full moon party-where to stay?

doylie88

Myself and my two friends are just wondering where is the best place to stay on Koh Phangan for the full moon party in August?? We're three Irish girls & basically we're just looking for somewhere cheap & good craic that's near to where the party is actually held! I've heard Rin beach resort & the Cocohut village are good but I just wanted to get a few other ideas!:)
Also, where should we stay in Bangkok when we fly in?I've heard mixed stories about the city, some people say its a kip & others say they've loved it so we're really confused about what to do!

breadmonkey

I've stayed in about a zillion places in Bangkok and I think this is by far and away the best budget option:

http://www.lamphuhouse.com/default.htm

Great location in the centre of everything but still very quiet. They have lockers, luggage storage, clean rooms, friendly staff and there's a good atmosphere in the place. EDIT: Just FYI this place is on Soi Rambutri - mentioned by several posters below.

Personally I absolutely love Bangkok. The first time I went I thought it was horrible but now I realise just how class it really is. You'll have a blast.

Can't really advise you about the Full Moon as I stayed in a crap place. Just make sure you book a few weeks in advance. A lot of the places along Sunrise beach in Haad Rin (where the Full Moon Party is held) looked swankyish so there should be no problem finding a nice place if you poke around a bit.

Carpenter09

Went to a full moon party 2 years ago in Ko Phan Yan. Didnt stay on ko phan yan as heard of lots of people's huts/hostel rooms being fleeced as everyone is aware if your staying anywhere near its because you are going to the full moon party!! We stayed over in Ko Samui and took one of the party boats over. Boats cheap and plenty of them going all night/morning.
In bangkok, anywhere around Ko Shan Road is where all the backpackers stay!

cr17

On th khao san road i,d recommend the D & D or the khao san palace.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g293916-d557983-r20095340-D_D_Inn-Bangkok.html

www.khaosanpalace.com/

Both are in the centre of the khao san road, loads of fellow tourists around, rooms are amazing for the price and a pool on the roof of both.
I,d stayed in a few dodgy places close by and these were by far and away the best. D & D prob the best.More like a hotel than a hostel but at very good price. think it was like 15 euro a night. I know theres cheaper but it was amazing.

In koh phangan i stayed on the north of island during the full moon at hadd yao bungalows. really nice. took about 20 mins to get to haad rin from there.

Frisbee

Flying into Bangkok on the 24th and we booked a room in the D+D there the other day just for two nights.
It's supposed to be awesome

S.M.B.

Is the D+D really that great?

I always thought it looked like a place to avoid. I've never stayed in or around the Kho San road area but I would have thought Soi Rambutri would be a better spot to get accommodation if you want to stick close to that area.

hopalong85

yeah rambutri is the better option for the khao san area imo, has dirt cheap rooms in places such as my house. if you want something a bit nicer cha cha village (think that's the name) is pretty good with aircon, hot water, pool, cable tv etc. i'd reccommend coral beach bungalows for the full moon, book in advance though! accommadation fills rapidly around full moon time.

spinandscribble

the cocohut is more expensive then alot of places but really nice with a lovely beach. the little houses are really beautiful and i'd say very secure for a night like the full moon party.

if i was you i'd stay close to the action so within walking distance so that there will be no drunken moped accidents.

doylie88

breadmonkey wrote: »

I've stayed in about a zillion places in Bangkok and I think this is by far and away the best budget option:

http://www.lamphuhouse.com/default.htm

Great location in the centre of everything but still very quiet. They have lockers, luggage storage, clean rooms, friendly staff and there's a good atmosphere in the place. EDIT: Just FYI this place is on Soi Rambutri - mentioned by several posters below.

Personally I absolutely love Bangkok. The first time I went I thought it was horrible but now I realise just how class it really is. You'll have a blast.

