Boat rental in Koh Samui

Boat rental in Koh Samui starts at ฿15,900 for half a day on a 29 ft speedboat for ten and at ฿30,000 for a private speedboat trip to the islands. The 19 boats below take 8 to 37 guests, all with a captain. Here is how trip, day and half-day prices compare and what the island routes cost.

What you hire: a whole boat with a captain

Every boat in this section is a private hire that comes with its own captain, and the 19 boats split into two clear groups: speedboats and larger motorboats or power boats.

What a booking covers

Hiring a boat here means the whole boat and its captain for your group, not a seat on a shared island tour. The Rent-Trip section on this page brings together 19 speedboats and motorboats, and the island's market offers them in four working modes: with a captain, by the hour, by the half or full day, and per trip to a named island. Self-drive is not one of them — rental companies describe every motorboat as captain-only, and none of the 19 is offered without crew. So boat rental in Koh Samui is always a package of hull, captain and route. The cards use three units: per trip, per day and per half day. Before you shortlist, check which of the three a price is quoted in, because the same figure means very different things in each.

Twin-engine speedboats for 8 to 37 guests

Fourteen of the 19 are speedboats, and ten of the eleven with a stated engine set-up run two engines. Anda carries two 200 hp Yamaha, Pearl two 200 hp Suzuki, Summer Casa two 250 hp Yamaha on a 14-metre hull, and Sapphire, Ti Ti and Ofcourse two 300 hp Mercury Verado each. Seating runs from 8 on Ruby 38 to 37 on Neverland, the largest speedboat here, and Walee is fitted out for diving with 22 seats. Per-trip prices start at ฿30,000 (Amber and Anda) and top out at ฿47,000 (Neverland). The only single-engine hull, the 8.8-metre Custom Made Motorboat 29 ft with 200 hp, is also the only one sold by the half day. For a group that wants to reach an island and be back the same afternoon, start with this group.

Power boats and larger motorboats

The other five are motorboats and power boats, and four of them are priced by the day rather than per trip. The SEAT SB399, 12.2 metres for 15 guests, starts at ฿41,500 a day; the Custom Made Mai, 10.7 metres with 25 seats, at ฿19,300. Two power boats have a cabin each: the Jeanneau Power Boat 39 ft takes 8 guests, is rated at 43 knots and starts at ฿80,500, while the Sport Cruiser Power Boat 42 ft takes 20, is rated at 35 knots and starts at ฿40,200. The Gulf Craft 36 is the exception, sold per trip from ฿30,000 for up to 15 people. The higher prices in this group mostly buy a cabin and speed — decide whether your route needs either, because a short hop to a nearby island does not.

The 19 boats by group

Trip, day and half-day prices

Three price units appear on the 19 cards — per trip, per day and per half day — and the same figure can mean very different value depending on the unit and the hours behind it.

Starting prices by unit

Where trip prices cluster

Nine of the 13 trip-priced boats start at ฿38,000 or less, and the whole group fits inside a band of ฿17,000. Three share the floor of ฿30,000 — Amber, Anda and the Gulf Craft 36 — and six sit between ฿35,000 and ฿38,000: Sapphire, Watinee, Ti Ti, Coco Cay, Pearl and Summer Casa. Only four start at ฿40,000 or above, namely Ofcourse and Ruby 38 at ฿40,000, Walee at ฿42,000 and Neverland at ฿47,000. The average start across the 13 is about ฿36,850. Such a narrow spread means the starting figure rarely decides the choice on its own; the destination and the hours do. (Split across 15 guests, a ฿2,000 gap is about ฿130 each.) If two speedboats differ by ฿2,000 to ฿3,000, compare seats and trip length first, because those differences are worth more than the gap in price.

Four hours or eight for the same money

A trip price says little until you know its length: Summer Casa and Pearl both start at ฿38,000 for Koh Tan and Koh Madsum, but Summer Casa's trip lasts 4 hours and Pearl's lasts 8. That works out at ฿9,500 an hour against ฿4,750. The pattern repeats on the Koh Phangan run, where Anda asks ฿30,000 for 8 hours (฿3,750 an hour) and Ofcourse ฿40,000 for the same 8 hours (฿5,000). Summer Casa is the longer hull, 14 metres against 12, with 500 hp in total, so part of its premium is the hull rather than the time. For any speedboat charter in Koh Samui, the single most useful question is how many hours the trip includes — and the answer belongs next to the price on every quote you put side by side.

Day and half-day rates

Five hulls carry a daily price, from ฿19,300 for the Custom Made Mai to ฿80,500 for the Jeanneau Power Boat 39 ft, with ฿40,200 in the middle. Between them sit the Custom Built 39 at ฿35,300, the Sport Cruiser Power Boat 42 ft at ฿40,200 and the SEAT SB399 at ฿41,500. The Jeanneau stands apart, at roughly twice the next daily rate, because it is a fast power boat rather than a passenger speedboat. Half-day hire comes down to the Custom Made Motorboat 29 ft, at ฿15,900 for ten people, while a half-day private speedboat elsewhere on the island starts at about ฿24,900. A "day" is not always eight hours, and at least one of the five daily prices may cover a shorter slot, so ask how many hours it includes before setting it against a trip price.

