Ko Pha Ngan has swathes of beautiful beaches, great walks, adventurous boat and fishing trips and even kite-boarding. Equally compelling for many is just spending a few weeks in a hammock, watching the sun rise and fall.

Ko Pha Ngan is the second largest island after Samui in the southern Gulf of Thailand, and is around 100km from the mainland. Stretching over an area of 168 sq km, 70% of its topography is mountainous with the remainder beaches and coconut groves.

Over 10,000 people permanently live on the island, with the majority concentrated around Thong Sala. A huge number of migrants also call the island home, so the guy taking your dinner order is as likely to be from Roi Et as Thong Sala. As in the rest of Thailand, most people are Buddhist, but some Muslims live in the village of Baan Tai. The first inhabitants of the island are believed to have been Muslims from Pattani or Malayans from Nakhon Sri Thammarat.

Aside from the tourist trade, the mainstays of the island’s economy are fishing and coconuts. It’s worth knowing that between them, Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Samui produce more than one million coconuts each year for export to Bangkok.

The best time to visit Ko Pha Ngan is during the hot season from January to April. May to December sees the monsoon set in, with poor weather and a quick deterioration in road quality. The crowds thin out then, however, making the island appealing to some travellers.

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