Can't really advise you about the Full Moon as I stayed in a crap place. Just make sure you book a few weeks in advance. A lot of the places along Sunrise beach in Haad Rin (where the Full Moon Party is held) looked swankyish so there should be no problem finding a nice place if you poke around a bit.

we looked up that place in Bangkok & e-mailed them, it looked class so now they ust have to get back to them....thanks!:)

We're planning on going up north to Chiang Mai, then onto Laos to go tubing, then to Cambodia. We want to travel by the cheapest means so we'll go by bus, how long does it take to get from Bangkok to Chiang Mai & how long would we want to spend here & in Laos & Cambodia?

dazf

For the Khao San Road id go for the Rikka Inn... its 800 baht for a double bed which aint too bad and considering its your first night you would want a half decent place to sleep off the jet lag..i stayed in D+D too and wasnt too impressed with it...our room had no windows!!!
It takes 13 hours on an overnight train...its great fun!!if ye do decide to go by train, go for 2nd class its a tad cheaper then 1st plus you get to mingle alot with the locals

RATM

I'd say avoid the D&D like the plague. A mate had his room broken into there and the staff didn't seem to give a dam.
I'd advise anyone not to stay directly on KSR but on one of the many streets and alleyways that surround the area.

rendog122

I was in thailand last year..

Bangkok - I personally would not recommend D&D Inn. We were advised to stay there, and the pictures looked very nice on the website, but our room was terrible (not sure if we got a bad one or what?). Koh Sahn Road is the place ot be tho.

Full Moon Party - It is a fine line with accomodation here..staying on Sunset Beach you will have trouble sleeping..we stayed at a place called Neptune Villa (pricey in terms of Thailand)..but it was very nice. It was about 10 minutes walk , and even then you could still hear a small thump of the music, so I cant imagine what staying right on the main beach would be like. My bet would be somewhere on Sunset Beach..

shoutman

Hey, heading to thailand for end of july/ start of august.

Thinking of booking a place in cocohut village for the full moon party.
Not sure which one of the rooms to take.... Hill side bungalow is the cheapest but with no obvious downsides i'm wondering why its so considerably cheaper then the other options.

If anyone can shed some light on this it would be much appreciated.
http://www.cocohut.com/rate.php

Also with the full moon being 6th of august what would people recommend as to our dates of stay? We're thinking about four days, 4th-8th of august?

thanks in advance.

breadmonkey

shoutman wrote: »

Hey, heading to thailand for end of july/ start of august.

Thinking of booking a place in cocohut village for the full moon party.
Not sure which one of the rooms to take.... Hill side bungalow is the cheapest but with no obvious downsides i'm wondering why its so considerably cheaper then the other options.

If anyone can shed some light on this it would be much appreciated.
http://www.cocohut.com/rate.php

Also with the full moon being 6th of august what would people recommend as to our dates of stay? We're thinking about four days, 4th-8th of august?

thanks in advance.

Looks like that place is on sunset beach which is about a 10-15 min walk from sunrise beach where the FMP is held. There are pros and cons to the two beaches. Sunrise is obviously where the action is and the beach is nicer but much more crowded. Sunset is away from the action and quiet but the beach is a bit mingin imo. When you go into the water it's slimey underfoot.

Don't know why it's so cheap compared to other places. Also, it says on the site that a five night stay is compulsory during FMP periods. The nights leading up to the FMP are really good craic and the beach is absolutely horrible the day after, all strewn with detritus. And since I'm not the biggest fan of Koh Phangan and Haad Rin itself, I'd be inclined to give myself one hangover day and then get the hell out of there.

Book well in advance!

Rhianna83

S.M.B. wrote: »

Is the D+D really that great?

I always thought it looked like a place to avoid. I've never stayed in or around the Kho San road area but I would have thought Soi Rambutri would be a better spot to get accommodation if you want to stick close to that area.

I stayed in the D & D a few weeks ago, its alright nothing special the bed was like a bed of bricks was the most uncomfortable bed ive slept in in my 3 months travelling so far, breakfast included, the usual cereal fruit, salad rooftop pool is nice enough, think my room cost 10 quid or thereabouts which isnt too bad, in bangkok your not gonna be in your room a whole lot cos you'll be out sightseeing etc so dont need somewhere too plush!

