The Mu Ko Ang Thong Marine Park is located just off the island of Ko Samui. Marking an archipelago of 42 individual islands, the Ang Thong marine park offers many areas to explore, along with some neat geographic features. We visited the Ang Thong Marine Park on a day journey from Ko Samui, taking in a solid swim, several beaches, a kayak and several viewpoints along with a hike up 450m in elevation. Read on to see how you can make the most out of a visit to this region.

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This post is one chapter on a trip with my 82 yr old mom from Canada to Singapore. For informaton on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Air Canada Aeroplan and Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. For parts of the trip, please see this index.

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Island Hopping and Hiking in Mu Ko Ang Thong Marine Park, Thailand

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During our visit in Ko Samui – Thailand, I wanted to get out and visit a few of the local attractions. That manifested in a day trip from a W Ko Samui out to Mu Ko Ang Thong Marine Park for a full day of island hopping.

About Ang Thong Marine Park:

Ang Thong Marine Park is a national Marine Park consisting of an archipelago of 42 islands spanning 102 km at the shore of the Surat Thani province west of Ko Samui. Islands cover about 18 km² of the park. The park consists of steep limestone hills sinkhole caves and inland marine lakes, which makes for a scenic visit.

Booking a Visit to Ang Thong Marine Park:

It’s helpful to visit Mu Ko Ang Thong Marine Park on a scheduled tour. While you won’t get the complete experience of a private boat charter, it is the most cost effective method to visit the islands.

Since there are so many islands, you’re likely to connect between a few of them on any day trip. Our visit to Mu Ko Ang Thong Marine Park was booked through the tour desk at the W Ko Samui. The rate was 2,600 Thai baht or US$71 per person. Our rate of included return transfers, a light breakfast, a full lunch, free flow waters and soft drinks.

Getting to Mu Ko Ang Thong Marine Park:

Our tour day started at about 7:30 AM. We picked up a quick breakfast at the W before setting off, since we didn’t know when our first lunch was going to be scheduled. I ate fairly lightly as I didn’t know how rough the seas were going to be.

After a short twenty minute drive over to the harbour, we hopped in to the boat launch reception. We had to pay a small fee for access to the national park entrance fees.

During our time at the tour reception, we had a brief explanation of our scheduled itinerary which followed this picture below. The day would start off with a little bit of snorkelling at the north end of the marine park, followed by a beach viewpoint at Talay Nai followed by some kayaking down at Angthong. Lunch was scheduled for the last stop of the day, with the optional mountain climb for those iconic postcard use.

We had a smooth ride over to our first stop. The trip was approximately one hour and surprisingly, the ocean was free of waves. While I had taken motion sickness pills, I didn’t actually end up needing them. My only comment was that the ride over was on an industrial type boat that was absent of many outer decks, making the trip over a little institutional in nature.

It’s always good to get a little perspective on the island of Ko Samui. We had a great shoreline views departing Ko Samui, where we got to see a glimpse of the property development that is occurring up the hilly slopes of the island.

Koh Wao Yai Snorkeling:

We arrived up to our first stop at Mu Ko Ang Thong Marine Park after about an hour of travel. Our boat set anchor at Koh Wao Yai, which was a small grouping of islands at the north end of the and Thorne Marine Park.

Admittedly, we’ve been pretty darn spoiled with trips through the maldives, Mauritius, French Polynesia, the Red Sea in Egypt and CG. We’ve had some pretty spectacular snorkelling throughout the world.

Regretfully, this particular snorkelling spot wasn’t all that interesting. I’d even categorize this more as a “swim”, than a “snorkel”. The visibility was pretty thin and mostly obscured. It was even less exciting than snorkelling that we had had near Ko Phi Phi Don.

However, we did enjoy a very picturesque bay while we hung out for a swim in the water. The swim was at just the right temperature and allowed us to cool off a little bit from the ride out.

Ko Mae Ko Island:

After we finished about an hours’ worth of swimming, we came straight through the island in the centre of the park. We navigated through to Ko Mai Ko Island for a dock landing. We had a small beach waiting for us, marking an idillic island experience.

Ko Mae Ko Island is known for one of the most picturesque freshwater lakes in Thailand. There is a trail up to several viewpoints to allow for a great view. We tackled the trip up in short order with a 45 minute stuff planned.

After a short 10 to 15 minute climb up some uneven stairs, we found our self at the wonderful viewpoint of the freshwater lake. The government of Thailand has walled off access to the lake and as a result it can’t be accessed or swim in. It had a pristine and still look to it.

Given our remote location, there wasn’t a lot of cell phone service on the islands. At some points the coverage points were marked with these convenience signs.

We killed off the rest of our visit to Ko Mae Ko Island with some time hanging out on the beach. The beach was a short one in length but it was anchored at each end by buy some creative rock formations.

Ko Wua Tu Lap:

Our last stop of the day was at Ko Wua Tu Lap. We spent about two and a half hours here, including the day’s lunch break. We were given an opportunity for both climbing and kayaking along with resting on the beach. This was the most popular spot of our trip and consequently the most crowded.

We disembarked from the boat on the water dock and wandered ashore. The beach setting was all the beauty that you’d expect a Thailand beach to be.

We are encouraged to do a little kayaking at the beginning. As a result we decided to get onto the water in our two person kayak.

We set up for a short paddle along the shoreline says led by our guide. The current was taking us a little bit of ways and it took a bit more effort to paddle back the way we came.

Climbing the Pha Jun Juras Nature Trail:

On the island, we were given the opportunity to climb the Pha Jun Juras Nature Trail. It was described as a 500 m climb up. We located the trailhead which was shortly inland.

We started climbing up towards the viewpoint in the heat of the day which was at least 33°. I probably should have packed something more substantial than Teva sandals for this claim and it was quite straining especially after having a massive lunch. Of the five viewpoints we ended up at the fourth one before calling it a day.

As we climbed higher and higher, we got views of the beautiful limestone mountains through this wonderful Island Park. It was exactly what you expect from Southeast Asia and perhaps some areas in the Philippines through a very beautiful corner of the world.

My Thoughts on Visiting the Mu Ko Ang Thong Marine Park:

It’s easy to spend your whole beach holiday relaxing at your resort.

By visiting the marine park, we were able to get out and enjoy some of Thailands’ beautiful islands. While it wasn’t the most serene or peaceful experience, it marked for a beautiful day with fabulous scenery.

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If you’ve visited the Mu Ko Ang Thong Marine Park, did you have any suggestions or recommendations ?

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