Seats and the price per guest

Seat count is the first filter for most groups, and dividing the price by the seats shows which boats are cheap per person and which are cheap only per boat.

Boats by group size

Price per guest on a full boat

The cheapest boats per person are the big ones: Neverland costs about ฿1,270 a head when all 37 seats are filled, Sapphire about ฿1,460 for 24 and Ti Ti ฿1,500 for 24. Ofcourse, with the same 24 seats at ฿40,000, comes to about ฿1,670. At the other end, Ruby 38 takes 8 people for ฿40,000, which is ฿5,000 each, and the Jeanneau Power Boat 39 ft works out at about ฿10,060 per guest for a day. Among the daily boats, the Custom Made Mai is the outlier in the opposite direction, at about ฿770 a head for 25. These are full-load figures, though. A party of 12 on Neverland pays about ฿3,920 each — three times the full-boat figure — so run the division with your real headcount, not with the boat's maximum.

Couples and small groups

Six boats take ten guests or fewer, and for a couple or a family the whole boat is still the unit of sale. The lowest entry is the Custom Made Motorboat 29 ft at ฿15,900 for half a day. Among hulls built for ten or fewer, the cheapest start is ฿38,000 on Coco Cay or Summer Casa — yet the 12-seat Anda and the 14-seat Amber start lower, at ฿30,000, so a small group gains nothing by limiting itself to small boats. Ruby 38 and the Jeanneau Power Boat 39 ft both cap the party at 8. A private speedboat in Koh Samui for four people costs the same as for ten, so an empty seat simply means more room on deck. If price matters more than speed, the half-day option or a 4-hour trip is the realistic way in.

Islands within reach and what a route costs

Most private boats from the island are booked for a day among the nearby islands, and route prices show how much the destination adds before any marine park fees.

Route prices for a twin-engine boat

Ang Thong Marine Park by private boat

A private twin-engine boat for up to 25 people costs about ฿30,000 per trip to Ang Thong Marine Park, an archipelago of 44 islands, and that figure does not include park fees. The park is the classic day out by sea from Samui, and a private hire lets the group set its own stops and pace instead of following a shared tour. The route price lands exactly on the floor of the cards here: Amber, Anda and the Gulf Craft 36 also start at ฿30,000, while Neverland's ฿47,000 is spread across 37 seats. For 20 people, a 24-seat hull such as Sapphire or Ti Ti at ฿35,000–36,000 is the natural match. Since fees come on top, ask for their amount with the quote, so the full cost of an Ang Thong speedboat charter is known before the day.

Koh Tan, Koh Madsum and Koh Phangan

Koh Tan is the cheapest route on the scale at ฿17,000, and the trip cards here pair it with Koh Madsum: Summer Casa covers the two islands in 4 hours from ฿38,000, Pearl in 8 hours for the same starting price. Koh Phangan costs about ฿29,000 as a route, and two cards price an 8-hour Phangan trip directly — Anda from ฿30,000 and Ofcourse from ฿40,000. The distance between route and card figures comes from the hull: ฿17,000 buys a standard twin-engine boat, not a 14-metre speedboat with 500 hp. Public boats to Phangan also leave from Bang Rak pier, so what a private hire really adds there is control over timetable and stops. Is that worth ฿29,000 or more? For a group that wants a quiet beach and an early return, often yes.

Koh Tao and the long runs

Koh Tao is the most expensive route on the scale at about ฿35,000 per trip, ฿18,000 more than Koh Tan and ฿5,000 more than Ang Thong. Khanom, on the mainland coast, falls in between at ฿26,000. The longer the run, the more engine power and seating comfort matter: Sapphire, Ti Ti and Ofcourse, each with two 300 hp engines and 24 seats, start at ฿35,000–40,000, close to the Koh Tao route figure itself. Walee, the dive speedboat for 22, starts at ฿42,000 and is the obvious pick for a group that plans to spend the day in the water rather than on a beach. A long crossing leaves less slack for delays, so for Koh Tao ask for the duration and the planned return time in writing before you pay.

Why boats of the same length cost so differently

Length is a weak guide to price in this section: most of the boats measure about 12 metres, yet their starting prices range from ฿30,000 per trip to ฿80,500 per day.

Eight hulls of twelve metres

Eight of the 13 boats with a stated length measure 12.0 to 12.2 metres, and they cover almost the whole price scale. Anda starts at ฿30,000 per trip, Sapphire at ฿35,000, Ti Ti at ฿36,000, Pearl at ฿38,000 and Ofcourse at ฿40,000; among the daily hulls of the same size, the Sport Cruiser Power Boat 42 ft asks ฿40,200, the SEAT SB399 ฿41,500 and the Jeanneau Power Boat 39 ft ฿80,500. Seating at this length runs from 8 on the Jeanneau to 24 on Sapphire, Ti Ti and Ofcourse. At the ends of the length scale, the 8.8-metre Custom Made Motorboat 29 ft also carries the lowest price, ฿15,900 for half a day, while the 14-metre Summer Casa, at ฿38,000 per trip, sits mid-scale. When two offers show the same length, read the class, unit and seat count first.

