Koh Tao Photoshoot Guide: Koh Nang Yuan from above, John-Suwan at sunrise and Sairee

Koh Nang Yuan from the viewpoint

The picture everyone knows is Koh Nang Yuan: three small islands off the north-west coast, joined by a curving sandbar, seen from the viewpoint on the highest of them. It is ten to twenty minutes by longtail from Sairee Beach, and the climb to the top is short and steep — closed shoes, water, and the outfit in a bag until you are up. From the top the sandbar curves away between two bays with water on both sides, and the couple stands on the rock in front of it. Then down to the sand for the close frames.

Go as early as the island lets day visitors in. It is quietest before the day boats from Samui and Phangan arrive, and the viewpoint is small, so later in the day there is a queue for the same rock. The sandbar itself changes with the tide, wide at low water and narrow at high, so the tide table belongs in the plan here too.

Nang Yuan is privately run. There is an entrance fee, the island sets its own hours for day visitors, and plastic bottles and cans are banned — bags can be checked. It sets its own rules on drones as well. Check all of it before you go, because it changes.

John-Suwan at sunrise

On the southern tip, the John-Suwan viewpoint looks over Chalok Baan Kao on one side and Shark Bay on the other, two bays curving away from the rock. It is a sunrise spot after a short scramble: the path is steep and rocky, with ropes in places. There is an entry fee and access hours are set locally, so check them; the top is small, and the first people up get the frame.

At sunrise the bays below catch the first light and the boulders turn warm; the couple stands on the rock with the coast falling away on both sides. It is the classic place for a proposal on Koh Tao, provided you are up before everyone else. Plan to be at the top before first light, not at it.

Tanote Bay and Aow Leuk on the east coast

The east coast faces the sunrise and is the island's quieter side. Tanote Bay has granite boulders on the shore and in the water, which give portraits a shape nothing on Sairee can: sitting on a rock above clear water, framed between two stones. Aow Leuk is a sheltered bay with calm water, the easier place for a family with children who swim.

Both are reached by steep roads, partly unpaved, so a four-wheel-drive taxi or a longtail does the moving. Taxis on the island are pick-up trucks, and the drivers know which roads are passable after rain.

Sairee Beach at sunset

Sairee, on the west coast, is long, sandy and faces the sunset: the island's evening. It is also the busiest beach, so the session works the quieter end and frames out to sea rather than back towards the bars. Start about an hour before the sun touches the horizon; the light worth having comes in the second half of that hour and the first minutes after it, when the water and the wet sand turn the same colour.

The gentle end of Sairee, when the sun is low, is the easiest family session on the island: flat sand, shallow water, nothing to climb. Sairee is also where the longtails to Nang Yuan leave from, which makes a morning there and an evening here the natural two-part plan.

Shooting from the water

Koh Tao's water is the other half of the picture. In the calm months it is clear enough to shoot from a longtail, looking down on a couple in the sea, and Koh Tao is the island for a session that ends with a jump into the sea. Around Nang Yuan and the shallow reef edges, walk on sand and never stand on coral. Frames under the water are a different kit and a different skill, and not every photographer works in the sea: ask before you book if you want them.

For families, this is an island for confident swimmers. Coral grows close to the shore in many bays, so small children stay on the gentle beaches.

Getting around and getting there

The roads are steep and partly unpaved, so a four-wheel-drive taxi or a longtail does the moving, and a family session stays on one beach rather than crossing the island. Nobody should arrive at a session in a dress on a rented scooter.

Koh Tao has no airport. Boats are the only way on and off: about an hour and a half from Koh Samui, which has the nearest airport; about two hours by fast boat from Chumphon on the mainland; and Koh Phangan lies on the way from Samui. Rough seas from about October to December can cancel the boats, so leave a spare day before an onward flight.

The Gulf's calendar

The island follows the Gulf, not the Andaman. The best weather is from about January to August, the driest about February to April, and the wettest from about October to December, with November usually the peak — which makes Koh Tao the summer answer while the Andaman coast is in its monsoon. In the hot months, about mid-February to mid-May, sessions move to the first and last hours of the day, which on Koh Tao is where they belong anyway. The weeks around Christmas and New Year are the busiest of the year: book early.

Leave your own drone at home: it needs registration with both NBTC and CAAT, insurance and approval before each flight, and Nang Yuan adds its own rules. Ask whether the photographer flies a registered drone.

Planning a Koh Tao photoshoot

Split it in two. A morning on Nang Yuan or at John-Suwan and an evening on Sairee are two sessions on different sides of the island, and the steep roads between them make one long session a waste of good light. Either half suits a couples session on Koh Tao; see what a couples photoshoot usually covers.

An hour covers one viewpoint or one beach properly; ninety minutes gives Nang Yuan from the top and the sandbar below. Keep the session away from the day of a boat transfer and, from October to December, give it a spare morning. Rescheduling for bad weather is free for both sides.

A photographer who works the island knows when the first day boat reaches Nang Yuan, which road is open after rain and which rock at Tanote takes the light at eight. Read the destination page for Koh Tao, check how it works, and browse photographers online.