Getting there

By Plane

The closest airport is on Koh Samui, which is connected with Bangkok, Penang, Phuket and Singapore.  But only two airlines are operating from this airport, Bangkok Airways and Thai Airways.  Bangkok airways operates very regular flights from Bangkok taking about 1hour.

Nok Air and Solar Air operate daily flights between Don Mueng Airport Bangkok and Chumphon Airport with a 40 minute transfer to Lomprayah ferry terminal or

Suaratthani Air Port with a short transfer to Donsak Pier, whitch is opperated by Seatrain. The travel time by boat from Donsak to Koh Tao is a bit longer, but the service offered by Seatrain is at a higher level compared to Lomprayah's service. Several airlines which include Air Asia, Nok Air and Thai airways are operating from Surat thani Airport at lower prices and with Air Asia you can book your flight including the ferry ticked and shuttle transport to Donsak Pier.
 

By Train

A less expensive option for travelling from Bangkok to Koh Tao is a sleeper train which departs Bangkok in the evening and arrives in Chumphon between 4:00-5:30 am depending on which train number and then have a ticket booked fro the 07:00 am ferry.  The ferry operators collect people from the train station and take them to the ferry ports, Lomprayah also sells tickets in the train station.

By Bus

The cheapest method of getting to the island from Bangkok is by bus, which most of the ferry companies operating bus departures from the Khaosan road area and departing from Bangkok either early morning or late evening taking approximately 9hours then departing from Chumphon to Koh Tao.

By Boat

From Chumphon

Chumphon is approximately 65km Northwest from Koh Tao, with day and night boats available, transfer time varies depending on which method you choose, the fastest is about 90 minutes with the slowest taking up to 5 hours.

 From Surat Thani

If you are travelling from the south coming from Malaysia or over from Phuket or Krabi you can take ferry boats from Surat Thani taking longer time because it will first stop at Koh Samui then Koh Phangan.  The is also a night boat from Surat departing at 9:00 pm arriving Koh Tao between 6-7:00 am costing 500 baht.