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Koh Tao Rock Climbing

Climbing Area Map

Areas in Koh Tao

Backyard 4

Big Brother Slab 5

Elephant 5

Frontyard 2

Golden Slab 5

Golden View 6

Jansom Bay 4

Lang Khai 10

Lost Face 0

Machetey Mountain 13

Mek's Mountain 26

Secret Garden 2

Shark Island 1

Tanote Bay 1

Tanote Bay 11

Explore this area in 3D

Use onX Backcountry to explore the terrain in 3D, view recent satellite imagery, and more. Now available in onX Backcountry Mobile apps! For more information see this post.

Elevation:	220 ft	67 m
GPS:	10.09584, 99.83523 Google Map · Climbing Area Map
Page Views:	62,581 total · 455/month
Shared By:	Brian Ways on Jan 9, 2014 · Updates
Admins:	Brian Ways, Brian Boyd, Tao Techakanon Page Updates (admin only)

See Weather Forecast

Access Issue: Warning! Stainless steel bolts are suspect near the coast! Details

You can read about the warning here. There is extensive rebolting being done by the Thaitanium Project, which has already rebolted the vast majority of popular routes in the main areas. Be informed!

Access Issue: Details

Page no longer up to date

Koh Tao

Koh Tao aka Turtle Island is part of the chain of Islands in the Gulf of Thailand close to the islands Koh Phangan and Koh Samui. The island is giant granite boulder field (over 200 boulders), its is easily world class in terms of bouldering opportunity.

Most of the crags and boulders are underdeveloped (Although Koh Tao has over 80 bolted sport routes). A very notable bouldering area is the secret garden (behind sairee beach) which has routes as hard as V11 (James and the Giant Peach). There are potential for hard problems, but they haven't be established yet. Some of the most popular sport route crags on the island are Meks Mountain, Golden View, Jansom Bay and Lang Khai.

There is also a small indoor bouldering wall on the island. It has relocated to the Evasion Koh Tao shop and is open as of Jan 2018. It is primarily used for kids.

There are many shops that offer climbing lessons, rentals, and advice!

Perfect place to be able to climb, scuba dive, free dive, relax or party, and eat amazing food from all cultures of the world, while on a budget!

There is a new rock climbing guide in app form that was released in November of 2019, it can be found here: https://rakkup.com/guidebooks/thailand-koh-tao-rock-climbing/

****This page is under maintenance. Updates coming soon! *****

****Date: March, 2025****

Getting There

There are many ways to get to the island:

From Bangkok: Use the lomprayah ferry service in Khao San Road to book a bus ride (7 hours) to the Chumphon and take the ferry (1 hour) There is a night ferry service available too.

Koh Samui which is an hour and half ferry ride away (You can fly from BKK to Samui).

You can fly from DMK (Bangkok) to URT (Surat Thani, then take the ferry.

You Can fly from DMK (Bangkok) to Chumphon, then take the ferry.

You can take the night train from Bangkok to Chumphon or Surat Thani, then take the ferry.

Check out islandtravelkohtao.com/ for more ways to get there and for booking if needed.

Guidebook

The most up-to-date TOPO at this point (2022) is available on Rak-up by Kelsey Gray.

The app can be downloaded here rakkup.com/guidebooks/thail…

95 Total Climbs

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Classic Climbing Routes at Koh Tao

Mountain Project's determination of the classic, most popular, highest rated climbing routes in this area.

5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a 6 ● Xico's Ascent Sport, TR Jansom Bay
5.10c 6b 20 VII 20 E2 5b PG13 4 ● Car Jack Sport, TR Mek's Mountain
5.10d 6b+ 21 VII+ 21 E3 5b 6 ● The Bitch In Me Sport Mek's Mountain
5.10d 6b+ 21 VII+ 21 E3 5b 4 ● Cyclops Sport, TR Jansom Bay
5.11b 6c 23 VIII- 23 E3 5c 7 ● Titan Sport Golden View
5.11c/d 7a 24 VIII 25 E4 6a 5 ● Grunt Force Trauma TR Jansom Bay