About the Full Moon Party

There are about 10,000-20,000 people participating every month at this Koh Phangan beach party. It is known as the Full Moon Party. International and Thai DJ's makes the crowd dance and go wild. Just paint yourself in UV colors and let your body lose control.

The DJ's play all kinds of music; Techno, Trance, Goa, Drum n Bass, Dub, Reggae, "commercial hits", House etc on about 15 sound systems along Haad Rin beach.

The beach has been equipped with small tables where you can sit down with your friends or meet new ones from all over the globe. Drinks and food can be ordered from the restaurants and the bars along the Had Rin Nok beach.

The Full Moon Party And What To Expect

The Full Moon Party today is now a Global Dance Music Festival in its own right, with numbers reaching anything from 8,000 during the low season up to 20,000 during high season months. Even more during extra special dates (I was there to see in the new millennium with supposedly around 50,000 people, but I didn't see anyone counting).

With several well established venues along Haad Rin beach pumping out original and popular mixes in the most popular genres of dance music. As beaches in general offer very little in the way of acoustic properties, sound systems include large powerful walls of speakers which throw sound out towards the sea and reverberate through the dancers in front of them. Very effective and very loud!

A good club back home might have 3 or 4 areas with different music, with one main room. The Full Moon Party offers several DJ's rockin' their sets all at any one time. By simply walking along the beach you can pick and choose where and when you want to dance, there's no charge to attend the Full Moon Party and no cover-charges for the individual bars/clubs. Everyone gravitates to their own personal favourites and you can arrange to meet up at intervals through the event. The Drop In Club is a popular meeting place as it's centrally located on the beach plus its a popular bar with the ladies!

Full Moon Party - Start Time

There are pre-Full Moon Parties all over the island a day or two before, Haad Rin normally starts it's warm-up about 3 days before the Full moon itself. On the day of the actual party many choose to arrive between 8pm and 10pm, remember it lasts well into the next day so it's worthwhile to pace yourself!

When it Ends

The next morning at around 11am – but it mainly depends on your stamina and or consumption of alcohol. The famous Buckets containing either vodka or Sangsom (a local Thai whisky) mixed with Redbull are extremely delicious but are also quite intoxicating!

I'm a big fan of energy drinks but it should be understood that they provide an energy overdraft – which is a nice way to say the extra energy you use will have to be paid back (eventually). Take a look through our Full Moon Party galleries and you'll l see what I mean.

Because of this there is now a sleeping area cordoned off on the beach for people who just don't have the energy to get back to their bed.

When the party on Haad Rin starts to wind down, if you've still got energy in reserve then you'll want to head to the Backyard Bar (Starts around 11am and stays open longer than you'll need it to be).

Top 10 things to know for a successful Full Moon Party

1. 3,000THB is often more than enough to see you through to the next day. It's recommended to take only 100THB and 500THB notes so you can split your money into different pockets to reduce loss at the bar. Also for some unknown reason vendors never have change for a 1000THB note.
2. You should take a copy of your ID with you (not your original). It's Thai law that everyone has ID on them at all times.
3. Don't be tempted to take a bag. If you can put it down, you can also forget it. Especially after several buckets! If you take a camera or phone keep it attached to you at all times.
4. Shoes – always wear shoes! Everyone knows a party is not a party until someone breaks something. With thousands of people there always the risk of a broken bottle in the sand.
5. Protect yourself from the sun. If you manage to make it to the morning the sun comes up fast and gets hot quickly. Have something to cover up or bring a small bottle of sun cream.
6. If you are wearing the neon paint that's very popular, it's worth knowing that in the morning you will tan around the paint, leaving a light patch of the original design. Quite funny if it's not you!
7. Re-hydrate yourself throughout the party. (It takes the body about 2 hours to feel thirsty when your de-hydrated, if you re-hydrate only when you feel thirsty you are two hours behind your body's needs). Alcohol doesn't count!
8. Don't accept drinks from people you don't know, 9 times out of 10 it's probably not a problem but since drinks are cheap it's best not to take any chances.
9. Unless you plan on not sleeping for the duration of the Full Moon Party you should not stay in Haad Rin. The music is loud and they won't turn it down for you!
10. Keep away from Drugs - Thai laws are very strict and Police have zero tolerance no matter what anyone might tell you.

MOST importantly have fun, make friends and dance dance dance

Approximated Dates

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