Full Moon Festival Haadrin Beach

The Magic Wave hostel is 15-20 minutes away from Haadrin Beach which made getting to the festival and back super easy. The festival opens at 9 and we got there around 11

We bought uv paint from a local mini mart and once we were all decorated we headed for a songthaew- which happened to be the only thing on the road. There was a constant stream of them just stopping any time they saw someone in UV paint step onto the main road. Price was set at 100baht a person which seems to be what we paid no matter where we went on the island. 

We got dropped off on the Main Street in front of the beach which was full of different kind of vendors. There were people selling ‘buckets’ of pint sized bottles of alcohol and a mixer for anywhere from 100 - 300 baht. The hostel owner warned us that the alcohol on the street like this wasn’t good alcohol and you could be drinking anything and that it would be better to pay a little more for a bucket in the festival. There were people doing body painting designs—more elaborate than we could’ve pulled off. Along with people selling neon clothes and accessories. Restaurants and convenience stores were open along the street along with street stalls for food. 

Our hostel owner also said that he thought this full moon was less busy than others—which after walking into it I’m not sure if I would want to see it at its busiest. There was thousands of people on a stretch of beach. There was two stages- one main and one smaller as soon as you walked in. We stood and watched as they lit a big structure on fire so ‘full moon festival haadrin beach Koh Phagnan’ was glowing for the whole beach to see.

There were stalls everywhere selling alcohol- either buckets or bottles of pretty much anything you wanted. The bars along the beach all had dj’s and music blasting with big crowds in front of them as well. There were mostly not gross bathrooms that you had to pay 20baht for. By the end of the night there was a lot of people just running into the ocean to pee. Guess it’s the economical option if you don’t mind the whole beach watching you.

Leaving the festival is the same as getting there-just find a truck going In the right direction and wait for them to fill it full of drunk people.