The Easiest Way To Get To Koh Lipe, Thailand (via Langkawi)!
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One of my favourite places in Thailand is the island of Koh Lipe in the far south of the country. In all honesty, it’s a bit of a pain to get to, but it’s worth the trip! When doing my research, I decided the easiest way to get to Koh Lipe was from Malaysia! So here’s my guide on how to get to Koh Lipe from Langkawi and why I think it’s worth doing it this way!
How To Get To Koh Lipe
In This Guide
Langkawi to Koh Lipe
Despite loving islands, I have a strong dislike ferries/boats. The Koh Lipe journey can sometimes be quite rough, and I didn’t think I could stomach this for 3+ hours on some of the Thai routes!
Instead, I found it easier to combine Koh Lipe with my visit to Malaysia, as the ferry crossing from Langkawi is only 90 minutes.
To reach Langkawi, you can easily get domestic flights from the likes of Kuala Lumpur or Penang. There are multiple departures a day, and the flight with Air Asia only cost me £15 each way.
There are 2 different ferry ports in Langkawi, so when arranging travel, make sure you are aware which one you will be departing from. I decided to go from Kuah Jetty, as there were more accommodation options and things to do around the port. The other is from Telaga Harbour Marina.
Grab is readily available in Langkawi. The journey from Langkawi airport to Kuah was approximately 24 Ringgit (£4.20) and takes around 20 minutes.
Rather than using Langkawi as a hopping point, I stayed at the Ramada by Wyndham Langkawi Marina* hotel, which was a short walk from the marina. A big selling point for me was the swimming pool with sea views and breakfast is also included within the room rate. It’s well worth checking out the nearby Legenda Park too, it was one of my highlights in Langkawi.
Getting The Ferry
I booked my ferry tickets in advance through 12Go Asia with Bundhaya Ferries*. On the e-ticket it gives you all the information about how to find the check-in counter at the port. You do have to arrive early, as there’s a bit of a process and you will need to pass through Malaysian immigration to leave the country.
The check-in counter is upstairs in the port. You show the e-ticket, they then scan your passport and give you a sticker for any luggage you have and one for yourself. You will also need to make sure you fill in the online Thai arrivals form. This can be done up to 3 days in advance.
I took the first departure of the day and not much was open in the morning. For example, Starbucks opens at 8am but 7eleven doesn’t open until 9am, so many people grabbed a coffee while waiting.
Once you have checked in, you need to go downstairs to the international departures area. Here you will go across the Malaysian border and get ‘stamped out’. Before you board the ferry, they then take away your passport which is a weird feeling. The next time you see it is on the beach in Thailand!
The ferry is a ‘proper’ enclosed ferry that felt like it would be quite robust in a rough crossing…The seats are big and squishy, similar to coach seats but they aren’t assigned, it’s a free for all as to where you want to sit. If you board last, you won’t have much choice. I would recommend sitting close to the boarding doors, just so you can be processed quicker in arrival in Thailand. (I made the mistake of sitting near the back…).
They even have a safety demonstration on a TV like an airplane! Sick bags hang from the ceiling and there is a toilet on-board.
As mentioned above, the ferry crossing is approximately 90 minutes. I lucked out and had smooth crossings in both directions.
Arrival in Koh Lipe
When you arrive into Koh Lipe, the ferry can not dock at the beach. You are then shuttled to a floating jetty in a long tail boat. You can take your ‘hand luggage’ bags (my 30L backpack and my Uniqlo bag were fine to stay with me), but larger backpacks and suitcases were taken in a separate boat and then piled up on the beach.
The immigration office is located on Pattaya Beach. You join a line at a hut, state your nationality and they shuffle through the passports to find one that looks like you. Next you join a second line and they stamp you into Thailand.
You have to go up at another counter and pay the 200 Baht National Park fee. If you don’t have any Thai Baht, you can pay the fee in Malaysian Ringgits. There are ATMs near the jetty to withdraw cash if you need it on arrival.
