I first went to Thailand in 1997 and immediately fell in love with the country. Thailand at that time to me was mysterious and exotic, full of potentials and pitfalls.
Fast forward to 2010 and here I am after 13 years and many trips to the LOS sharing, with the help of my 
Full Moon Partying on Koh Phangan
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 (a combination of Red Bull, Coke and vodka or whiskey), 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. I have more detailed instructions on the post Getting to Koh Phangan including air travel, buses, trains and ferry schedules. You can find a great list of Koh Phangan hotels at Hotels.com or alternatively find the best deal, compare prices, and read what other travelers have to say at TripAdvisor.
Full Moon Party Dates 2010
- Wednesday 28, July
- Wednesday 25, August
- Thursday 23, September
- Saturday 23, October
- Sunday 21, November
- Tuesday 21, December
- Saturday 25, December
- Friday 31, December
Full Moon Party Dates 2011
- Wednesday 19, January
- Friday 18, February
- Saturday 19, March
- Monday 18, April
- Tuesday 17, May
- Wednesday 15, June
- Friday 15, July
- Saturday 13, August
- Monday 12, September
- Tuesday 11, October
- Thursday 10, November
- Saturday 10, December
- Sunday 25, December
- Saturday 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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I’ve been doing alot of reading over the past 3 months and this is my first actual comment on anysite. From what I have read about thai women (I know ima bit off topic but there’s a method to my madness I assure you ;D ) and how not to treat them you cant really ask to go to a disco.
Now im an avid dancer, i’ve done it all my life, and I cant help but break out in dance atleast once a day in the privacy of my home.
Would you be able to meet a good girl at a place like this o.0? I’m in dire need of a dancing thai girl lol!
cheers, and ty!
Full moon party…..That takes me back a bit. I haven’t been down there for nearly 10 years. I’ve been to 2 full moons and they were great times. Everyone should go to at least 2 full moons. The second visit is just in case they cant remember the first! That’s pretty much what happened to me. The build up to the full moon can be “full on” as well. I seem to remember half moon and black moon celebrations. In fact, just about every celestial phase of the night sky was an excuse for a wild night outside the Cactus bar on Hat Rin beach. I had far to much to drink on my first visit and ended up going to a bar further along the bay. Myself and a friend went up to the balcony bar and got into such a state that we couldn’t find the stairs to return downstairs. Alcohol and stupidity made us immune to injury and we decided that rather than maybe ask someone where the stairs were, we would jump off the balcony to the sand below.
I returned the next day just to see where the stairs were and i still couldn’t find them. Happy days.
Tom…………..
10 years is about how long it’s been for me as well. And like you I can’t remember a lot of what I did for 3 days on the island. Since I’ve only been present for 1 full moon party I suppose its in my best interests to go back for another. Plus Golf hasn’t experienced the full moon party at all yet…hmmmm I guess that means we need to head back to Phangan for 2 more full moon parties :>)