SAMUI gets bad press on many travel sites for being overdeveloped and trashy. I disagree. It is hard to find a nicer white-sand beach in southern Thailand than Chaweng and the resorts lining the beach are pretty attractive, not Miami Beach/Surfers Paradise recreated. Lamai is not too far behind Chaweng.
And midrange/high-end travellers deserve a nice scenic island mid-year when the Andaman and eastern Gulf are frequently too wet - as do the sun/swim/party set and the rent-girl chasers. Okay, the girlie-bar areas in Chaweng and Lamai may be a turn-off for some, but these are easily avoided.
True, the road strip behind Chaweng's beachfront hotels and bunalows is becoming a kinda tourist trap with lots of tacky t-shirt and sarong shops and those pesky tailors, but once again this is easily avoided. As is the super busy Chaweng by-pass with just about every type of business you can imagine. You have to remember Samui has quite a big local economy, and this strip contains many of the goods/service-suppliers for such. It aint so much for tourists, but it does make the trip from the north to say Lamai much quicker than the good old days.
Ah yeah, the good old days. All you dudes wishing Chaweng was like the late 80s should consider whether your town is unchanged since that time. And then head a short distance north of Samui where Phangan offers beaches just like Chaweng's good old days at Hads Sadet, Tong Reng, Mae, Coral Cove, Bottle Beach and others.
But hey, you don't have to go to Phangan. There are still some beaches on Samui which are quiet, scenic and laid back. And on Chaweng and Lamai it is still possible to find some old-time good value traveller type joints.And midrange/high-end travellers deserve a nice scenic island mid-year when the Andaman and eastern Gulf are frequently too wet - as do the sun/swim/party set and the rent-girl chasers. Okay, the girlie-bar areas in Chaweng and Lamai may be a turn-off for some, but these are easily avoided.
True, the road strip behind Chaweng's beachfront hotels and bunalows is becoming a kinda tourist trap with lots of tacky t-shirt and sarong shops and those pesky tailors, but once again this is easily avoided. As is the super busy Chaweng by-pass with just about every type of business you can imagine. You have to remember Samui has quite a big local economy, and this strip contains many of the goods/service-suppliers for such. It aint so much for tourists, but it does make the trip from the north to say Lamai much quicker than the good old days.
Ah yeah, the good old days. All you dudes wishing Chaweng was like the late 80s should consider whether your town is unchanged since that time. And then head a short distance north of Samui where Phangan offers beaches just like Chaweng's good old days at Hads Sadet, Tong Reng, Mae, Coral Cove, Bottle Beach and others.
CHAWENG - CHAWENG NOI - CORAL COVE - THONG TA KIEN - LAMAI - CHONG MON - HUA THANON.
THONG TA KIEN
THONG TA KIEN
This shot is at about half-tide. At lower tide levels the far end of the bay becomes very shallow and there is a section of rocks mid-bay which is exposed. However the western section of the bay closest camera is sandy right out into deeper water, which at lowest tide is maybe 30m out to be deep enough to swim. Closer to the beach is nice for pottering around looking at fishies etc - or snorkelling when the tide is up. The water was very clear when I visited. I also snorkelled along the western headland - there were small patches of fringing coral, but mainly mono-colour and underwhelming.
The road climbs quite steeply along this headland and there are some nice bar/restaurants with good views within 10 minutes walk. The second one you come to has budget prices.
To the south, the northern part of Lamai beach is only a 10 minute walk. Lamai is a long beach, the busy central part is say 10 minutes in songthaew. Chaweng is about the same.
Thong Ta Kien is a quiet bay - I don't think I saw a longtail boat put in or even pass close to shore. Most accommodation is far enough from the road for vehicle noise to be a non-issue except maybe for some of the rooms at the western-most place, Crystal Bay Resort.
Check further down page for Coral Bay, a similar beach about 2km along this hilly section, closer to Chaweng.
The road climbs quite steeply along this headland and there are some nice bar/restaurants with good views within 10 minutes walk. The second one you come to has budget prices.
To the south, the northern part of Lamai beach is only a 10 minute walk. Lamai is a long beach, the busy central part is say 10 minutes in songthaew. Chaweng is about the same.
Thong Ta Kien is a quiet bay - I don't think I saw a longtail boat put in or even pass close to shore. Most accommodation is far enough from the road for vehicle noise to be a non-issue except maybe for some of the rooms at the western-most place, Crystal Bay Resort.