Engines from twin 200s to twin 300s

More engine power does not raise the price here; it mostly buys seats. Sapphire, Ti Ti and Ofcourse each run two 300 hp Mercury Verado engines, take 24 people and start at ฿35,000 to ฿40,000 per trip. Pearl, with two 200 hp Suzuki, takes 15 and starts at ฿38,000 — more than Sapphire on 200 hp less. Anda, also on two 200 hp engines, carries 12 from ฿30,000, and Summer Casa sits in between with two 250 hp Yamaha. The Custom Built 39 pairs two 200 hp engines with only 10 seats at ฿35,300 a day, and the Custom Made Motorboat 29 ft makes do with a single 200 hp unit. Read power as a sign of how many people a hull carries at speed and how far it can go in a day, not as a mark of luxury.

Speed, a cabin and a newer hull

The Jeanneau Power Boat 39 ft and the Sport Cruiser Power Boat 42 ft are both two years old with one cabin each, yet the Jeanneau costs twice as much per day — ฿80,500 against ฿40,200. The difference is speed and space: the Jeanneau is rated at 43 knots for 8 guests, the Sport Cruiser at 35 knots for 20. For a large group the slower hull is the better buy; for a couple who want to cover distance fast, the Jeanneau is built for it. Age moves the price far less. Amber, a brand-new twin-engine speedboat for 14, starts at the ฿30,000 floor, while the Custom Made Motorboat 29 ft, about seven years old, has the lowest starting price of all. Treat the build year as a comfort detail rather than a price driver.

Captain, weather and comparing two offers

The last checks before booking cover who is at the helm, which months bring the most rain, and how to read two different prices for what looks like the same boat.

Captain-only hire and the licence question

Every motorboat in this section is hired with a captain, and that is how rental companies on the island state the rule: captain mandatory, no hire without crew. For the guest this settles the licence question before it comes up — the requirement attached to these boats is the captain, not a boating licence held by whoever books. It also shapes the day itself, since the route, stops and return time are agreed with the captain, which is why the hours on a card matter as much as the price. One detail the cards do not give is crew size: none of the 19 says whether the captain works alone or with a deckhand. For groups of 20 or more, ask that directly, because a second pair of hands makes boarding and swim stops easier.

Dry months and wet months

February to April are the driest months on Koh Samui, and October to December the wettest, with November peaking at 444.6 mm of rain. For a sea trip the calendar matters more than for most rentals, because a lost day at sea cannot be moved onto the road. The cards show one starting price per hull with no seasonal split, so treat those figures as floors for any date rather than as low-season deals. The dry months are the natural window for the long runs to Koh Tao and Ang Thong, while a 4-hour trip to Koh Tan is easier to fit between showers in the wet season. If your dates fall between October and December, keep a second day free in your plan and ask how a cancellation for weather is handled before you pay anything.

One boat, two starting prices

The same boat can carry two starting prices, and the gap is not small. Neverland shows ฿47,000 on its card, while another offer for the same boat starts at ฿38,000. The SEAT SB399 appears at ฿41,500 a day and also from ฿32,000; Ti Ti from ฿36,000 and from ฿40,000; the Gulf Craft 36 from ฿30,000 and from ฿36,000. Seat counts can differ too: Sapphire is offered for up to 24 guests from ฿40,000 and elsewhere for 17 to 20 guests from ฿35,000 or ฿39,000. One speedboat even spans ฿38,000 to ฿62,000 depending on the trip. None of this means a price is wrong — a starting figure belongs to a particular trip, date and set of inclusions. Compare offers by name, seats, hours and what the price covers before comparing totals.

What to put in a boat request

• Date and hours: give the exact date and how many hours you want on the water, so a trip price and a daily rate can be compared.
• Headcount: state the full number of guests, children included, because seat limits on these boats run from 8 to 37.
• Route: name the islands you want to reach and ask whether marine park fees are inside the price or added on top.
• Captain and crew: ask whether the captain works alone or with a deckhand, especially on boats for 20 guests or more.
• Exact boat: name the speedboat or motorboat from the cards on this page and ask whether the quote is for that hull or a similar one.

Key points before you book a boat

Five figures to keep in mind

• Trip price: the 13 trip-priced boats start between ฿30,000 and ฿47,000, and nine of them start at ฿38,000 or less.
• Trip length: a 4-hour and an 8-hour trip can both start at ฿38,000, which means ฿9,500 against ฿4,750 an hour.
• Price per guest: a full Neverland works out at about ฿1,270 a head, a full Ruby 38 at ฿5,000.
• Routes: a private twin-engine boat costs from ฿17,000 to Koh Tan to ฿35,000 to Koh Tao, with park fees extra at Ang Thong.
• Captain: every boat comes with a captain, so the useful questions are about hours, route and crew rather than a licence.