Depth is what makes this trip work. Koh Tan's reefs sit in roughly 2–5 m of water along the island's western and southern shores, shallow enough that a first-time snorkeler floats over live coral instead of squinting down at it. Both islands are close: Koh Tan is about 5 km off Samui's southern tip, a 15-minute boat ride, with Koh Madsum – Pig Island – another ten minutes on. This is a half-day, not a day.
The reef is the reason, not the pigs
The marketing leads with the animals and the water is what people actually remember. Koh Tan is the snorkeling island: clear water, live coral along the west and south shores, and reef sitting in two to five meters. That last number is the whole argument for going here rather than paying more to go further.
Shallow reef changes who can take part. In deep water, snorkeling is a skill – you are diving down or seeing nothing. Over a 3 m reef, floating face-down on the surface is enough, which means a nervous swimmer, a child in a jacket, and someone who has never worn a mask can all get the same view as the confident one in the group. That is unusually forgiving for Thailand's Gulf coast.
Koh Madsum is the shorter, sandier half of the trip: a small island with a beach, and the semi-feral pigs that gave it the working name every operator uses. It is a stop, not a destination. Plan the day around the reef and treat the beach as the part that makes the photographs.
Where the boats leave from, and why the vessel matters
Two departure patterns exist on this route and they produce different days.
Longtail boats run from Thong Krut, the fishing pier on Samui's south coast between Lamai and Taling Ngam, which is the closest launch point to both islands. Speedboats run the same islands with a shorter crossing and usually a wider pickup radius across the island's resorts.
| Longtail from Thong Krut | Speedboat | |
|---|---|---|
| Crossing | slower, low to the water | around 15 minutes |
| Group | small, often private charter | shared, larger |
| Ride quality | wetter, noisier, more atmospheric | drier, faster |
| Best for | two people who want the boat to themselves | families and anyone on a schedule |
| Typical price | charter rate, not per person | about $47–$48 per person |
Book the speedboat if you are more than two people or you have a plan for the afternoon. It compresses the transit and leaves more of the window in the water, which is what you are paying for.
Book a private longtail if the boat is half the appeal. A longtail from Thong Krut is a slower, closer-to-the-sea version of the same route, and on a calm morning it is the better memory even though it is the worse logistics.
One thing neither vessel changes: this is a morning activity. The Gulf picks up wind and chop through the afternoon, and underwater visibility on a shallow reef degrades with it faster than it does in deep water.
What we could not verify about the pigs
Honest gap, because this is the part of the trip most likely to be written about carelessly.
The pigs on Koh Madsum are the island's draw and every tour schedules a beach stop around them. We could not verify who owns or manages the animals, whether feeding them is permitted or discouraged, or what welfare oversight applies, and none of the operator listings consulted state it either.
That is not a reason to skip the stop. It is a reason not to arrive with a bag of food and an assumption. Follow what your guide tells you on the beach, take the animals as a curiosity rather than an attraction to interact with, and let the coral be the reason the trip was worth booking.
Which of the two speedboat trips to book
Two products dominate this route and they are close enough in price that the decision is not financial.
| Pig Island & Koh Tan by speedboat | Lower-cost alternative | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | about $48 | about $47 |
| Platform standing | GetYourGuide's top pick for the route | slightly lower rated |
| Review volume | very high | lower |
Book the top pick. At roughly a dollar apart, the review volume is the only variable that means anything, and on a route where the boat, the guide and the snorkel kit are the entire product, a very high volume of consistent reviews is the closest thing to a guarantee you can buy. The cheaper listing is a reasonable fallback if the date you want is already gone, not a saving worth chasing.
Whichever you book, check two inclusions before you pay: whether snorkeling equipment is provided or rented on the day, and whether lunch is part of the price. Both vary between listings on this route and neither is safe to assume.
Fitting it into a Samui week
This trip's best quality is that it does not consume a day. Out mid-morning, back for a late lunch, and the afternoon is still yours – which is exactly what the island's big day trip is not. If you want the full-day version, Ang Thong Marine Park is 30 km northwest of the island, sells a completely different landscape of limestone and lagoons, and closes from 1 November to 15 December. For the same southern islands with a throttle in your hands instead of a mask on your face, there is the jet ski safari. Prefer the evening to the morning? There is also a full-day sunset cruise to Koh Phangan, or the longer day trip to Koh Tao and Koh Nang Yuan if you want a different island group altogether.
South-coast resorts put you closest to Thong Krut and the shortest crossing; our guides to Koh Samui's private pool villas and swim-up rooms cover which properties sit on that side of the island.
FAQ – Pig Island and Koh Tan snorkeling
Images: Fabio Achilli from Milano, Italy / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0
