You might find this article a little different from the other ones, as we had our first visitors here: Julia’s parents. It was their first time in Thailand, and Southeast Asia in general. This meant of course that they had to get used to pretty much everything! The heat, the culture, the food… Our rhythm was slower than it would have been if we had been just the two of us, but we saw it as a vacation within the vacation. We didn’t have scooters so our mobility was a bit limited, but we had some really nice hotels and pools to chill at. We particularly loved Koh Tao and hope to be back some day to explore more of its lovely bays.

Koh Phangan

Upon arrival at the ferry pier of Koh Phangan, Julia’s parents get a first taste of proper Thai transportation: they pack a seowthang full with 12 people and their luggage (and charge a ridiculous 100 baht (3€) per person to drive us for barely more than 5 minutes) and off we go. Our hotel has 15 beautiful bungalows, nestled into a wonderful garden, with an infinity pool and direct access to the beach. Perfect! Julia’s parents just have a few days of travelling behind them so they are looking forward to some relaxing time, and we don’t say no to that! We take them to one beach in the north of the island, and to the night market in Thong Sala, but otherwise we spend the two days in Koh Phangan pool and beach side.

Activities, Beaches, and Food

Diving

Brice dove at Sail Rock, which has the reputation of being the most beautiful diving spot in the gulf of Thailand. He went with Sail Rock Divers and paid 70€ for two dives. The dive shop is located in Chaloklum Beach, but they offered free pick up service. Note that Sail Rock is closer to Koh Phangan than to Koh Tao.

Malibu Beach

This lovely strip of beach belongs to Chaloklum Beach and boasts plenty of shadow from trees, and crystal clear water. There is a nice restaurant. From here, you can take a taxi boat to Bottle Beach.

Thong Sala Night Market

Nice food Market in the centre of Thong Sala. From our hotel it was about 15 min walking distance.

Where to stay

Our hotel Baan Manali was located just north of Thong Sala, directly at the beach. We paid around 30€/night for a garden view bungalow. The bungalows are beautiful and comfortable, the infinity pool is great, there are plenty of sun beds, the restaurant is excellent (breakfast has homemade bread!), the staff is wonderful. The sea directly at the hotel is very shallow and a little muddy, so if you like swimming in the sea, you should definitely get a scooter to explore the island. The sunset views from the hotel are among the best ones we have seen so far.

Getting here

We took the ferry from Koh Samui (where you can get by ferry or plane, see below) and it only takes about half an hour from the Pralarn Pier with Lomprayah (around 8€/person). You can also take a ferry from Surat Thani on the mainland. At the pier in Koh Phangan, you are pretty much forced to take one of the taxis waiting there and it costs minimum 100 Baht(3€)/person (see above). If your luggage allows you to walk a bit further away from the pier, you may be able to catch a cab, tuktuk or songthaew for less. On the way back to the pier the hotel called us a car and it only cost 50 Baht for the four of us.

Koh Tao

Koh Tao pier is very busy when we arrive (we wonder what high season must be like) but we find our way out and soon enough a taxi drops us at our hotel. The bungalows are a bit less charming, but the setting at Sairee beach is so beautiful. We are in walking distance to the little town that is full of restaurants and shops, and even better: we can walk along the beach! We spend three chilled days in Ko Tao, two of which by Aow Leuk Bay. Brice takes advantage of the amazing diving opportunities.

Activities, Beaches, and Food

Diving

Brice went diving with Davy Jones Locker (based in Sairee) and Pearl Diving (based in Mae Haad, close to the Pier). With Davy Jones Locker, he went to Japanese Garden and Red Rock, with Pearl Diving to Southwest Pinnacle and White Rock. Note that during this time of the year, visibility can vary greatly from day to day, as it’s the end of the season. Brice would have liked to go to Chumpon Pinnacle but weather conditions were not good enough. Pearl Diving had a bigger boat than Davy Jones, but it was still a pretty bumpy ride. Both shops were good, Brice had a slight personal preference for Pearl Diving.

Yoga

Shambhala Yoga in Sairee offers Hatha and Restorative Yoga classes every day. Around 8€/90 minutes. The studio is really nice and well equipped.

Aow Leuk Bay

Koh Tao is an amazing place for snorkelling and Aow Leuk Bay is meant to be one of the best spots. Walk into the water and you’ll be greeted by all sorts of colourful fish – and by baby sharks! Swim a little bit to the right, and you’ll find some beautiful coral. Entrance to the beach is 100 Baht (3€)/Person and for that you have sun beds and a free soft drink. You can rent snorkels etc.

Food

We went to a few restaurants in Sairee. Su Chili serves good quality food and seems to be around for a long time already. Staff is really nice. The restaurant of our hotel served pretty good Thai food and sandwiches, breakfast was very standard. Our favourite restaurant overall was located at Aow Leuk Bay, it belongs to the beach resort (on the right when you look at the sea). Not only does it have a perfect view, the food is excellent.

Where to stay

We stayed at Palm Leaf Resort and paid almost 50€/night. The location was wonderful and the bungalow was perfectly fine, however for its standard it was a little expensive, for example compared to the hotel on Koh Phangan and also Koh Lanta. The location is good because you can walk to town. The staff was very nice and helpful. We also rented a scooter for one day (around 7€).

Getting here

We took the ferry from Koh Phangan, you can come here from Koh Samui, Surat Thani, and Chumpon. From Koh Phangan it’s about 1.5h and costs around 15€ with Lomprayah. The taxi service at the Pier charges 100 Baht/person to Sairee Beach, but the cars are more comfortable than on Koh Phangan (fits 4 people). Again, if you manage to walk away a bit from the pier, you may find better deals.

