Why should you go there and how do you do it right?

The Halfmoon Festival is Koh Phangan's premier party event, held in a purpose-built jungle amphitheater in the hinterland of Ban Tai – currently known as the "Magic Forest" – where festival nights take place roughly twice a month, for a week before and after the full moon. While Haad Rin is a beautiful chaos, Halfmoon is a meticulously planned event with professional stage technology, laser projections through the trees, UV-painted spectators, international and local DJs spinning harder electronic music, and ticketing to limit the number of attendees to a comfortable festival level rather than an overcrowded beach.

For many visitors, it's ultimately the more beautiful night – the staging is authentic, the jungle backdrop atmospheric, and thanks to the calendar, a week-long trip that misses the full moon usually results in a half moon instead. Shuttle buses and songthaews run from all over the island; the filming location is ten minutes inland from the Ban Tai Strip.