Depending on your accommodation, someone may be there to collect you. I stayed at the Lipe Garden Beach Resort* and they collected me with a little scooter thing! There are no cars on Koh Lipe, so you either need to walk everywhere or get on one of the scooters.
Koh Lipe To Langkawi
I then did the same journey in reverse from Koh Lipe back to Langkawi. Many people I spoke to on longer trips had travelled down through Thailand and then were exiting to continue their travels into Malaysia. This avoids then needing to do another 3 hour return trip to continue travelling domestically in Thailand!
As I used to same company to go back to Langkawi. I went back to the same little hut at the jetty, where they gave me stickers again PLUS a boarding card with a number on. You then go back to the immigration counter where they stamp you out and then keep your passport.
Luggage is left at the end of the floating pier and once again, the biggest bags are taken to the ferry on a separate boat. There’s not always a huge amount of shade (depending on the time of day), there is a coffee shop and some toilets that you need coins to use, but that’s all. You have to wait for your number to be called as they load up the long tail boats in batches.
About half way through the ferry journey, one of the boat guys comes round with a giant stack of passports and shouts out by nationality. Here you literally just shout back, he gives you the whole pile and then you have to search through them all until you find your own. There was a massive pile of German passports, so the people next to me had a field day, but there was only me and 2 others that had British passports!
When entering Malaysia, similar to Thailand, you need to fill out the Malaysian digital arrivals card up to 3 days in advance. The staff on the boat do ask if you have filled it out. I had already filled out mine a couple of days before. I was using an Airalo regional eSim for Asia*, which covered Thailand AND Malaysia, so I was without data for only around 15 minutes, so could have done it on the ferry if I had forgotten.
Other people didn’t realise one was required, and were scrambling around to find people with data to fill it in. When arriving in Malaysia, there is a 7eleven at the port and they sell sim cards, but it is AFTER immigration.
When the ferry docks, you then pass through Malaysian immigration again (in an actual building this time, not on the beach!) and they scan your luggage as you leave.
As I had mobile data straight away I then got a Grab to Pantai Cenang, where I then spent a few days, before leaving Langkawi. The Grab to the main beach area cost around 27 Ringgits (£4.70).
Alternative Routes From Thailand
If you don’t go to or from Malaysia, popular domestic routes are from the Phi Phi Islands and Koh Lanta. These have journey times of over 3 hours though. One family I spoke to had also come directly from Koh Ngai (I LOVED Koh Ngai).
The closest pier in Thailand would be Pak Bara, which is also 90 minutes by ferry. However the nearest airports to Pak Bara are either Hat Yai International Airport, which is almost 2 hours away from the pier, or Trang airport, which is 1 hour 30. So this route can be a bit of a pain to reach, despite having a short ferry crossing.
If you don’t mind the long ferry crossings, a pro to these routes are that you are then travelling domestically, rather than needing to doing international border crossings. This way, you then don’t need to arrive at the piers quite so early, and when you do arrive you can just grab your bags and go, rather than needing to stand at immigration.
The domestic boats were also more like open air speed boats, so I don’t know how enjoyable these would be if they were raining. (I did a speed boat day trip from Ao Nang to Phi Phi in a storm and it was horrendous, I was drenched and I thought we were going to capsize as it was smashing in to the waves).
Something worth noting is that during the rainy season (June – August), timetables and departures to Koh Lipe are a lot less frequent on some routes, due to the potential rough seas.
You can find all the different options by searching on 12Go Asia*. I have used this platform several times now for ferries, buses and taxis in Southeast Asia and it’s convenient for seeing the different routes and prices!
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About the Author – Kylie
My travels have taken me to over 50 countries worldwide (& I lived in USA for 4yrs). I hold a BTEC National Diploma in Travel & Tourism (triple distinction) and have been writing on Between England & Everywhere since 2015.
Expert in: Adventure travel🎢, beach destinations🏖️, and packing light (mid-budget backpacker)🎒