Check further down page for Coral Bay, a similar beach about 2km along this hilly section, closer to Chaweng.
when I checked the user reviews on Trip Advisor, travelfish and the various booking sites it seemed to get the most raves for my budget range (just above flashpacker - Lady Tezza do like her aircon and hot water).
Okay, the standard rooms as you can see have a nice garden setting. You get a fridge and TV on top of the aircon and hot-water plus brekka included for 1100 high season August 09.
The room was clean, maybe approaching time for an interior repaint, plenty big enough for 2 and their gear, had sufficient storage, a king-size bed which was pretty comfortable, and was serviced daily. Adequate bathroom with western toilet, plenty of water pressure and good hot water. The balcony was a nice place to hang late afternoon with a glass of red (we brought a cheap Aussie box of wine) or a beer. Note there was a small shop up near reception where beers were nearly as cheap as 7/11s in town - bless that fridge in the room!
Thongtakian has plenty of more expensive rooms and bungalows. You can see the range on Thongtakian's website and sawadee.com. Some guests at the pool said their high-end poolside rooms in the new hotel wing were real nice.
The restaurant was beachfront with some of the chairs and tables on the sand, prices about average for budget bunalows (and this place is mid-range), food pretty nice. The buffet breakfast was served in a separate area up near reception (maybe so you can stuff yer bags with pastries etc when your daytrip shuttle bus comes a bit early) and was pretty good except like every other Thai buffet place this trip, more heat would not have hurt at times. I'm a world class fang merchant - can hoover down tucker like I've been starved the last 10 years - I reckon I easily got thru 200+ baht of multiple juice/coffee/fruit/cereal+yoghurt/eggs/half a dozen other hot things each morning. And if you think I'm good, you should see Lady T go! Lucky she gyms it out and I run/swim/cycle or we could end up circumferencially enhanced like my old pal Singapore Slim.
All this brings into consideration VALUE - we paid 1100 high season but subtract say 400 for brekka and you are talking 700 room only, which makes Mai Pen Rai's 650 baht backpacker bungalow on Had Sadet Phangan, no aircon/TV/hot water/fridge/pool/daily service maybe a bit expensive. Hey, I'm becoming a fan of midrangers - if I have someone to share.
Okay, the standard rooms as you can see have a nice garden setting. You get a fridge and TV on top of the aircon and hot-water plus brekka included for 1100 high season August 09.
The room was clean, maybe approaching time for an interior repaint, plenty big enough for 2 and their gear, had sufficient storage, a king-size bed which was pretty comfortable, and was serviced daily. Adequate bathroom with western toilet, plenty of water pressure and good hot water. The balcony was a nice place to hang late afternoon with a glass of red (we brought a cheap Aussie box of wine) or a beer. Note there was a small shop up near reception where beers were nearly as cheap as 7/11s in town - bless that fridge in the room!
Thongtakian has plenty of more expensive rooms and bungalows. You can see the range on Thongtakian's website and sawadee.com. Some guests at the pool said their high-end poolside rooms in the new hotel wing were real nice.
The restaurant was beachfront with some of the chairs and tables on the sand, prices about average for budget bunalows (and this place is mid-range), food pretty nice. The buffet breakfast was served in a separate area up near reception (maybe so you can stuff yer bags with pastries etc when your daytrip shuttle bus comes a bit early) and was pretty good except like every other Thai buffet place this trip, more heat would not have hurt at times. I'm a world class fang merchant - can hoover down tucker like I've been starved the last 10 years - I reckon I easily got thru 200+ baht of multiple juice/coffee/fruit/cereal+yoghurt/eggs/half a dozen other hot things each morning. And if you think I'm good, you should see Lady T go! Lucky she gyms it out and I run/swim/cycle or we could end up circumferencially enhanced like my old pal Singapore Slim.
All this brings into consideration VALUE - we paid 1100 high season but subtract say 400 for brekka and you are talking 700 room only, which makes Mai Pen Rai's 650 baht backpacker bungalow on Had Sadet Phangan, no aircon/TV/hot water/fridge/pool/daily service maybe a bit expensive. Hey, I'm becoming a fan of midrangers - if I have someone to share.
Google for New Hut, Lamai. These share-bathroom bungalows were going for 350 high season. One the other side of the atmospheric beachfront restaurant were bigger places with bathroom for 450.
