Samui Airport / FAQ
Everything you need before flying to Koh Samui: the open-air terminal, getting to the beaches, transport fares in baht, car rental, parking and airlines at Samui Airport (USM).
Samui International Airport (USM) is in Bo Phut, in the north-east of Koh Samui, Surat Thani province, about 4 km from Chaweng and 20 km from Lamai. GPS coordinates are 9.5478, 100.0622. There is no rail link, so all transfers are by road.
The IATA code for Samui Airport is USM and the ICAO code is VTSM. USM is the code to use for tickets, car rental and transfers to Koh Samui.
Samui is Thailand's first and only privately owned commercial airport, built and operated by Bangkok Airways since 1989. Unlike Phuket or Bangkok, it is not run by Airports of Thailand, and the airline flies most of the schedule.
Samui has an open-air, tropical-garden terminal with thatched-roof pavilions and no sealed departure hall. Passengers wait under open canopies and ride golf-cart buggies to the aircraft, which is why it is regularly listed among the world's most beautiful airports.
Bangkok Airways owns the airport and flies around 92 percent of departures, so there is little low-cost competition. This near-monopoly keeps fares higher than to airports like Phuket, where many airlines compete on the same routes.
Samui Airport handled about 2.7 million passengers in 2024, rising above 3.02 million in 2025 across 33,823 aircraft movements. It is a small airport by Thai standards but a busy resort gateway for its size.
Samui has a single open-air terminal. Only the shops, ticketing, toilets and the VIP lounge are enclosed and air-conditioned; check-in, waiting and boarding happen under open, thatched pavilions cooled by the sea breeze.
Chaweng is only about 4 km, 5 to 10 minutes by road. A shared minibus costs around ฿130 per person, a fixed-fare airport taxi about ฿200 to ฿500 per car, and a pre-booked private transfer from about ฿425.
No, there is no public bus from Samui Airport. Your options are a shared minibus, which waits to fill and drops passengers in turn, a fixed-fare taxi, a pre-booked private transfer or a rental car.
Samui airport taxis use fixed per-car fares with no meters: about ฿200 to ฿500 to Chaweng, ฿300 to ฿400 to Bophut, ฿400 to ฿500 to Lamai and ฿500 to ฿650 to Nathon. A night rate adds roughly 20 to 30 percent.
Yes, several companies have desks in the arrivals area, from about ฿1,000 a day in low season, with no-deposit options and open-top jeeps. You need an International Driving Permit alongside your licence to drive legally in Thailand.
Yes. Foreign drivers in Thailand must carry an International Driving Permit with their national licence. Rental desks and Koh Samui's police checkpoints can ask for both, and driving without an IDP can void your insurance.
Yes, there is a small car park beside the open-air terminal and a drop-off area in front. The airport does not publish a parking tariff, so any fee is nominal and best confirmed on site.
Samui is served mainly by Bangkok Airways, which owns the airport and flies most of the schedule to Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai and regional cities. Scoot flies the main low-cost route to Singapore, and Thai Airways connects via codeshare, with partners such as Qatar Airways and British Airways.
Koh Samui sits on the Gulf coast, so its calendar differs from Phuket. The driest months are February to April and June to August; October to December is the wettest, with November the peak of the rains. December and January stay busy for the holidays.
The currency in Thailand is the baht (THB). Cards are accepted in the terminal and ATMs dispense baht, but taxis, minibuses and small shops are often cash only, so carry some baht on arrival at Samui.
Did not find your answer? See the car rental, taxi and transfer and parking pages, or go back to the Samui Airport home page. For official information, check Bangkok Airways and Samui Airport.