Full Moon Partying on Koh Phangan

Since yesterday was my birthday I’m in a party mood so I thought I’d write a bit about the biggest party in the world. Of course I’m talking about the Full Moon Party on Haad Rin beach on Koh Phangan which regularly has over 7500 partiers during the low season up to 30,000 people dancing and partying during the high season!

Now you can find full moon parties on other islands throughout Thailand for sure, but none of them even come close to what has become the world famous quintessential beach party on Koh Phangan. It is believed that the party started sometime in the late 1980’s (1988 or 1989) as someone’s birthday party and was so great that they started coming back each month to party again. Slowly the party grew as more travelers heard about it until today when it has become a virtual city of party people each full moon.

You really can’t imagine what it’s like without experiencing it yourself. Haad Rin beach is now home to 10 different sound systems pumping out all kinds of music from techno to drum beat to rave and everything else you can think of. People fueled by vodka and Red Bull buckets, among other things, dance on the beach from sunset until sunrise and even after. Everyone is friendly and happy and it is like no other vibe you’ve ever experienced.

Of course the popularity of the Full Moon Party can make it difficult to find a room on Koh Phangan, so I would suggest getting there a few days before the full moon. It will be fine because the Full Moon Party usually gets started a few days before the full moon anyway. You can find a great list of Koh Phangan hotels at the Koh Phangan website.

And for instructions on how to get Koh Phangan complete with air, bus, train and boat schedules see here.

Full Moon Party Dates 2008

Friday 22, February
Friday 21, March
Sunday 20, April
Tuesday 20, May
Wednesday 18, June
Saturday 19, July
Saturday 16, August
Sunday 14, September
Tuesday 14, October
Wednesday 12, November
Friday 12, December
Thursday 25, December
Wednesday 31, December

And don’t forget to stay safe while you’re partying. Follow these common safety rules for the Full Moon Party and you’ll have a much better time.

Enjoy the Full Moon Party Safely

1. Take a copy of your passport with you, and keep original passport in your hotel’s safe.
2. Take the hotel’s business card to contact them in case of emergency.
3. Don’t take bags with you, it’s likely you’ll lose them.
4. Take enough pocket money and keep it in 2-3 different pockets. It’s about 2,000-5,000 Baht.
5. Wear shoes to protect your feet from broken bottles.
6. Set a time and place to meet up with your friends, you WILL lose them in the huge scale noise and partying going on.
7. If you don’t want to be jailed, avoid bringing drugs to the party

There now you have the info to get there and you have the party dates. Don’t be like Golf and myself. We’ve wanted to go to the Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan for several years and every time we’ve been in Thailand we’ve missed it be a few days one way or another. Ahhhhh…well it gives us another reason to keep coming back to Thailand.

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