This place was towards the north end of Lamai where a small stream cuts the beach. There is a reef which runs down the northern third Lamai forming a shallow lagoon at low tide, way too shallow for swimming in most places. Some people like this because it allows for some fossicking or just sitting around in a shallow pool of water. I prefer deeper water so I can swim anytime - which is available starting 5 minutes further south - the center and south end of the beach have no reef and good water depth low tide. Note that a bit further north from New Hut is a new small harbour for longtails constructed from dredged reef-rock, which looked a bit daggy low tide.
This place was towards the north end of Lamai where a small stream cuts the beach. There is a reef which runs down the northern third Lamai forming a shallow lagoon at low tide, way too shallow for swimming in most places. Some people like this because it allows for some fossicking or just sitting around in a shallow pool of water. I prefer deeper water so I can swim anytime - which is available starting 5 minutes further south - the center and south end of the beach have no reef and good water depth low tide. Note that a bit further north from New Hut is a new small harbour for longtails constructed from dredged reef-rock, which looked a bit daggy low tide.
The beach must be about 4km long. I particularly like the section immediately across from the nearest jet ski, where a collection of boulders gives the beach some character and makes for some nice swimming and snorkelling in water clearer than at the near headland. Note the relative lack of people at prime sunshine time - 11am on a perfect August (high season) day.
Lamai seemed to have fewer big resorts than Chaweng and quite a few smaller places advertising room with air for 700 - a lot had pools.
The far headland is the Laem Nan peninsula - there are some nice resorts along here with elevated views down the bay and neat patches of sand below, but shallow water low tide. The area was a frenzy of new construction when I checked it out this visit.
Thong Ta Kien is a short distance thru the lower saddle in the center background.
Lamai seemed to have fewer big resorts than Chaweng and quite a few smaller places advertising room with air for 700 - a lot had pools.
The far headland is the Laem Nan peninsula - there are some nice resorts along here with elevated views down the bay and neat patches of sand below, but shallow water low tide. The area was a frenzy of new construction when I checked it out this visit.
Thong Ta Kien is a short distance thru the lower saddle in the center background.
OP Bungalows is situated on a particularly nice section of sand about one quarter down from the northern end where the beach does a curve. Note the exposed line of reef rocks in background - Chaweng also has a lagoon situation running along its northern third. The lagoon is more attractive than Lamai's and had quite a few people splashing around, fossicking and sitting in the shallows behind camera - plus sunbathers on exposed sand-bars 100m from the beach. Central and southern Chaweng have no reef - low tide water is deep enough for swimming but you may have to go out a bit further than similar areas at Lamai. Lamai's sand is pretty white, but Chaweng is even more so.
I wanted to end our holiday in a nice hotel and show Lady T Chaweng so in typical Tezza fashion booked the cheapest standard room at First House which is in a separate block to the above. On arrival they upgraded us free to a family suite in the newer poolside block on account the aircon in the standard room was broken.
Jeez, what a blow - I've never stayed in a 4200 baht room in Thailand before. So I can't really give a comparative room report except to say the suite was everything I expected, the pool was great, the included buffet breakfast pretty awesome (restaurant prices for other meals were higher than other places this trip but there was a good budget restaurant on the street nearby, not to mention some minimarts with competitive prices), service very good. Being right at the southern end of main Chaweng beach it was maybe a 5 minute walk up to the start of the busy part of the Chaweng beach road shopping-restaurant strip.
Jeez, what a blow - I've never stayed in a 4200 baht room in Thailand before. So I can't really give a comparative room report except to say the suite was everything I expected, the pool was great, the included buffet breakfast pretty awesome (restaurant prices for other meals were higher than other places this trip but there was a good budget restaurant on the street nearby, not to mention some minimarts with competitive prices), service very good. Being right at the southern end of main Chaweng beach it was maybe a 5 minute walk up to the start of the busy part of the Chaweng beach road shopping-restaurant strip.
DAYTRIPS
ANG THONG NATIONAL MARINE PARK.
The climb up here is pretty strenuous but well worth while. That's part of the headquarters area bottom left - last I heard it was possible to rent longhouse rooms and camp here. There is a separate climbing track to the right of the viewpoint one to some okay cliffside caves.
I did this on my first visit to and reckon it is a must not-miss. There are seemingly hundreds of islands in this area between Samui and the mainland.
Most daytrips involve some snorkelling/beach time, a trip to overview Thai Nai - the Emerald Lagoon on which the lagoon in the novel/movie The Beach was based (the novel had the heroes starting in Samui and chartering a longtail to a secret nearby island - almost certainly in the Ang Thong group and a hell of a long way from Phi Phi Don in the Andaman where the movie was shot) and a fair bit of time on headquarter island. Any hotel travel desk or small travel agent in Samui can organise a trip - both slow-boats and speedboats can be used. I noticed prices had gone from budget to midrange since my last visit.