In Ko Phangan I stayed at the Drop inn resort, was one of the cheapest around during full moon (20euro for double room) and after but that's because they blared music by the pool all day and night (music usually stopped about 11pm or so) so depends what your into, in fairness the couple of days after full moon they didnt start musi till 2pmish and kept it quite low, has agreat pool aswell. Also heard coral bungalows is a nice resort, has pool parties every night (same as the drop in resort) not sure on the price of it tho.

SONIC2008

Hi there,

I know i'm bringing up an old thread but I didnt think I should start a new one. I was just wondering about accomodation for the full moon party (going in June). I see that most of the places in Haad Rin insist on booking 5 nights minimum in full moon period. Now I dont mind paying for the 5 nights but would you think that 5 nights is too long to stay there?

I just feel that once the full moon party is over there will be very little to do there? We could always pay for 5 nights and just stay for maybe 3. Its a 16 day trip in total around some of the islands of Thailand and then Bangkok and Chiang Mai and I dont want to waste 5 days there if there is nothing to do!

Thanks

Lola87

SONIC2008 wrote: »

Hi there,

I know i'm bringing up an old thread but I didnt think I should start a new one. I was just wondering about accomodation for the full moon party (going in June). I see that most of the places in Haad Rin insist on booking 5 nights minimum in full moon period. Now I dont mind paying for the 5 nights but would you think that 5 nights is too long to stay there?

I just feel that once the full moon party is over there will be very little to do there? We could always pay for 5 nights and just stay for maybe 3. Its a 16 day trip in total around some of the islands of Thailand and then Bangkok and Chiang Mai and I dont want to waste 5 days there if there is nothing to do!

Thanks

I spent all of last summer in Thailand and went to 2 full moons, loved it! In fact I'm going back again this summer!

Best places to stay for Full Moon IMO is Coral Bungalows. Neptune Villas abd Black & White are also good. The nights leading up to the FMP are generally as good if not better than the full moon itself. We were having the same dilemma as you about the 5 nights thing but we had a longer trip so we arrived there 4 days before full moon and left the day after, and had a great time. True you will want to get off the island once full moon is over. For the second full moon we arrived on Koh Phangan about 4 days before full moon with no accom booked and went straight to Coral where we got accom for the 5 nights no problems. There's a lot of scaremongering about having to pre book accom for full moon but it really isn't that hard to get accomodation if you arrive a few days beforehand. If I were you I'd probably book it for 3 nights before full moon and then leave the day after full moon, considering you've only 16 days to see so much! Good Luck and enjoy!

SONIC2008

Lola87 wrote: »

I spent all of last summer in Thailand and went to 2 full moons, loved it! In fact I'm going back again this summer!

Best places to stay for Full Moon IMO is Coral Bungalows. Neptune Villas abd Black & White are also good. The nights leading up to the FMP are generally as good if not better than the full moon itself. We were having the same dilemma as you about the 5 nights thing but we had a longer trip so we arrived there 4 days before full moon and left the day after, and had a great time. True you will want to get off the island once full moon is over. For the second full moon we arrived on Koh Phangan about 4 days before full moon with no accom booked and went straight to Coral where we got accom for the 5 nights no problems. There's a lot of scaremongering about having to pre book accom for full moon but it really isn't that hard to get accomodation if you arrive a few days beforehand. If I were you I'd probably book it for 3 nights before full moon and then leave the day after full moon, considering you've only 16 days to see so much! Good Luck and enjoy!

Thanks so much for the reply!
Funnily enough Coral bungalows is where we picked! To be honest we'd kind of prefer to have as much of our accomodation prebooked so we don't have to budget for our accomodation during the trip. Based on our rough itenery we will be there for 3 nights before the FMP so that suits perfect, we might just leave the day after as suggested.. Plus we could really use that extra day elsewhere.

Thanks again and enjoy your trip also

nxbyveromdwjpg

Coral Bungalows is great, if i was going back id definitely stay there again

whatsyourquota

Ya when I was in Koh Phangnan last year everyone said Coral was the best place to stay. Im trying to book it now but it only seems to give an option to book the ac rooms anyone know how I would book the fan rooms? Im on a budget so not forking out 1500 baht for a room!

PrettyBoy

cr17 wrote: »

On th khao san road i,d recommend the D & D or the khao san palace.

