JOY Beach Villas - Koh Phangan

Experiences

our warm recommendations around the island

Scroll down

What is there to do?

Eight kinds of day out, all within reach of Hin Kong. Pick one to see it on the map.

Map key:Breakfast & BrunchLunch & DinnerBarsPartiesBeachesWaterfallsHikesSightseeing5 shown
Parties

Full Moon Party

Monthly full-moon beach party · Haad Rin · 17 km, 35-45 min by road over the steep Haad Rin hill; party-night boats also run from Thong Sala and Ban Tai

Once a month, on the night of the full moon, the sand at Haad Rin Nok disappears under sound systems set end to end and a crowd running into the tens of thousands. It builds after dark and keeps going until roughly six in the morning, when the beach thins out to buckets and stragglers watching the sun come up. Wear shoes, keep your phone somewhere safe, and give the fire skipping ropes a wide berth.

Every month year-round, though the date occasionally shifts a night around Buddhist holidays, and December to February is by far the busiest.

Open in Google Maps ↗
Parties

Half Moon Festival (Magical Forest)

Jungle rave, three stages · Ban Tai (inland jungle) · 10 km, about 20 min by road, the last stretch on an unlit inland track

Twice a lunar month, roughly a week either side of the full moon, a clearing about two kilometres inland from Ban Tai opens as the Magical Forest: three stages under the trees running psytrance, tech house and hip-hop from around 9:30pm to sunrise. Tickets are meaningfully cheaper online than at the gate, and taxis wait outside until the music stops. It is a real forest floor, so wear something you don't mind ruining.

Runs twice a lunar month year-round; heavy rain in the October to December monsoon turns the forest floor to mud.

Open in Google Maps ↗
Parties

Harmony Beach Club

Beach club day party · Ban Tai · 9 km, about 15-20 min by road along the south coast

The Half Moon weekend now opens here the afternoon before the jungle night - an infinity pool over the water at Ban Tai, deep house and melodic techno, doors at 2pm and music until midnight. It sells as its own ticket, so you can do the day party and skip the forest, or string the two together. On ordinary days it is just a beach club, calm enough for a long lunch.

Only a Half Moon venue on festival weekends; the rest of the month it operates as a normal daytime beach club.

Open in Google Maps ↗
Parties

Merkaba Sunset Beach Club

Sunset beach club · Haad Rin (sunset side) · 15 km, about 30 min by road, most of it the Thong Sala to Haad Rin route

Merkaba faces west across the water, so the sun sets straight in front of the deck, which is the reason to arrive by late afternoon rather than after dark. Beach Bums sessions run most weekends from around 1pm and carry on well past sunset, and the club also programmes psytrance nights on the two-storey floor beside the pool. It traded as Samsara for years, and plenty of taxi drivers still know it by that name.

The sunset is the whole draw, so it is worth checking the sky in the October to December rainy months.

Open in Google Maps ↗
Parties

Waterfall Festival

Jungle party, four stages · Ban Tai (inland jungle) · 14 km, about 25-30 min by road; the venue's own pickup runs the last stretch in from the gate

Two nights a lunar month - two days before and two days after the Full Moon Party - this patch of jungle above Ban Tai becomes four stages built around boulders, a shallow stream and a natural swimming pool. Music runs from about 9pm to six in the morning: house and techno on one stage, psytrance on another, hip-hop, reggae and afrobeats on the rest, with fire shows between sets. A free pickup shuttles people in from the entrance, or it is a five-minute walk through the trees.

Runs year-round on the full-moon cycle; the stream and pool are at their fullest in the October to December wet season, when the paths also get slippery.

Open in Google Maps ↗

Every recommendation here is one we make to guests in person. Please kindly ask reception for any booking or special request.