OTHER ISLANDS
Trip sellers also offer daytrips to neighbouring Ko Phangan and Ko Tao/Ko Nangyuan. Both areas are real nice and well worth seeing, but I personally consider Tao/Nangyuan a bit of a stretch in a boat unless you are going to stay there.
You can also visit Ko Tan to the south of Samui.
WATERFALLS
Most accessible are the Namuang falls in the central south. I visited in a previous trip and found the lower falls underwhelming (only 18m high) and didn't have time to access the upper falls (you have to walk for about 30 minutes), but people this latest trip said the 80m drop is worth it. Apparently there are some other attractions like elephant rides along the track.
OTHER ACTIVITES
You can do dive trips and deep sea fishing. There are about 3 different jungle treks including one of those treetop walkways, more elephant joints, a snake farm, butterfly garden, go-karting, golf - it seemed to me Samui now offers as much variety in activities as Phuket. Several Island Tour outfits will combine a handful of these attractions with visits to some of the more scenic viewpoints on the island.
WHEN TO GO.
The Samui/Phangan/Tao area tends to have a different wet season to most of Thailand. Normally this kicks in late September/early October and runs into early January, although the fact that Christmas/New Year is peak season indicates that it can't be too bad come late December.
The good news is that when the Andaman and Eastern Gulf islands are in wet season midyear, Samui is usually much drier. Sure it will rain a bit in these months but usually sunshine dominates. This drier weather means a second high season in July/August and consequently not the bargain accommodation prices you will find in Phuket, Krabi or big Ko Chang etc.
February thru April are even drier. Note March April can be pretty hot.
A point about this area's wet season - frequently this can be as holiday friendly as most other Thai regions, but every now and then they have a shocker. In all the years I have been following Thai weather this is the only place I have seen forum posters complaining about persistent bad weather, prolonged heavy rain etc. This seems to happen every 3rd or 4th year, but not necessarily on a regular basis. So if I was planning a Thai beach holiday in say Oct, Nov or early Dec I might think more about the mid or eastern Gulf or the Andaman. However if these months were the only time I could visit and I really wanted to see Samui, I would not be put-off - my first visit into this area was in a November and I got real nice weather, as good as my 3 August visits.
A smaller point - May in this area and many other Thai regions often gets a little blip of extra rain compared to adjacent months. Usually this is not enough to make it a mini wet season but once again I occasionally see complaints from the Phangan/Samui/Tao areas about prolonged rainy spells.
For the price conscious, you are going to get good discounts in wet season. But note months like March, April, June and a lot of Septrember are usually not wet, yet many accommodation places go into low season pricing. Note too that low-budget places are much less variable in pricing compared to midrange and high-end joints.
GETTING THERE
From Bangkok
The least expensive way is to get a bus/ferry or train/ferry combination ticket right onto Samui. Most of these involve travel to the Surathani area piers, although Lomprayah and Seatran run their buses/fast catamaran or ferry via Chumpon-Tao-Phangan.
Both offer an overnight bus services, and the sleeper train option is also popular with people wishing to minimise beach time lost to travel.
Many complaints have come about thefts from luggage in buses put on by travel agents in the Khao San Road area of Bangkok - people are urged to use the government buses from Bangkok's southern bus termingal which also provide the combination ferry ticket. Lomprayah is one private operator which seems free of theft.
Note that Surathani's railway station is Phun Phin, about 12km west of town. The most used piers are some 35km east of Surathani, in the Don Sak area, although Seatran's express boat and the night ferry leave from the Bandon pier in town. If you arrive without a combined ticket, the small travel agents across from the station will sell you a combination bus/ferry ticket to the pier and beyond. Ditto if you fly into Surathani airport or arrive at Surathani town's bus station.
From the west and south.
You can also get bus (or minibus)/ferry tickets from Phuket, Trang, Hat Yai, Penang, KL, Krabi and Phi Phi. Note in relation to the latter that one of the main operators, PP Family probably gets more complaints than any other regular Thai transport operator - not only for underbus thefts but for time wasting and general lack of care - travelfish advises against them. I reckon if you catch the first ferry out and the normal Krabi-Surathani minibus you would make it in a day. Catching the night ferry from Surathani town pier around 2200-2300 assures this. Actually you would probably be able to leave PP on the afternoon ferry and still make the night ferry.
