Getting from Krabi Airport to Koh Lanta

Krabi International Airport is the usual way onto Koh Lanta, and the transfer is the part of the journey people most often get wrong. It is not difficult — it is just longer than it looks on a map, and it involves a vehicle ferry.

This is what the options actually are and what to sort before you land.

The shape of the journey

You travel south from the airport by road, then cross to Koh Lanta Noi, then cross again to Koh Lanta Yai where the beaches and hotels are.

The Hua Hin car ferry is the part with the variable in it. It runs continuously rather than to a timetable you can book, so the wait depends entirely on the queue — which in high season is unpredictable. Anyone who quotes you an exact door-to-door time for this journey is guessing.

Private transfer

One vehicle, your group only, from the terminal to your hotel door. The driver meets you, luggage goes in once, and you get out at your accommodation.

This is what most people want after a long flight, and it is what we run. Two vehicles are available: a private car and a luxury van, both seating up to four. The van is the one to take if you have a lot of luggage or want to stretch out on a longer run.

The ferry crossing is included in the price we quote — it is not an extra collected on the day. Driver name, vehicle and plate are sent to you on WhatsApp the day before, and if your flight lands late we wait.

Shared minibus

The cheaper option. You wait for the vehicle to fill, then it runs a circuit dropping passengers along the way, which may or may not put you near the front of the queue.

It is a perfectly reasonable choice if you are travelling light, on your own, and not in a rush. With children, an early flight, or four suitcases, it is a false economy.

What to arrange before you land

Two things make the difference between a smooth arrival and a bad one.

First, book the transfer before you fly rather than negotiating at the terminal, and give the operator your flight number so the pickup tracks the actual landing time rather than the scheduled one.

Second, tell them your hotel by name, not just the beach. Koh Lanta Yai is thirty kilometres long and "Long Beach" covers a lot of ground.

• Flight number, so pickup follows the real arrival time
• Hotel name and beach, not just the area
• Number of passengers and how many large bags
• Whether anyone needs a child seat
• A WhatsApp number the driver can reach on landing

Going the other way

The return leg is the one people underestimate, because the ferry queue is the same variable in reverse and you now have a flight to catch.

Give yourself materially more time than you think you need, and tell us your flight time rather than the pickup time you have in mind — we will work backwards from it and tell you honestly when we think you should leave.