Samui yes or no ?

[mickey707]

Thinking about adding 3 days in Koh Samui to my itinerery this year, can anybody recommend the best places to stay regarding hotels and beaches, there seems to be a lot of beaches around the island. Some good advice would be appreciated.

 

thanks

[samak]

Yes!

i would do a poll!

[samak]

...and Chaweng or Lamai Beach if you like nightlife and the other if you want avoid it!

 

best hotels: Santiburi, Tonsai, Meridien Nam Taling if you prefer more quiet areas; Poppies and Chaweng Regent if you prefer to stay on Chaweng

[The_Munchmaster]

My favourite place was Lolita Bungalows in Mae Nam (north of the island). I've stayed there 3 times over the years but haven't been there since 98 or 99. Very basic bungalows, but right on the beach. Very relaxing. :thumbup:

[kamui]

It's already several years ago that I was at Samui, but I presume that Chaweng went from bad to worse. If you like an nousy town with McD, pubs and bars, stupid farangs on rented Harleys, drunk punters and crowded beach you should like Chaweng.

 

Lamai was very relaxed and laid back at that time, but I have heared that major developements changed the feel of it as well...

[shygye]

Which beach to find GTGs.

[The_Munchmaster]

The sandy ones. :thumbup:

[jonjon058]

 

 

I stayed at Centara on Chaweng about 3 years ago. Thought it was good. I haven't been back to Koh Samui recently though. Nice enough place, but nothing about Koh Samui stood out to make it someplace I felt a need to visit more than once.

[manaomaiminam]

A lot of it depends what you want to do. I go every year with family, and usually stay at Chaweng, but here's some head's up on Chaweng. If you are going to swim/go in the hotel pool, for the most part, choose on the hotel. The beach itself on Chaweng tends to be pretty clean and is good for suntanning. But, if you want to go into the water, here is the head's up. If you look at a map, starting in about the middle of Chaweng going north, the water is very shallow and is full of stones and rocks. They hurt, cut you feet, and at low tide stick out of the water. This affects the water in front of all the hotels in that stretch, including the Regent. In fact, that northern area has a lot of high-priced resorts, but the water sucks because of the stones. You will see few, if any people in the water. I wish I could give you a hotel as a marker saying the water is fine from here south, but memory fails me and I'm not going to go look it up, seems to me it was a hotel with a California-type name. As you go south from the middle, the water has a sandy bottom and there are a lot of people in the water (this includes Poppies, if that is your choice, and lots of other place.

 

Now, as you continue to go south on Chaweng, some of the maps will show an area called Chaweng Noi. There you have First House, First Bungalow, which are medium priced and then another place, don't remember the name, and then the Impiana (a higher priced spread). Chaweng Noi is super nice, great sand, clean water, and at least all the times I was there, no dangerous tides, no rip currents, no jellyfish. All of which are important if you are taking kids as well. All of the hotels have good to excellent pools, decent to very nice rooms. Prices will go from around 1,300 baht for very basic with A/C to about 7,000, so you run the full gamut. The down side is that you are at the very south end of Chaweng, so you are about 2K away from middle Chaweng (to me, that is the area around McDonalds, etc,) and of course, further from Nothern Chaweng. The majority of the P4P places are off the main street but in the middle Chaweng area. The have started building up the area in southern Chaweng so now there are some restaurants and even music places, but few people. Most of Chaweng is heavy farang, not a lot of Thais except for those working in the shops and restaurants.

 

The songtaews (pickups that drop you from place to place) have high prices for farangs and there are taxis there, similar to those in BKK, but none run on meter and you need to negotiate the price, and it will be very high compared to what you are used to paying in BKK.

 

Finally, people are correct, a lot of Samui is very commercial and full of westerners. If you stay there a while, it is worth your while to rent a motorcycle or car and tour around the island. With the exception of Chaweng, the traffic is moderate and a motorcycle will certainly defray your songteow prices. The fresh fish and seafood is excellent, but most of the places on Chaweng itself, have high prices running 1500 to 2000 baht per kilo for tiger prawns--you pay for the nice surroundings. If you go to north Chaweng and turn left down the road across from the Blues Bar (again, don't remember the name), walk down the road about 200 meters, on the left hand side you will see a parking lot with lot of seafood restaurants in the parking lot. The places are not fancy, you have basic tables and you sit on plastic stools. You will see a lot of Thais and local farangs and others who took the time here. Prices are about half of that on the main drag. When you look at the restaurants you will find one that is always full, it is called Santanas, and there is a reason, it is excellent. The owner looks like Et Carabao, and they play nothing but Carabao videos and music there. Great place, pick out the seafood you want and enjoy.

[rchapstick]

For my taste, Samui is WAAAY too overdeveloped. The locals seem to view the whole island as a mechanism to extract as much baht as possible in the least amount of time, and they act accordingly.

 

There are IMHO too many other places (e.g. Hua Hin, Khao Lak) to enjoy the beach in Thailand, without the hassle of Samui.