Note the sleeper train option is popular with people coming from Penang, Kl and Singapore.
Very handy for people arriving too late for the last ferry out of Donsak (1900) is one of my favourites, the night ferry which leaves around 2300 from the town pier, chugs down river and then across the bay, you on your designated matress and pillow, arriving in Samui about 0530 where transport is waiting at the pier to take you to your beach of choice. You can grab a swim and brekka while all those lazy travellers are still tucked into their bungalows cutting the zzzzzs.
From Phangan and Tao
A number of companies run ferries - a pretty good timetable showing just about ALL ferry services (ie not only from the neighbouring islands but also Chumpon and the Surathani coast) is on sawadee.com
This doesn't show the small ferry which runs down the east coast of Phangan, starting at Thong Nai Pan around 0900 and picking up at several beaches on the way down including Than Sadet and East Hat Rin and arriving at Mae Nam around 1100-1130.
You can also cross from Phangan and Tao by speedboat - dearer, often bumpy, but saving bulk time.
Flying
The one advantage of flying into Surathani can be cheaper tickets, but direct flights into Samui's uniquely appealing airport is worth the extra $ in time saved. Some good ex-airport transport info on that link.
Bangkok Air and Thai fly into Samui from Bangkok - and Bangkok Air also flies in directly from Phuket, Krabi, Chiang Mai and U-Tapao near Pattaya.
International flights:
Direct flights into Samui are offered by Bangkok Air from Hong Kong and Singapore. Berjaya fly from KL as does Firefly.
I did this on my first visit to and reckon it is a must not-miss. There are seemingly hundreds of islands in this area between Samui and the mainland.
Most daytrips involve some snorkelling/beach time, a trip to overview Thai Nai - the Emerald Lagoon on which the lagoon in the novel/movie The Beach was based (the novel had the heroes starting in Samui and chartering a longtail to a secret nearby island - almost certainly in the Ang Thong group and a hell of a long way from Phi Phi Don in the Andaman where the movie was shot) and a fair bit of time on headquarter island. Any hotel travel desk or small travel agent in Samui can organise a trip - both slow-boats and speedboats can be used. I noticed prices had gone from budget to midrange since my last visit.
OTHER ISLANDS
Trip sellers also offer daytrips to neighbouring Ko Phangan and Ko Tao/Ko Nangyuan. Both areas are real nice and well worth seeing, but I personally consider Tao/Nangyuan a bit of a stretch in a boat unless you are going to stay there.
You can also visit Ko Tan to the south of Samui.
WATERFALLS
Most accessible are the Namuang falls in the central south. I visited in a previous trip and found the lower falls underwhelming (only 18m high) and didn't have time to access the upper falls (you have to walk for about 30 minutes), but people this latest trip said the 80m drop is worth it. Apparently there are some other attractions like elephant rides along the track.
OTHER ACTIVITES
You can do dive trips and deep sea fishing. There are about 3 different jungle treks including one of those treetop walkways, more elephant joints, a snake farm, butterfly garden, go-karting, golf - it seemed to me Samui now offers as much variety in activities as Phuket. Several Island Tour outfits will combine a handful of these attractions with visits to some of the more scenic viewpoints on the island.
WHEN TO GO.
The Samui/Phangan/Tao area tends to have a different wet season to most of Thailand. Normally this kicks in late September/early October and runs into early January, although the fact that Christmas/New Year is peak season indicates that it can't be too bad come late December.
The good news is that when the Andaman and Eastern Gulf islands are in wet season midyear, Samui is usually much drier. Sure it will rain a bit in these months but usually sunshine dominates. This drier weather means a second high season in July/August and consequently not the bargain accommodation prices you will find in Phuket, Krabi or big Ko Chang etc.
February thru April are even drier. Note March April can be pretty hot.
A point about this area's wet season - frequently this can be as holiday friendly as most other Thai regions, but every now and then they have a shocker. In all the years I have been following Thai weather this is the only place I have seen forum posters complaining about persistent bad weather, prolonged heavy rain etc. This seems to happen every 3rd or 4th year, but not necessarily on a regular basis. So if I was planning a Thai beach holiday in say Oct, Nov or early Dec I might think more about the mid or eastern Gulf or the Andaman. However if these months were the only time I could visit and I really wanted to see Samui, I would not be put-off - my first visit into this area was in a November and I got real nice weather, as good as my 3 August visits.