D + D is an absolute dive, avoid at all costs, there's a brilliant hotel across the road, can't for the life of me remember the name though, I'll have a look now but whatever you do OP, stay away from D + D.

PrettyBoy

nm wrote: »

Coral Bungalows is great, if i was going back id definitely stay there again

Coral Bungalows is great for pool parties etc. but the rooms themselves are very, very basic. I stayed there for one night but moved to Friendly Resort (about 5 mins walk down the beach), much better overall - A/C, TV, balcony, pool also much quiter than Coral. I just walked down the beach to Coral for the pool parties, paid 900 baht per night during Full Moon which was pretty fair IMO.

SONIC2008

PrettyBoy wrote: »

Coral Bungalows is great for pool parties etc. but the rooms themselves are very, very basic. I stayed there for one night but moved to Friendly Resort (about 5 mins walk down the beach), much better overall - A/C, TV, balcony, pool also much quiter than Coral. I just walked down the beach to Coral for the pool parties, paid 900 baht per night during Full Moon which was pretty fair IMO.

I'm not very impressed with coral bungalows so far. They have quoted me a total in baht, and then tell me that I must pay in US dollars. I am using paypal and have no problem doing this, but... they have added about 40 euro to the total when I checked out the exchange rate on xe converter. The amount says it is including fee. Would there really be a fee that large for using paypal? The only alternative in their books is to send on my credit card details, which Is not an alternative for me!

Goldcupfav

Ive been to two full moon parties first time i stayed in Tommy Resort.The place is top class but is very expensive. http://www.phangantommyresort.com/
Second time i stayed in the Sea Garden Resort its clean,well run and a minute walk to Haad Rin beach. http://www.phangan.info/index.cfm?action=accommodation.view&idaccommodation=178&layout=
I would recommend staying here. Email them and they usually give you a decent rate. Coral Bungalows partys are great however i would not like or recommend to stay there. Plus on the party nights at Coral there are songthaew's going there and back to Haad Rin beach every 10 mins.

Stinicker

A warning to anyone in the Gulf of Thailand:

I learned this the hard way myself there last week in Ko Samui, If you are in Ko Phangan, Samui or Ko Tao you may end up travelling there on Bus or Train. I myself took the overnight train from Bangkok to Surat Thani as part of the train-ferry joint ticket from Songserm Travel booked through a TAT travel agent in Bangkok.

Basically the train is grand and I was collected at 4.15am by Songserm and taken to a shack of a rat & mosquito ridden bus depot where I had to wait for three hours and we were taken by a double decker full size bus to the Foot-Ferry where we had to transfer to the Boat to Samui.

While on the Bus from the Songserm Depot to the ferry I had US$300 in cash stolen from my locked luggage which was in the hold underneath the bus. Do not use this company a quick google will bring up dozens of reports of backpackers getting their stuff stolen on ferries and buses by these scumbags.

Get a flight to Samui or take the Government public bus system and ferries instead. Alternatively if you do use Songserm take all valuables on your person, I wanted to take my carryon into the bus with me and was stopped by the guy saying "no room", obviously he is in on the scam and the bus has plenty space like any CIE bus etc.

To add insult to injury I did not realise the theft until I got back to Bangkok several days later as none of the usual suspects ipod, camera etc. were taken only the cash which was in an envelope as my emergency contingency plan incase something like this would happen, how ironic!

SONIC2008

Goldcupfav wrote: »

Ive been to two full moon parties first time i stayed in Tommy Resort.The place is top class but is very expensive. http://www.phangantommyresort.com/
Second time i stayed in the Sea Garden Resort its clean,well run and a minute walk to Haad Rin beach. http://www.phangan.info/index.cfm?action=accommodation.view&idaccommodation=178&layout=
I would recommend staying here. Email them and they usually give you a decent rate. Coral Bungalows partys are great however i would not like or recommend to stay there. Plus on the party nights at Coral there are songthaew's going there and back to Haad Rin beach every 10 mins.

Thanks,
Can I ask why you would not like to stay at coral?

Goldcupfav

SONIC2008 wrote: »

Thanks,
Can I ask why you would not like to stay at coral?

