Koh Samui
Koh Samui is the easiest Thai island, with an airport and a soft landing at Bophut, and the right one for July when the Andaman takes twice the rain. Ang Thong's 42 islands are the day trip.
Koh Samui in a nutshell
Koh Samui: what to expect
The numbers below come from 122,000+ stops planned on the island on Stippl.
Koh Samui gives you a developed island without a ferry day, and most people use it exactly that way. Chaweng and Lamai hold the beaches and the bars, Fisherman's Village at Bophut is where the evening ends up, and the northeast temple circuit runs the gold Big Buddha at Wat Phra Yai and the lake-ringed Wat Plai Laem inside a single early morning. Most travellers give the island 3 nights on Stippl.
Koh Samui is almost never the only coast on a trip, which is the opposite of how it gets sold. 79.2% of the trips that include Koh Samui on Stippl also carry a stop on the Andaman side. The two coasts have opposite rainy seasons, so a route that holds both has a wet-weather answer built into it, and June to September is when the Gulf is the right side to be standing on.
Three nights sees the island and five uses it. Give a day to Ang Thong National Marine Park, the forty-two limestone islands offshore, and check your dates, because the park closes from the start of November to the middle of December. Eat at whichever night market is on rather than choosing a restaurant, take a scooter into the interior for the Na Muang waterfalls and the Secret Buddha Garden, and know that the Full Moon Party happens on Koh Phangan. Samui is the bed and the boat.
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Download the appWho Koh Samui is for
First-time Thai islanders
An airport, hospitals, ATMs and a deep hostel market make Samui the easiest Gulf island to start on; Choeng Mon and Bophut are the soft landings.
Families
Bophut for a walkable contained base, Lipa Noi for shallow clear water with nothing underfoot, plus go-karting, waterslides and a mall for the wet afternoon.
Nightlife travellers
Chaweng is the unambiguous answer: beach bars into clubs, cabaret shows and Muay Thai at the stadium, all within walking distance.
Luxury travellers
Samui has a genuine five-star market including private-island resorts off Choeng Mon, and it is the segment White Lotus actually moved.
Summer travellers from Europe
In June to September the Andaman coast takes two to three times Samui's rain, so if you are in Thailand in July this is the correct island.
Island-hoppers
Most people give Samui 3 nights, and with Phangan 30 minutes away and Koh Tao an hour and a half it anchors a Gulf trio rather than dead-ending.
Maybe not for you: anyone looking for Thailand's cheap island, since Samui runs well above the mainland; serious divers, because the good sites are off Koh Tao and Phangan; anyone coming for the Full Moon Party, which is Phangan; and November visitors, who get the wettest month.
The best time to visit Koh Samui
The dry window
February to April
Calm sea, few rain days and everything running: the island at its best, and a narrower window than the guidebook December to April implies.
The light-rain middle
May to September
Rain most days but as short afternoon showers, not washouts. By volume this is the island's second-driest stretch, and it is the Andaman coast's wet season.
Northeast monsoon
October to December
Half the year's rain in a quarter of the year. The cheapest rooms, the thinnest crowds and real disruption to the boats.
- Ang Thong marine park closes from 1 November to mid December, every year. The island's signature day trip is unavailable exactly when the rain peaks; a monsoon stay is the island itself.
- January is the month most travellers plan Samui for on Stippl, about 87 days ahead, and it is wetter than any month from May to September. Guides that call January peak dry season are describing the tourist calendar, not the weather.
- Samui is out of phase with the Andaman coast, roughly six months apart. It takes the northeast monsoon while Phuket and Krabi take the southwest, so July belongs to the Gulf and November to the Andaman.
- Rough-sea days cluster from late October to February, and the crossing to Koh Tao is the one that suffers. Seventy kilometres of open water against fifteen to Phangan; it is cancelled far more often.
- The box-jellyfish peak is July to October, which is the island's best weather stretch. The two calendars do not line up; swim inside the nets or in the pool in those months.
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Things to do in Koh Samui
Photo by Vyacheslav Argenberg via CommonsAng Thong National Marine Park
Take the island's number-one day trip to the forty-two limestone islands thirty kilometres away, reachable only on an approved tour boat, about €50 with kayaking and snorkelling. The climb to the inland lake viewpoint is the point of the day.
The Big Buddha and Wat Plai Laem
Do the northeast temple circuit early: the twelve-metre gold Buddha of 1972 on its causeway island, then the eighteen-armed Guanyin at Wat Plai Laem ten minutes on. Free, and the Big Buddha is lit at night.
Hin Ta and Hin Yai
Stop fifteen minutes at the Grandfather and Grandmother rocks beside Lamai, free, with the rock formation, the legend of the elderly couple lost at sea and the stalls selling coconut sweets. A morning visit avoids the coach queue.
The rotating night markets
Eat at whichever market is on tonight rather than at a restaurant: Fisherman's Village on Fridays is the flagship, Lamai on Sundays, Chaweng most nights as the fallback. Grilled seafood from about €5.
The interior by scooter
Ride the road across the middle of the island through rubber and coconut plantations to the Na Muang waterfalls: the first is a drive-up swim pool and free, the second a twenty-minute climb. The thing almost nobody on Samui does.
Koh Madsum and Koh Tan
Take the ten-minute boat from Thong Krut pier in the south to white sand, snorkelling and the beach pigs, about €20 for the boat. The counterweight to a trip that otherwise never leaves the east coast.
