Pattaya to Koh Chang: Fastest Route & Ferry

Here’s the good news if you’re starting in Pattaya: you don’t go anywhere near Bangkok. Pattaya sits on the same eastern seaboard as Trat, so the road runs straight down toward the Koh Chang piers without doubling back through the capital. It’s about 270 km and, in practice, a 5–6 hour day once you count the ferry.

Do I have to go through Bangkok? No.

A lot of people assume any island trip means backtracking to Bangkok first. Not from Pattaya. The route heads south and east toward Trat, staying on the coast the whole way, so you skip the capital’s traffic entirely — which is exactly why the Pattaya run can be quicker than the Bangkok one despite both ending at the same ferry. (Starting in Bangkok instead? See our Bangkok to Koh Chang guide.)

One thing to be clear on: there is no boat directly from Pattaya to Koh Chang — for now an overland transfer is the only way. However you travel, the trip is by road down to the Trat-coast pier and then the short car-ferry crossing, so “Pattaya to Koh Chang” always means a land journey plus that one ferry hop, not a sea voyage from Pattaya itself.

The two practical options

Private transfer (fastest, ferry included)

A private car or minivan collects you anywhere in Pattaya, Jomtien or Na Jomtien, drives to the Ao Thammachat pier on the Trat coast and boards the car ferry with you aboard, then continues to your Koh Chang hotel. Door to door it’s around 4 hours including the crossing, with no waiting between connections. The car-ferry ticket is part of the fixed price, you pay the driver on arrival, and there’s no surge for an early or late pickup.

Minibus / shared van (cheaper per seat)

The budget route for one or two travellers is a shared van. Our hotel-to-hotel shared minibus starts from 990 ฿ per person with the ferry included; the cheapest tourist-area minibuses that only run as far as the pier are roughly 400–600 ฿, but then you’re on your own for the ferry ticket and the onward leg on the island. Either way budget 5–6 hours, because of the pickups and the wait at the pier.

Where can I be picked up in Pattaya?

A private transfer is genuinely door to door, so the pickup point is wherever you’re staying — there’s no central meeting spot to find. We collect from across central Pattaya, Jomtien and Na Jomtien, and equally from the quieter ends: Pratumnak Hill, Wong Amat, Naklua and the resorts north towards Bang Lamung. If you’re down past Sattahip or Ban Amphur the driver simply joins the Trat road a little sooner — it can even shave a few minutes off the run. The shared minibus is hotel-to-hotel too, but because it strings several pickups together, where you fall in the collection order affects how long the loop around town takes before the van actually leaves.

What it costs and what’s included

On a private transfer the price is per vehicle, not per head, and the car-ferry crossing is built into it — there’s no separate ticket to buy at the pier and no surcharge for an early-morning or late-evening departure. You see the full fare before you book and pay the driver on arrival, so for a family or a group of friends it usually works out cheaper per person than the same number of shared seats. The shared minibus flips that maths: from 990 ฿ per person with the ferry included, it’s the better deal for one or two travellers. The bare tourist-area minivans that only run as far as the pier (roughly 400–600 ฿) look cheaper still, but the saving shrinks once you add the ferry ticket and sort out the last leg on the island yourself.

How the ferry crossing works

It’s a single ferry for everyone — the same boat carries vehicles and foot passengers together from Ao Thammachat across to Ao Sapparod, so the only real difference is whether you stay in your seat or step out for the crossing. Boats leave every 30–45 minutes from about 06:30 to 19:00 and take 30–45 minutes; since the Centre Point pier closed for good, this is the only crossing in 2026.

• On a private transfer — your car or minivan drives straight onto the ferry and rolls off on the island, so you never leave the vehicle, and the ticket is part of your fare.
• On the shared minibus — you cross as a foot passenger on that same ferry and a connecting minibus meets you on the Koh Chang side to finish the trip. That extra handover is part of why the shared run takes a little longer.

How long does it really take?

Plan on about 4 hours door to door by private transfer and 5–6 hours by shared van. The difference isn’t the distance — it’s the waiting: a private car has no other pickups and times the ferry around you, while the shared service collects multiple groups and runs to a fixed boat schedule. If you’re arriving in Pattaya on an evening flight and want to reach the island the same night, the private transfer is the safer bet for catching the last crossing — and if you do miss it, there are guesthouses in Trat, about 25 km back from the pier, from around 400 ฿.

One seasonal note worth planning around: in the high season (roughly November to April) the ferries run frequently and a same-day arrival is easy whatever the hour you set off. In the low-season months the crossings thin out earlier in the evening and the Trat road sees more rain, so it’s wise to leave Pattaya in the morning rather than after lunch. Either way, tell us your timings and we’ll set the pickup so you reach the pier with room to spare for the last realistic boat.