Friends that have stayed there have told me that if you plan on getting any sleep its not the place to stay !! I like a good session but also like my rest so it aint the place for me.

Trip adviser reviews..
http://www.tripadvisor.in/Hotel_Review-g303907-d657746-Reviews-Koh_Phangan_Coral_Bungalows_Haadrin_Nai-Ko_Phangan.html#REVIEWS

SONIC2008

Goldcupfav wrote: »

Friends that have stayed there have told me that if you plan on getting any sleep its not the place to stay !! I like a good session but also like my rest so it aint the place for me.

Trip adviser reviews..
http://www.tripadvisor.in/Hotel_Review-g303907-d657746-Reviews-Koh_Phangan_Coral_Bungalows_Haadrin_Nai-Ko_Phangan.html#REVIEWS

Ok, reading the reviews it looks like a bit of a kip alright. Im not expecting the hilton but jaysus some bad reviews there. I cant find sea garden on trip advisor. I will send them an email anyway and ask for a price. It looks nice on that link anyway. Would you go for a standard air conditioned room?

Goldcupfav

SONIC2008 wrote: »

Ok, reading the reviews it looks like a bit of a kip alright. Im not expecting the hilton but jaysus some bad reviews there. I cant find sea garden on trip advisor. I will send them an email anyway and ask for a price. It looks nice on that link anyway. Would you go for a standard air conditioned room?

Four of us stayed in the STANDARD FAN BUNGALOW 2 DOUBLE BEDS room. The fan room was grand. However if u can afford the A/C room id go with that !

SONIC2008

Goldcupfav wrote: »

Four of us stayed in the STANDARD FAN BUNGALOW 2 DOUBLE BEDS room. The fan room was grand. However if u can afford the A/C room id go with that !

I got an email back to say that there is a minimum of a 7 night stay for that resort. We only plan on staying for 4 nights. Some of the places have a minimum stay of 5 nights around full moon party, so we will just have to find one of those and book it and leave early. Thanks for all your tips!

shuffles03

I stayed here when I was in Ko Phangan:

http://www.tripadvisor.ie/Hotel_Review-g303907-d640496-Reviews-Harmony_Beach_Resort-Ko_Phangan.html

Absolute gem of a place. It's quite a funny story how we found this place. We were told to stay about a few mins away from Haad Rin beach so we could leave the madness. When the boat arrived in Ko Phangan we found a travel agent who put us in a Tuk Tuk to take us to resorts about 10 mins from Haad Rin. We actually thought we were being brought to a resort but the driver just stopped in the middle of the road, gave us our bags and pointed down a steep hill saying 'loads of places', 'loads of places'.

We headed on down towards the beach and all we could find were local homes so we decided to wade around a cliff with our bags above our heads. When we came around the other side, we saw this place. They were actually booked out but they managed to slip us in somewhere for the week!

We had friends staying on Haad Rin beach but we actually had way more fun than them. What I found was that although there were hundreds of people in the resorts on Haad Rin beach, everyone kind of stuck to their own groups (so many people) whereas we were a little bit away and got to meet loads of cool people. There were about 20 of us in total in Harmony and we were all good friends after about 5 mins of arriving. So, we had the madness of Haad Rin every night and also hung out with people from all over the world during the day at our resort which probably wouldn't have happened if we were staying on Haad Rin itself. We were only 5/10 mins away in a Tuk Tuk! I can't recommend this place enough! Amazing staff! They really took care of us for the week.

Empsey

Sorry to be so clueless but planning on going to the half moon party. Is this located in the same place as the full moon? If so any recommendations of places to stay if you are looking for a bit of luxury at a decent price?

Bansai

Myself and 5 other friends are going to Thailand in Sept. We are heading to the full moon party on the 12th of Sept and we have pretty much decided on staying at Coral Bungalows.

One of us in the group had a friend who stayed there before and they said they had a great time.

Upon reading the many reviews on the place Im starting to get worried.

There are a lot of atrocious reviews on the cleanliness, noise and rude staff but I haven't read much reviews about security! Can anyone tell me how secure your stuff would be staying at Coral Bungalows? I've heard that reception requires you to deposit your passport for the entire stay and won't accept photocopies..

