For 97% of the time Koh Phangan is a calm and relaxing slice of paradise, but it all dramatically changes once a month. This is when every party going reveler in Thailand descends onto the island to dance, party and go as crazy as humanly possibly.

The full moon party is hosted on the beaches on the south of the island under the illumination of the full moon. Koh Phangan is the original home of the full moon party and nowhere in the world can re-create the hedonistic experience as found on Koh Phangan. Just try not to wreck a holiday by over indulgence as has befallen many before!

The central beach of the full moon antics revolve around the beach and town of Haad Rin Jaipur that is located on the south eastern side of Koh Phangan. The partying starts at sun set and extends well into the next day’s sun rise.

The busiest and most popular time to attend is between midnight until 3am where only the hardest continue until collapse. The full moon party attracts a huge number of visitors with between 20,000 to 30,000 party goers dancing under the full moon. The winter peak season months see the largest numbers of visitors with many hotels demand stays of great than 4 days over the party date.

Though the full moon party is part of traveler and backpacker mythology the event only started in 1985 when 30 backpackers staying at the Paradise Bungalows in Haad Rin decided to have an all night party under the full moon. The popularity of event rapidly grew as the draw of a no limits party on a paradise beach attracted generations of backpackers.

Today the full moon party still centres around the Paradise Bungalows and Haad Rin beach with each of the beach venues catering for different musical tastes including; house, R&B, drum and bass, dance and reggae. At the peak of the night the entire beach is packed with dancers, fire jugglers and people who have lost normal control.

 

The quantity and variety of drugs on sale within the full moon part is vast but it is never advisable to either purchase or take with concerns over purity or possible unpleasant interactions with the Thai police. The police presence has significantly increased over the last 5 years with extra police drafted in for the event and the proceeding days mainly focused on drug capture.

A much safer option is to drink alcohol which is commonly served in plastic beach buckets. The generous servings of cocktails range in price from 300-400THB and a couple of these is usually enough to get any party started, let alone a full moon party!