Phuket to Phi Phi | Ferry or speedboat | About 1.5 to 2 hours | 2 |
| Phi Phi to Krabi | Ferry to Klong Jilad or Ao Nang | About 1.5 to 2 hours | 3 to 4 |
| Krabi to Koh Lanta | Minivan with car ferries, or seasonal boat | About 2 hours | 3 or more |
| Lanta to Koh Lipe | Speedboat, high season only | About 3 to 4 hours | 3 |
The Lanta transfer is the one with a seasonal catch: the boat option disappears for months at a time while the road route keeps running. The timing and what changes month to month sit in our guide to getting to Koh Lanta from Krabi. Koh Lipe is the optional tail on this route. It is beautiful and remote, and it is also a long way south, so leave it off anything shorter than two weeks.
Where does Krabi fit, and why in the middle?
Krabi is the hub, not a stopover. It is the only point on the Andaman route with mainland infrastructure, an airport, and piers close enough to the islands that a full day of island hopping costs a fraction of what the same day costs from Phuket or Lanta.
Look at what is within reach of a single morning departure from Ao Nang: the 4 Islands loop, Hong Island, Phang Nga Bay, and Phi Phi itself. Nothing else on the coast has that range from one pier. It is also where the price floor sits, since the boats are not burning an extra hour of fuel each way.
Three to four nights is the right allocation. That is enough for one big day on the water, one inland day for the jungle and hot springs, and one slow day around Railay, which we lay out as an actual schedule in the Krabi itinerary for three to four days. If your visit is shorter and you want the highlights compressed, a one-day island hopping route covers the main stops in a single departure.
Should you book boats yourself or take organised tours?
Book your point-to-point transfers between islands yourself, and take an organised tour for the day trips. Transfers are simple and cheaper direct. Day trips are the opposite, because chartering a longtail for four stops usually costs more than a seat on a boat already going there.
The exception is a group of four or more, where a private charter starts to compete on price and gives you control over the timing, which matters more than people expect once tides are involved. The maths, including where the DIY option genuinely wins, is in our breakdown of taking a tour versus arranging it yourself.
What order should you use for the Gulf coast?
Samui first, then Phangan, then Tao. Samui has the airport and the ferry connections, Phangan is 30 minutes further north, and Tao is another 90 minutes beyond that. Running it in reverse works too, but only if you are arriving overland from Bangkok by night train and bus.
The Gulf route is shorter and simpler, three islands in a near-straight line, which is why it suits trips of a week or less. What it lacks is the karst scenery. There is nothing in the Gulf that resembles the limestone walls at Railay or the towers in Phang Nga Bay, so travellers who want that specific Thailand postcard should be on the Andaman side regardless of what the calendar says.
If you are building the Andaman half of a trip and want to see which departures actually run on your dates, the Krabi island boat tours we list show pickup windows and seasonal notes per trip, which is the detail that decides whether a route order works on paper or in practice.
