9–11pm: Transport to Koh Phangan
It felt like a dragon was breathing fire on my lower back. We’d been standing at this pier for one hour – an hour longer than expected. Our herd of scantily clad foreigners and expats huddled in collective misery and confusion, desperate for the boat to arrive.
Meant to arrive at 9pm, the boat finally came at about 10.30pm. I didn't understand how the system could be so inefficient when they should be used to transporting big loads of people every month.
We were heading from Koh Samui to the Full Moon Party at Koh Phangan, a famous, ginormous, festival-like party with ten thousand or so tourists dancing on the Koh Phangan beaches each full moon.
My friend and I booked our tickets through a tour agency on the street at about 6pm that day for 1200 baht each, which included the boat return and transfer back to the hotel. It would have included transport to the pier but we booked it too late – I recommend organising your tickets and transport a couple of days in advance. The actual party ticket (bought at the island) was an additional 200 baht. You get a cool wristband from it though.
The boat ride was peaceful. There was a sense of calm and awe in speeding across the vast waters in the dark, like I was floating in space admiring the stars.
After about half an hour, the boat docked; we’d finally made it.
11–11.30pm: Arriving at Koh Phangan
The street was lined with neon painters with big walls of paint-tattoo options, starting from 300 baht per tattoo. We ended up buying our own paint from a small shop and painting each other's arms.
We continued walking toward the beach and reached Haad Rin Walking Street, the road leading up to the beach. The beginning had a section of bars with fantastic music and plenty of groups pre-drinking here. The weathered wooden beams and bamboo accents created a rustic charm that fit the island vibe perfectly. There were different signs with playful, colourful illustrations or island motifs like palm trees, waves, and sunsets. The décor made this area unique and cool.
Moving forward, the street was bustling with food stalls, little markets, massage parlours, tattoo parlours, weed stands… All the components you need for a memorable and potentially dangerous night out.
We started questioning if we were even walking the right way to the beach, but it was just a few more hundred metres more. As we got close to the beach, there were more bars with cool interiors like fluorescent walls, graffiti or bright lights. The energy picked up as everyone crammed into the beach access point, shoulder-to-shoulder.
11.30pm–2am: The Full Moon Party at Haad Rin Beach
Music
Haad Rin beach was filled with thousands of people, there were fire shows, and the music was pumping loud. There were multiple bars and clubs along the beach, each blasting their different music, so you could walk along and find which you vibed to. If you were standing between the bars you might get stuck listening to two sets of contrasting music. It was mostly EDM, house, trance, and drum and bass. We hung out by the club playing pop remix type music. I do think the music could have been better.
Dancing
On the beach, there was no clear pathway for walking, so no matter where you stood on the sand (even when you were right next to the bar or stage), people would constantly be bumping into you to get by, which made it difficult for a sober person to get into the flow – especially when every now and then one of those people would be an out-of-it guy looking at you funny or trying to grab you. The sand was smothered in empty bottles and dirtiness – I suppose it is a trashy party after all.
Once we got onto the stage, it was much more fun to dance freely without worrying about being walked into. We could overlook the crowds hovering in the sand, the dark water rippling as the backdrop, and fire leaping through the sky in the distance. The exotic feeling of partying on a tropical island settled in.
Demographic
The age range was quite diverse; it was mostly young people in their twenties and thirties, but there were plenty of older adults too. There were also a few kids with their parents walking through all the raves (I assume they were already staying at Koh Phangan and decided to check it out). The party is very much open for all.
Safety
I was a little wary because a local European who’d DJed at the Full Moon Party before said it would be so busy with so many high people that local Thai would walk around the beaches effortlessly pickpocketing. He said people had died before and there were sometimes promiscuous activities publicly on the beach. There were indeed some very, very gone individuals who might be vulnerable or do crazy things, but I didn’t see anything too wacky or threatening. It just felt like a festival. I believe these things do happen though.
Taking Advantage of Tourists
Overall, it did feel like local vendors were generally taking advantage of tourists with their sales. For example, a burger might be 350 baht, which is already expensive for Thai prices, but then also have been sitting out in the open for a few hours with insects buzzing around it and a drunk person not processing that. They might inflate prices even more if you seem oblivious. I think it’s natural for this to happen when a humongous crowd of foreigners gather to get wasted, so we indirectly accept it when we choose to join (but it’s still annoying). They’re milking the tourism, but we’re here for it.
2–4am: Leaving the Full Moon Party
There’s a boat heading back to Koh Samui every hour until 5am. Apparently it used to go later so you could watch the sunrise at the beach. We caught the 2am boat back. The pier was also very chaotic and very pushy, with there being multiple docks associated with different companies and no clear signage indicating which pier was which. We finally made it on the boat for another peaceful ride back across the water, eventually reaching our hotel at about 3.30am or 4am with the included transfer.
Conclusion
We were curious to check out the party without really indulging substance-wise, however, I think the “right” way to do it is absolutely to go with a small to medium friend group and to commit to making it a night to remember. The Full Moon Party provides all the ingredients for a fantastic time, and it’s up to you what you bake (or what baking you buy). The tropical location inherently makes the party cool, with the stalls, décor and other stimulus like performances adding to the charm. It’s the type of place where you wake up the next day with 3000 baht cash having mysteriously vanished and a tattoo on your foot of a fish.
