Cycling on Thailand's Islands

Some Thai islands are lovely on a bicycle and some are a bad idea. The short answer: Koh Yao Noi is the best of them, Koh Lanta works if you pick your hours, Koh Kood and Koh Mak are pleasant and small, and Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao and Koh Chang are variations on the theme of one steep hill after another with fast traffic and no shoulder. Phuket is not an island for cycling in any meaningful sense; it is a province with a bridge.

This is written for the holiday cyclist deciding whether to hire a bike for a day or two, with a section at the end for the tourer who wants to get a loaded bicycle onto a ferry. The recurring mistake is assuming that an island is small and therefore easy. Thai islands are volcanic-looking lumps with a road that goes over the lumps, and gradients on the interior roads are frequently steeper than anything on the mainland outside the northern mountains.

• Best island for cyclingKoh Yao Noi
• Hardest to rideKoh Chang and Koh Phangan
• Riding windowBefore 09:00, or after 16:00
• FerriesAlmost all will carry a bicycle

The islands worth riding

Koh Yao Noi. The pick of them by a distance. It sits in Phang Nga bay between Phuket and Krabi, it is comparatively flat, the coastal lanes are quiet, and the island has stayed low-key in a way that its neighbours have not. You can circle it in a morning, there are rubber plantations and rice fields and almost no traffic, and bicycle hire is easy — several operators will deliver a mountain bike to your accommodation for the day. Koh Yao Yai, next door, is bigger and hillier but rideable, and a small ferry runs between the two.

Koh Lanta. Long and thin with a main road running its length, which is the right shape for a bicycle. It rolls rather than climbs for most of its length, though the southern end towards Mu Ko Lanta National Park is steeper and the interior roads are steep enough to walk. Traffic on the main road is moderate and mostly slow. Ride early: by mid-morning it is hot and there is little shade on the road itself. Bikes hire from guesthouses across the island.

Koh Kood and Koh Mak, in the Trat archipelago near the Cambodian border. Koh Mak is small, largely flat and has almost no traffic — close to ideal for an unhurried loop. Koh Kood is bigger and hillier with a good sealed road; the hills are real but short. Koh Sukorn and the small Trang islands are genuinely flat, genuinely quiet, and almost never mentioned.

The islands that are hard work

Koh Samui. The ring road, Route 4169, circles the island and is maintained as a highway. That sounds promising and it is not: the road carries fast traffic including minivans and pickups, it has little or no shoulder for much of its length, and the sections through the interior and along the southern coast are steep. Samui's residents who cycle do it at dawn, on the flatter northern stretch towards Nathon, and then stop. The hills inland are steep enough that hire scooters struggle with two people on them, which tells you what they will do to a bicycle. Read renting a motorbike on Koh Samui for the terrain picture.

Koh Phangan. Worse. The island's interior roads include some of the steepest sealed gradients in Thailand — steep enough that hire companies exclude certain roads from their cover — and the ride between the main beaches involves climbing every time.

Koh Tao. Small, and almost entirely vertical. The road between Sairee and the eastern bays is a wall in both directions. It is a walking-and-boat island rather than a cycling one.

Koh Chang. Beautiful and genuinely mountainous — the high point is over 700 metres — with a road down each coast that does not connect around the southern end. The west coast hills are steep, sustained and famous for putting inexperienced scooter riders in hospital; the descents are worse than the climbs. Strong riders enjoy it precisely because it is hard, but it is not a casual bike-hire island. See renting a motorbike on Koh Chang.

Phuket. Large, hilly, and threaded by busy roads. There is good riding in the interior and along the quieter east coast, and a small road cycling scene, but it is not somewhere to hire a bicycle casually. The descents into Patong and Kata are where the accident statistics come from — driving in Phuket covers the terrain.

Quick comparison

Getting a bike onto a ferry

This is easier than almost anyone expects. Thai boats carry bicycles routinely and the process is informal.

• Vehicle ferries — the Koh Chang, Koh Samui and Koh Lanta car ferries take bicycles without fuss, usually for a small fee or none at all. Wheel it on with the vehicles; see taking a vehicle on a Thai island ferry.
• Passenger ferries and slow boats — bicycles go on the roof, in the bow or in the cargo area. Take the panniers off and carry them with you, and be present when it is loaded.
• Longtails and small local boats — will take a bike, laid flat or across the bow. Expect to lift it yourself and expect it to get wet.
• Speedboats — the awkward one. Some will refuse, some will strap it to the back, and it is the transfer most likely to damage a bicycle.

Salt water is the real cost. Anything that travels by boat here comes off with salt spray on it, and a week later the chain and cables know about it. Rinse and re-lube after every crossing.

Riding the island roads

Island traffic has its own character. There are more scooters and fewer lorries, more of the scooters are ridden by tourists who have never ridden one before, and roads near beaches are covered in blown sand that behaves like ball bearings on a bend — the problem is described in sand and gravel on Thailand's coastal roads. Dogs sleep on the warm tarmac and do not move.

The heat is worse on the islands than inland, because the humidity is higher and there is less shade on coastal roads than there is under the trees up-country. Ride before nine, and treat any midday plan as optimistic; see cycling in Thailand's heat and humidity.

And the general road habits still apply: keep left, expect motorbikes on both sides and coming towards you on your side, and light yourself properly. How to cycle safely in Thai traffic covers it.

Frequently asked questions