Koh Tao 3-day itinerary

Japanese Garden on Koh Nang Yuan, reachable by longtail boat from Sairee Beach (~100 THB), is the island's best snorkelling for beginners — a shallow coral garden with angelfish, clownfish in anemones, and sea turtles that regularly cruise through. Snorkel gear rents for around 100 THB. The entry fee to Koh Nang Yuan island is 100 THB, which includes the iconic twin-island sandbar viewpoint walk.

If you've never dived before, Koh Tao's Discover Scuba Diving intro course puts you underwater with an instructor on the same day for around 1,500–2,000 THB. Most dive shops on Sairee Beach offer this — Big Blue, Crystal, and Ban's are the largest. You'll do a shallow reef dive to 5–8m at sites like Ao Leuk or Aow Mao Bay, seeing coral, reef fish, and possibly reef sharks. No experience needed.

Sairee Beach faces west — the sunset from the beach bar strip is one of Thailand's finest. Grab a 60 THB Chang beer from a beach bar and watch the sky turn crimson over the Gulf of Thailand. After dark, the night market near the 7-Eleven on Sairee Road fires up with pad thai, mango sticky rice, grilled satay, and fresh papaya salad — a full meal for under 200 THB.

Chumphon Pinnacle, 13km northwest of Koh Tao, is the island's most celebrated dive site — four granite pinnacles dropping to 36m, encrusted with enormous sea fans and hard corals. Whale sharks, chevron barracuda, and giant trevally are regularly encountered here. This is an advanced site; Open Water certified divers can join with a dive guide. The boat trip takes 30 minutes from Sairee pier. Expect to pay around 1,000 THB per dive.

The HTMS Sattakut is a decommissioned US Navy landing craft deliberately sunk in 2011 as an artificial reef — now sitting at 18–30m depth just southwest of Koh Tao. Lionfish, giant grouper, barracuda, and batfish have colonised the hull. Visibility is often 15–20m. The wreck is accessible to Open Water divers with a guide. Most dive shops include it as a two-tank morning trip combined with a reef dive.

After two days of diving, many divers spend the evening at one of Koh Tao's casual cooking classes. Charm Churee Villa and a few Sairee operators run 3-hour classes for around 1,200 THB covering pad thai, green curry, and som tam — you eat what you cook. Alternatively, write up your dive log at any of the beach bars over local craft beer from the Chalok Baan Kao microbrewery.

Freedom Beach on the island's west coast is one of Koh Tao's best-kept secrets — a small cove accessed by a 15-minute walk down a steep jungle track from the road above Sairee. The beach has no development, no beach bars, just white sand and excellent snorkelling on the rocky headlands at either end. The walk down is steep; the walk back up in 35°C heat is the real challenge. Go early — it's tiny and fills up.

John Suwan Viewpoint on the island's southern headland requires a 200 THB entry fee but delivers arguably the best panorama on Koh Tao — looking north across Chalok Baan Kao Bay with the Gulf of Thailand stretching to the horizon. Rent a scooter (200 THB/day) to explore the south and east coast, stopping at Tanote Bay for a last swim in one of the island's most sheltered anchorages, popular with day-trip boats.

Most travellers leave Koh Tao on the night Lomprayah or Songserm high-speed catamaran to Chumphon or Surat Thani, departing around 9–10pm for a 6am arrival — saving a night's accommodation. Book tickets online 24 hours ahead in peak season. Before departure, eat at your last Koh Tao meal — the local Thai restaurant on the main Sairee road behind the beach does the best 80 THB pad see ew on the island.