Koh Phangan was not our first choice for working in Thailand, mostly because of it’s reputation for non-stop parties and of course the Full Moon Party, but we discovered there was a fairly big digital nomad scene there and decided to give it a try.

We opted to stay in the main town of Thong Sala. There are no good beaches in the town but the island is small enough to explore on days off if beaches are a must. The reason we chose to stay here is mainly Prantip Market which is often cited as the best Thai food on the island and has a big selection of stalls from which we ate almost every night — food is more important than beaches!

The island is quiet for most of the month, and we found several excellent places to work with good wifi, power outlets, and nice coffee.

Our top 5 places to work:

Dots Coffee (Thong Sala)

This is the most popular place for working. It’s always full of people on laptops and can be very busy. We found it too hectic in here to focus for a full day of working but it’s a good place in the town if you don’t have a scooter.

Pros: Fast wifi, excellent coffee, and every table has a power outlet. They have A/C and they don’t close until 9pm.

Cons: They only have cakes and snack foods available, though most people seem to leave their belongings for half an hour to have lunch at Prantip Market next door.

Doppio Cafe (Thong Sala)

Opposite Dots Coffee but not as busy or stressful to work. They serve a mixture of Western and Thai food including eggs for breakfast.

Pros: Fast wifi, good coffee, A/C, and they serve meals.

Cons: Only a couple of power outlets and it closes at 5pm.

Bubba’s Coffee Bar (Baan Tai)

A small place with great breakfast 10 minutes from Thong Sala by scooter or taxi. We enjoyed working here but the wifi wasn’t very good — we just used our mobile data instead.

Pros: Cosy environment, A/C, great food, and good coffee.

Cons: Bad wifi and not many tables.

Hundred Islands Coffee Bar (Baan Tai)

A nice and popular cafe 5 minutes from Thong Sala by scooter or taxi. The food was excellent but there is no A/C and it’s on the main road so could be a bit loud without headphones.

Pros: Excellent Western breakfast food (eggs!), great internet, and very friendly staff.

Cons: Seats and tables are not ideal for working, though they have a breakfast bar we sat at which worked well. Only a couple of power outlets, one of which is at the breakfast bar. Quite noisy on the main road.

Luna Cafe (Baan Tai)

A cute and relaxing place to work 12 minutes from Thong Sala by scooter or taxi. We didn’t eat here but they have an excellent range of Western breakfast and lunch options that look delicious, though quite expensive.

Pros: Relaxing as it’s not busy, good wifi, power outlets, good seats, tasty coffee, and A/C.

Cons: Quite warm despite the A/C as the building is just corrugated metal and food is on the expensive side.

We also had these places saved for working but didn’t have a chance to check them out:

We loved our two week stay in Koh Phangan and it’s a great island for digital nomads. However, we wanted to be within walking distance to a good beach for those sunset beers after work. We’ve decided to spent our next couple of weeks in Koh Tao — stay tuned for our favourite spots to work from there!

Originally published at travel.squarecat.io on 20 June 2019