Koh Samui

We had a short stop in Koh Samui on the way to Koh Phangan to meet Julia’s parents. Our real stay there, however, was at the end of the trip where we spent a few days in the south and then in the north of the island. The south is quieter than the north and east coasts of the island, it is wilder and there is much less construction. It would be good to have a scooter so that you can explore a bit more. Our hotel was located on Thong Tanote Beach, which is picturesque with a view on Koh Taen, but not so good for swimming because the water is very shallow. There isn’t much in walking distance except for a couple of restaurants and a mini mart.

In the North we stayed at the far west end of Mae Nam Beach, which is still pretty quiet compared to places like Bo Put and Chaweng (we’ve only been to former). Restaurants, shops, travel agencies and massage places are in walking distance but the area close to the pier and the pretty Na Phra Lan Temple still has a village feel to it. The beach here is wonderful for swimming.

Activities and Beaches

Koh Samui is big, and even more so than on Koh Tao and Koh Phangan, there are plenty of things to do beyond diving, snorkelling and beach hopping. We only scratched the surface!

Na Mueang Waterfalls

There are two waterfalls fairly close to each other and inconveniently having the same name: Na Mueang 1 and Na Mueang 2. Our taxi dropped us at 1, which you can visit really quickly as you only need to walk past a few souvenir shops. The second waterfall is located next to the Samui Safari park, so that’s where you need to go. From waterfall 1 it’s about a 20 minute walk to the entrance of the park. You can then walk all the way to the waterfall (about 30 minutes) or pay 100 Baht/person for a VERY bumpy but also super short ride on a jeep to get there. Waterfall 2 is much bigger and includes a bit of a hike, which gets more challenging the further you go up (but you don’t have to go all the way up).

Please note that the waterfalls are not part of the Safari Park. The Safari Park has a bunch of questionable activities like elephant riding and taking photos with baby tigers. We do not promote or participate in such activities and urge you to consider animal welfare when travelling and do some research before booking anything related to animals.

Ko Taen and Ko Matsum

From the beach it looks like Koh Taen is a short swim away. Don’t be fooled, it’s about 2km. Day tours are going there from different parts on the island. If you are already in the south, you can have a private long tail boat for around 55€/up to 6 people, for a 4h tour. This includes a stop off the coast for some snorkelling, a stop on paradisiac Koh Matsum with white beaches, clear water and wild pigs (because why not), and finally a stop on Koh Taen for chilling and lunch (if you like). There are some nice corals and small fish – though unfortunately the boat captain threw a bunch of bread in the water so they started to bite us. They are tiny, but still… It’s a nice excursion and we particularly enjoyed Koh Matsum. If you want to do this in high season, it’s probably best to do it directly from the south coast like we did, so you can beat the tourist crowds coming from further afield.

Bo put Night Market (Monday)

The big night market day in Bo Put (Fisherman’s village) is Friday, but Monday boasts a nice little food section as well. The rest of the market is pretty standard, elephant prints etc. We also walked a bit through the village and didn’t like it very much, it seemed to be entirely converted into a tourist town.

Mae Nam Beach

This beach is great for swimming. The far west part is the most quiet section. You can walk along the beach into Mae Nam village.

Thong Tanote Beach

As said above, picturesque but no great for swimming. Would probably be nice to explore the bays of the south with a scooter.

Food

Peace Kitchen (Mae Nam)

Really good papaya salad, pad Thai, and spring rolls.

My Place (Mae Nam)

Lovely garden, super friendly owners.

Khun Anna (Mae Nam)

The food is fine, it’s especially the setting over water that is special here, and the thousands of lights that decorate the place.

Sabai Sabai (Mae Nam)

Probably the cheapest option in the area, no frills and very good.

Pancake Island (Mae Nam)

Good for breakfast.

French Kiss Thanod (Thong Tanote Beach)

One of the best restaurants we tried in the gulf islands. Beautiful setting and delicious. You can book your trip to Koh Taen here as well.

Where to stay

Centra by Centara Coconut Beach (Thong Tanote Beach)

This hotel in the south was less charming than the other hotels we stayed at, but rooms were spacious and they have a 66m long pool! We paid around 38€/night with breakfast. Breakfast was good, and the restaurant in general was fine. Staff was very friendly but many spoke extremely little English, so even standard things like calling a taxi could get complicated. They had a really good and lovely massage therapist.

Coco Palm Beach Resort (Mae Nam)

We stayed here for a couple of nights as we waited for Julia’s parents to arrive. We had a nice bungalow for around 23€/night. The resort was a little big for our taste, but you can find bungalows for any budget in there. Nice pool and breakfast was good.

Saree Samui (Mae Nam)

If you want to treat yourself, go there. This was one of the most perfect hotel stays we ever had. The villas have outdoor bathrooms including a huge tub. You have an outdoor sitting area. The infinity pool is gorgeous. The restaurant is very very good (even if you don’t stay at the hotel you could treat yourself to a dinner there) and breakfast was delicious. Staff is wonderful. The catch is: we don’t know how much it cost because we were invited by Julia’s parents. But really, don’t miss this place!

Getting here

Coming from Krabi, we booked the whole trip including hotel transfer with Lomprayah via 12goasia for around 20€/person. This includes a 2h bus ride to Surat Thani, 2h ferry ride and 15 min. mini van ride. Koh Samui’s main Pier is Na Thon, on the west coast, but there is also a pier (exclusively Lomprayah) at Mae Nam Beach, literally next to both Coco Palm Beach and Saree Samui – very handy. Ferries come from Surat Thani, Chumpon, Koh Phangan, and Koh Tao. You can also fly to Koh Samui from Bangkok and a few international destinations. When we came back the second time, we took the Lomprayah ferry from Koh Tao (10€/person).