A smaller point - May in this area and many other Thai regions often gets a little blip of extra rain compared to adjacent months. Usually this is not enough to make it a mini wet season but once again I occasionally see complaints from the Phangan/Samui/Tao areas about prolonged rainy spells.
For the price conscious, you are going to get good discounts in wet season. But note months like March, April, June and a lot of Septrember are usually not wet, yet many accommodation places go into low season pricing. Note too that low-budget places are much less variable in pricing compared to midrange and high-end joints.
GETTING THERE
From Bangkok
The least expensive way is to get a bus/ferry or train/ferry combination ticket right onto Samui. Most of these involve travel to the Surathani area piers, although Lomprayah and Seatran run their buses/fast catamaran or ferry via Chumpon-Tao-Phangan.
Both offer an overnight bus services, and the sleeper train option is also popular with people wishing to minimise beach time lost to travel.
Many complaints have come about thefts from luggage in buses put on by travel agents in the Khao San Road area of Bangkok - people are urged to use the government buses from Bangkok's southern bus termingal which also provide the combination ferry ticket. Lomprayah is one private operator which seems free of theft.
Note that Surathani's railway station is Phun Phin, about 12km west of town. The most used piers are some 35km east of Surathani, in the Don Sak area, although Seatran's express boat and the night ferry leave from the Bandon pier in town. If you arrive without a combined ticket, the small travel agents across from the station will sell you a combination bus/ferry ticket to the pier and beyond. Ditto if you fly into Surathani airport or arrive at Surathani town's bus station.
From the west and south.
You can also get bus (or minibus)/ferry tickets from Phuket, Trang, Hat Yai, Penang, KL, Krabi and Phi Phi. Note in relation to the latter that one of the main operators, PP Family probably gets more complaints than any other regular Thai transport operator - not only for underbus thefts but for time wasting and general lack of care - travelfish advises against them. I reckon if you catch the first ferry out and the normal Krabi-Surathani minibus you would make it in a day. Catching the night ferry from Surathani town pier around 2200-2300 assures this. Actually you would probably be able to leave PP on the afternoon ferry and still make the night ferry.
Note the sleeper train option is popular with people coming from Penang, Kl and Singapore.
Very handy for people arriving too late for the last ferry out of Donsak (1900) is one of my favourites, the night ferry which leaves around 2300 from the town pier, chugs down river and then across the bay, you on your designated matress and pillow, arriving in Samui about 0530 where transport is waiting at the pier to take you to your beach of choice. You can grab a swim and brekka while all those lazy travellers are still tucked into their bungalows cutting the zzzzzs.
From Phangan and Tao
A number of companies run ferries - a pretty good timetable showing just about ALL ferry services (ie not only from the neighbouring islands but also Chumpon and the Surathani coast) is on sawadee.com
This doesn't show the small ferry which runs down the east coast of Phangan, starting at Thong Nai Pan around 0900 and picking up at several beaches on the way down including Than Sadet and East Hat Rin and arriving at Mae Nam around 1100-1130.
You can also cross from Phangan and Tao by speedboat - dearer, often bumpy, but saving bulk time.
Flying
The one advantage of flying into Surathani can be cheaper tickets, but direct flights into Samui's uniquely appealing airport is worth the extra $ in time saved. Some good ex-airport transport info on that link.
Bangkok Air and Thai fly into Samui from Bangkok - and Bangkok Air also flies in directly from Phuket, Krabi, Chiang Mai and U-Tapao near Pattaya.
International flights:
Direct flights into Samui are offered by Bangkok Air from Hong Kong and Singapore. Berjaya fly from KL as does Firefly.
Accommodation here ranges from neat old-style budget bungalow to high-end - check the range at sawadee.com which also has a bunch of excellent pix. This place gets user raves on the booking sites and travel forums. I walked up from the southern end of Chaweng Noi beach in 30 minutes. The access road takes off from the main Samui coast road about midway along the Chaweng Noi strip and JUNGLE CLUB is well sign-posted. The access road, very steep in parts, is concreted for all except the last 400m which is not as steep and would not be too tricky for amateur motorcyclist. I gotta spend a few nights here next visit.
If you have any questions, please ask them in THE FORUM rather than below. I don't get a chance to check all island pages daily, but unless I'm travelling I'll try to monitor THE FORUM regularly.
If you have any questions, please ask them in THE FORUM rather than below. I don't get a chance to check all island pages daily, but unless I'm travelling I'll try to monitor THE FORUM regularly.
