THAILAND · PLANNING & RESEARCH

When I started booking ferries for Thailand, I expected to use 12Go. 

It is well known, widely used by travellers and genuinely useful for comparing transport options. For the Koh Lanta → Koh Lipe route, it showed multiple operators, departure times, traveller reviews and even photos of some of the ferries. 

That made it a very good place to start. 

But when I compared the exact same Bundhaya sailing on the operator's own website, booking direct was significantly cheaper. 

For our family of four, the 10:30 a.m. Bundhaya ferry from Koh Lanta to Koh Lipe was C$321.11 through 12Go. Booking directly with Bundhaya cost 5,312 baht, which came through on my Wise card at C$222.76. 

That was almost C$100 less for the same operator and the same sailing. 

I have now completed the booking process. Once we actually take the ferry, I will report separately on how the boarding and journey itself compare with what I expected.

Planning & Research
This comparison is based on the booking process before travel. I have not yet taken the ferry or assessed the boarding experience.

Check both before booking

Why I started with 12Go

Even though I ultimately booked direct, I would still start the research there. 

12Go made it easy to see what actually operated on the route I needed. Instead of searching individual ferry companies one at a time, I could compare departure times, operators and prices in one place. 

The traveller reviews were useful too. Some included details about boarding, ferry conditions and what the boats were like, which gave me more context than a timetable alone. 

I also expect 12Go to be particularly useful later in the trip for things such as private transfers and taxis, where comparing several local options independently would be much harder.

Why booking direct was cheaper

For the Koh Lanta → Koh Lipe trip, the price difference was enough to make the decision easy. 

One reason appears to be child pricing. The Bundhaya website clearly distinguished between adult and child fares, while the 12Go price I was seeing did not appear to give us the same advantage. 

The other factor was promotions. 

When I went directly to the Bundhaya Speed Boat website, I found a discount code through a pop-up on the homepage that reduced the fare further. 

That code did not appear again the next time I visited the site, so if you see a promotion like that, write it down or save it before closing the page. 

This is also why I would check the operator's homepage before going straight to the booking screen. If you arrive through a search result for a specific ferry route, you may land directly on the reservation page and never see a promotion being advertised elsewhere on the site.

Comparison	12Go	Bundhaya direct
Route	Koh Lanta → Koh Lipe	Koh Lanta → Koh Lipe
Operator	Bundhaya	Bundhaya
Saililng	10:30 a.m.	10:30 a.m.
Family of four	C$321.11	5,312 THB
Amount actually charged	—	C$222.76 via Wise
Difference	—	About C$98 less
Main advantage	Easy comparison and reviews	Lower price on this booking
Main limitation	Higher fare in this case	Passport details requested

Booking directly was straightforward

I would not automatically book directly with every transport company simply because the price was lower. 

In this case, Bundhaya had a functioning English-language website, the booking process was clear and I could understand the cancellation and refund terms before paying. Those terms also appeared on the ticket afterward. 

That made me comfortable removing the extra layer between myself and the ferry operator. If the schedule changes or I need to ask a question, there is some appeal in having booked with the company actually operating the ferry rather than through an intermediary. 

If the operator's site had been difficult to understand, looked unreliable or made the terms unclear, I would have been much more likely to use a larger platform such as 12Go even if the fare was slightly higher.

I paid in Thai baht with Wise

For the first booking, price was the decisive factor. 

Bundhaya charged the transaction in Thai baht, so I used Wise rather than having my regular Canadian credit card handle the foreign-currency conversion. 

The 5,312-baht fare converted to C$222.76 on my Wise card. 

That is the same approach I have been using for some other Thailand bookings where the merchant charges directly in local currency. I explain that strategy more fully in Using Wise for Travel: How It Works and How I Actually Use It. 

For this ferry decision, the useful point is to compare the final amount you will actually pay rather than just the number displayed on the first search screen.

The passport information gave me pause

Bundhaya asks for passport details during the booking process. 

That was straightforward for most of us, but one passport is likely to be renewed before the trip, which made me hesitate before booking our Koh Lipe → Langkawi crossing. 

For the domestic Koh Lanta → Koh Lipe trip, the information felt less consequential because we are staying within Thailand. The Langkawi ferry is different because it crosses an international border. 

If I book that leg directly, I plan to enter the current valid passport details and then travel with the replacement passport once it has been issued. My expectation is that the passport presented to border officials at the time of travel is what ultimately matters rather than the number originally entered during the booking process. 

That is something I will be able to assess more confidently after we actually make the crossing. 

Interestingly, 12Go does not appear to require the same passport information at the booking stage. That is one factor that could still push me toward using 12Go for the Koh Lipe → Langkawi ticket.

I may use both booking methods

The price difference for Koh Lipe → Langkawi is much smaller. 

For our date, 12Go is currently showing C$223.83 for four people. Bundhaya, using another promotion I found, would cost 4,628 baht — about C$195 at the market rate when I checked. 

That is a difference of less than C$30 for four travellers, so the choice is less obvious. Booking direct is still slightly cheaper and keeps the reservation with the operator, while 12Go avoids the passport-information issue at the booking stage and would let me compare the two booking experiences. 

Either way, this is a good example of why I would not turn “always book direct” into a rule.

Why I am booking these ferries in advance

We are travelling in January, which is high season, and Koh Lipe does not have endless transport alternatives. 

If the direct ferry I want sells out, the backup is not simply another convenient train an hour later. It could mean a much longer combination of ferry and overland transportation. 

For that reason, once our accommodation dates were fixed, booking the major ferry legs made sense. The ferry matters because Koh Lanta and Koh Lipe are deliberate parts of our wider Thailand route, rather than standalone trips I can easily move to another week. I am happy to leave many activities until later, but I am less interested in gambling with the transport connection that makes the route itself work.

When I would book direct and when I would use 12Go

Based on the booking process so far, I would check both. 

I would lean toward booking direct when the operator has a clear, trustworthy website, understandable terms and a meaningful price advantage. I would also check the operator's homepage for promotions before paying. 

I would lean toward 12Go when I want to compare several operators, when the direct website is difficult to understand, when the price difference is small, or when I am looking for services such as private transfers or taxis that are harder to compare independently. 

Even when I do not book through 12Go, I would still use it for research. It has already been useful for ferry schedules, reviews and comparing transport options in one place. 

For now, the lesson is simple: use the aggregator to understand the market, then check the operator before you pay. 

On our first Thailand ferry booking, doing that saved almost C$100.

More from this trip

• Why We’re Taking Several Months to Travel Through Southeast Asia and Japan
• How We Planned 26 Nights in Thailand Without Trying to See Everything
• Using Wise for Travel: How It Works and How I Actually Use It

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