Where and what to do in Koh Phangan - Thailand

Koh Phangan was one of my favourite islands. There's always something to do and it's a fun island - you could stay a good week or more.

What to do: 

Half moon party // annoyingly, we arrived two days after the half moon party  so we didn't actually get to experience it. However everyone we met said the half moon is ten times better than full moon party. 

Jungle experience // The jungle experience is worth checking out. The ticket is 300TB plus 200TB for a return taxi. The party is good, set in a jungle with neon and uv light decor. The party starts at 10pm through to 7am. We met up with our dancing pals from Fubar and stayed till 5am. The music was techno house but it got really boring after a while since the DJ didn't actually know how to put  anything different on. It got to the point where the beat was so repetitive we had to leave. The queues for the bars were immense - around 10 people deep. Being quite short and female, it was hard to get served while all these 10 foot testosterone fuelled pricks barged in front. Other than that, the night was an experience and probably something I'd do again. 

Treehouse bar // this is a must do. It was one of my favourite places on Koh Phangan. The bar is located right on Sunset beach and over looks the sea. It's a really nice, chilled out vibe with Thai cushions and hammocks everywhere. The best thing to do is to catch the sunset while rocking in a hammock that hangs you over the shoreline. To make it better, during the day, the bar manages to rastafy any song you can possibly think of. It's so funny. Any song, you name it, they rastafy it. The food here is okay and I wouldn't really suggest going there at night, but we spent a quite a few days here just chilling out. 

Reggae bar // the reggae bar is located on the main road into Koh Phangan. We ended up going there with some guys we'd met on our first night. It was packed out; downstairs and up but we managed to squeeze ourselves in. The bar becomes quite lively at night and offers a pool table and comfy arm chairs. It's not really a pre drinking or a bar you'd go to if you're going partying, you'd go there to have a few with friends and chill out. 

Fubar // as mentioned before, Fubar is so so good and plays good music. It's open till very late and it's a tiny venue, so you get to know everyone pretty well. 

Lapinos // this place does the nicest foooood. We ate here nearly every day and it's dead cheap. It's located on the Main Street down to the beach (just past 711 on the opposite side). They do amazing Israeli food and good toasties. They even sell marmite and toast! I'd recommend trying the Chicken Sharwarma or whatever it's called - it's only 100TB and it will change your life. 

Mellow Mountain // if you want to go out but not on a complete mad one, check out mellow mountain. there's two bars on mellow mountain, and personally I preferred the first one called Dragons bar. During the day, there's a chilled out vibe but this changes completely at night. 

Guys bar and Edens bar // enough said about these two bars, you just have to check them out. 

Islands // unfortunately we didn't have enough time to go to the small islands which are part of the Anthong National Marine park. 

Don't dos

Coral Bungalow pool party // a pool party is held every day at Coral Bungalows. They try and sell you a really good day and night, one of the best in Koh Phangan but in reality, how is that possible when there's one every day? We were going to head over to check it out since they offer a free taxi service there and back. However, everyone we met and spoken to advised us against it, apparently, it's the biggest cock fest ever and it's a waste of time. 

Black moon party // we were going to check this out too but at 300TB plus taxi, we chose jungle experience. Black moon only plays trance. You can make you're own decisions on whether you'd enjoy it or not and I'll end it at that. 

Mopeds // Koh Phangan isn't suited for mopeds. There's a reason why everyone drives round in 4x4 trucks. The roads are steep, pothole ridden and quite dangerous. Unless you want to see the rest of Koh Phangan, not just Haad Rin, there's no actually need for a moped. Apparently, Koh Phangan is notorious for conning tourists when they return their mopeds. We heard repeated stories of people returning their bikes in exact same condition as it were and lenders were making them pay fines for "damage" done to the bikes. Remember, Koh Phangan is largely ruled by the mafia so if you don't pay up, apparently the mafia go after you. If you are insane enough to carry on renting a moped just try to remember to take photos of the bike before you drive off and don't ride it while intoxicated. When we were in the taxi to the jungle experience, 3 guys were off their faces on alcohol and MDMA, (they made it very clear to everyone how much they had had) and were shouting how they were going to pick up their moped to drive back to town. If you saw these guys, well let's say, they couldn't even hold themselves up.