Koh Pha-ngan tide times

The Full Moon Party at Hat Rin Nok occurs monthly on the night of the full moon, which coincides with the spring tide period. At Koh Pha-ngan, spring high water runs 2.0–2.5 m above Chart Datum. Moonrise in the Gulf of Thailand at full moon typically occurs near local sunset (18:30–19:00), and the predicted high water on full-moon nights often falls in the early evening — meaning the party starts on a rising or near-high tide. Hat Rin Nok can narrow to 10–15 m of dry sand at high spring water. By the early hours of the morning, as the ebb runs, the beach widens to 35–45 m. The spring tide does not change the event, but it does change how much beach is available in the first few hours. Check the tide prediction for Hat Rin on the party date.

Thong Sala is the main pier and transport hub on Koh Pha-ngan's west coast. To Thong Nai Pan Noi and Thong Nai Pan Yai: songthaew (shared pickup truck) from Thong Sala pier, 45–60 minutes on a rough but passable road, ~150 THB/person. To Bottle Beach (Hat Khuat): longtail boat from Had Salad pier or Chaloklum pier on the north coast, 15–20 minutes. Boat access to Bottle Beach is tidal-sensitive — at low spring the sand bar across the bay entrance is shallow and longtail boats may anchor offshore with a wade of 10–20 m. Check the predicted low-water time before planning a late-afternoon boat departure back to Chaloklum. At high water the approach is straightforward.

Spring range at Koh Pha-ngan is 2.0 to 2.5 m above Chart Datum; neap range is 0.5 to 0.8 m. The regime is mixed diurnal — on most days outside the equinox periods there is one dominant high and one dominant low per 24 hours. On a purely diurnal day, the tide turns once in each direction over 24 hours rather than 12.4. During neap periods (May–August in the Gulf summer), the daily swing can fall below 0.5 m — beach width changes minimally. On the north coast beaches (Thong Nai Pan, Bottle Beach), the wide tidal flats mean the difference between high and low spring water is 50–60 m of beach exposure. On the sheltered west coast (Thong Sala, Ban Tai), the tidal signature is similar in range but the beach gradient is lower, so the waterline moves less dramatically.

Predictions on this page are from Open-Meteo Marine, a free gridded global ocean model. Accuracy is typically ±45 minutes on timing and ±0.2–0.3 m on height — sufficient for beach planning, snorkelling windows, and boat landing times, but not for navigation. The Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) publishes official tide tables for Thai coastal waters and is the authoritative reference. For the Gulf of Thailand's mixed diurnal regime, official tables are especially useful around the equinoxes when the diurnal/semidiurnal character shifts and a single predicted high or low can look unusual in the gridded model output.

Koh Pha-ngan has good snorkelling off the eastern headlands (Haad Yuan, Haad Thian) and at several sites on the north coast near Had Khom and the shallow reef at Koh Ma (a small island connected to the NW coast by a sandbar at low tide). The sandbar at Koh Ma is fully exposed at low spring — walkable on foot for about 2 hours either side of low water. Kayaking is practical from Thong Sala and from the northern bays; the sheltered west coast is calm year-round in the NE monsoon season. The east coast bays are exposed in NE monsoon months (November–January) with 0.5–1.0 m swell. For snorkelling the reef sites, mid-to-high tide gives the most comfortable depth over the shallow coral.