Appreciate any replies!

beagle001

Bansai wrote: »

Myself and 5 other friends are going to Thailand in Sept. We are heading to the full moon party on the 12th of Sept and we have pretty much decided on staying at Coral Bungalows.

One of us in the group had a friend who stayed there before and they said they had a great time.

Upon reading the many reviews on the place Im starting to get worried.

There are a lot of atrocious reviews on the cleanliness, noise and rude staff but I haven't read much reviews about security! Can anyone tell me how secure your stuff would be staying at Coral Bungalows? I've heard that reception requires you to deposit your passport for the entire stay and won't accept photocopies..

Appreciate any replies!

To be perfectly honest,I would not recommend anyone staying on koh phangnan during a fullmoon or half moon party.
Your bungalow has a high chance of getting fleeced,the locals hate the tourists that come for that festival and incidents of violence at the full moon are shocking.
I went to one in 1999 and again 2007.What a change from a cool party to a free for all lager lout event, it's so different,place is a kipp now.
I would never visit koh phangnan during a full moon,it's a great island any other time but it's embarrassing to see the tourists carrying on like idiots and getting sick on the beach throwing litter,notwhat the original full moons were about.
If you have to go take a speed boat from samui and dint stay on the island.
High incidence of rape amongst the tourists is alarming,my friend has a beautiful house on the island and he told me the locals dread a full moon now as the roads turn into a crash site,fights,hooligans and a complete lack of respect for Thai culture,it's only a few dodgy Thais who are making money of it.
Listen to your gut and I would advise against risking your possessions or mire by staying during a full moon.

SONIC2008

Ok its been a while but just to update on my stay at Coral...
We did end up staying in Coral Bungalows and to be perfectly honest, we couldnt fault the place. When we got there our window frame in our room was broken whereby it couldnt be fully closed so I immediately brought it to the attention of staff and it was fixed within 10 minutes.They took our passports at reception on checking in and we got them back on inspection of the room. We lost one of their towels and just replaced it with another of equal quality which we bought on a market stall! No questions asked. The staff there are just so friendly (especially the bar staff) , and the pool parties are great craic. We found the place to be very safe, and got to do elephant trekking which we booked in Coral Bungalows. We were picked up from reception and brought there in the back of a pick-up. We were allowed to leave our room number whenever we booked things so that if we werent waiting they would come up to our room and knock and then carry our bags for us Great experience!

roversrain

lads trying to book coral for our stay in Thailand in june and they are seeking payment upfront and want me to email my credit card details and expirey date to them on two different emails i dont like sending details through email has anyone else done this with coral?

Theresalwaysone

Email them? No way...

Id pay securely but I defo wouldnt be emailing this info. Thats madness.

PrettyBoy

roversrain wrote: »

lads trying to book coral for our stay in Thailand in june and they are seeking payment upfront and want me to email my credit card details and expirey date to them on two different emails i dont like sending details through email has anyone else done this with coral?

Coral is a kip :pac:

SONIC2008

Ya this is the only way to book coral. They made us send the details in two separate emails. What I did was opening a tsb visa debit account and just put in enough for the booking. I closed the account afterwards. I loved coral.

JJJJNR

I stayed in coral years ago 1997, just looking at the place now is mental, would love to go back and revist,

roversrain

cheers for helpful info... you had no problem with payment then sonic when did u stay there?

Naid23

Just booked my accomodation for full moon in april - friends stayed here 2 years ago ad said it was really good. So got it for €120 between 2 for 4 nights!. Yay.

http://www.tripadvisor.ie/Hotel_Review-g303907-d636809-Reviews-Milky_Bay_Resort-Koh_Phangan_Surat_Thani_Province.html

Frisbee

I've stayed in Paradise Bungalows twice and Delight twice.

Both were pretty decent, only ever ventured over to Coral for the Pool Party so hard to judge but personally I wouldn't stay there.

Paradise gets a bad rep but if you can get one of the two rooms over the shop and looking over the main street they have a massive balcony which is great for a few late afternoon beers.

Delight is a bit pricier but much more secure.