The neighbourhoods of Koh Samui
Chaweng
The loud one, seven kilometres
The island's centre of gravity on the east coast: seven kilometres of beach, the nightlife, the shopping and the mall, busy day and night. For nightlife and first visits that want everything nearby.
Everything in one place, and no escape from the crowd.
Lamai
Calmer strip, flat sea
The second beach in the south-east: a real bar and restaurant strip, usually flat swimmable sea, cheaper beds, and the Hin Ta and Hin Yai rocks just south. For backpackers and anyone who found Chaweng too much.
Chaweng at half the volume and price, and still a strip.
Bophut
Fishing village, Friday market
The north coast's characterful one: an old fishing village that kept its wooden shophouses, the Friday walking street and boats still landing catch. For families and couples who want charm and a beach that is not a strip.
Character and the market, and a narrower beach than the east coast.
Maenam
Cheap, green, slow
The quiet north-coast beach: cheap, green, long-stay, with the immigration office and a catamaran pier. For long stays and backpackers who want a month at a bungalow price.
The cheapest quiet beach on Samui, and a ride for any nightlife.
The south and west
Sunset side, shallow water
The quietest end and the sunset side: Lipa Noi is shallow, clear and almost rock-free, the island's beach for small children, and the car-ferry pier is here. For families with young children and for people avoiding the strips.
The best water for children and the sunsets, and a car for every outing.
Nathon
Port town, Saturday market
The island's town and main ferry port on the west coast: administration, the Seatran pier, a Saturday walking street and sunset-facing water. For a night before an early ferry; not a holiday base.
The ferry and the town, and no beach worth the name.
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Where to stay in Koh Samui
Stay in Chaweng for a first trip: the beach, the nightlife and the shopping are all within walking distance, and the airport is fifteen to twenty minutes away. Most people give Koh Samui 3 nights on Stippl. Book ahead for Christmas to New Year and for Full Moon weekends, when Koh Phangan's overflow lands here and the Friday boats sell out weeks ahead.
Chaweng
Beachfront social hostels up to €26 a bed, mid-range hotels €40 to €80, and pool resorts from €120.
Lamai
Cheaper guesthouses and bungalows, €26 to €60, with the yoga retreats on the hill behind sold by the week.
Bophut
Boutique hotels in old wooden shophouses and small resorts, €50 to €130, with a longer airport run.
Maenam
Long-stay bungalows and budget resorts under the palms, €15 to €50, quiet and green.
The south and west
Family resorts on shallow, rock-free water, €60 to €180, thirty minutes from the airport.
Nathon
Plain hotels and guesthouses near the pier, €15 to €40, for a night before an early ferry.
What to eat in Koh Samui
the island's high-end local speciality, served as a coconut curry or worked into Western dishes by the resort kitchens
a chewy local caramel sweet, southern Thai, sold from stalls and given as a gift, the most Samui-specific thing in our sources
fish, prawns and squid grilled to order, Bophut's fishing village still lands catch and the front-line restaurants use it
the island's crop rather than a garnish: plantations cover the flats, and farm-to-table tours husk it in front of you
the cheap-eating default and where the island is genuinely good value, a full meal for under €1.70
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Koh Samui customs and what not to do
The temples are for worship
The north-east cluster is not a photo stop: shoulders and knees covered, slip-off shoes, and Wat Phra Yai and Wat Plai Laem done before the tour buses arrive at ten.
Wat Khunaram asks more
You are looking at the mummified body of a monk, not an exhibit; dress modestly, keep your voice down and photograph from the rail, not over it.
There is a Chinese community
Hundreds of years old, with Taoist shrines around the island, a merchant's house open to the public in Maenam and a Guan Yu shrine; the shrines are in use, so shoes off.
The test is contact, not words
Sanctuary on the sign proves nothing: any direct contact with an elephant, touching, washing or riding, signals that welfare is not the priority.
Agree the price first
Songthaew fares, beach massages and a boatman's waiting time at Koh Madsum; quoted prices are elastic here because the taxi monopoly sets the tone.
Fish are released for luck
At Wat Plai Laem's lake, islanders release fish for merit; buy from the stall by the water if you want to join in, and do not fish or feed there.
Do
- Go to the north-east temples early in the morning, before they fill
- Carry cash for attraction entries, the Ang Thong park fee, beach bars, songthaews and markets
- Check which pier your ferry ticket lands at before you book a hotel transfer
- Use Grab or Bolt when a taxi refuses the meter; the price shows up front
Don't
- Ride, wash or touch an elephant anywhere on the island, whatever the venue calls itself
- Hand over your passport as a scooter deposit; agree cash
- Book a tight onward connection on a ferry day between late October and February
- Expect to swim in Ang Thong's Emerald Lake; you view it from above
What a Koh Samui trip costs
Budget
€32–48
Hostel dorm or basic fan room, street food and local restaurants, songthaew or a shared scooter, a beer or two.
Mid-range
€93–160
A three- or four-star hotel, restaurant meals, a tour or a spa, taxis rather than songthaews.
High-end
€160–320+
A five-star resort, fine dining, private transfers and charters.
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Fun facts about Koh Samui
Samui's airport is owned and run by Bangkok Airways. The airline built it and opened it in April 1989, owns three Thai airports in total, and is the dominant carrier, which explains the fare level.
The Big Buddha technically stands on a separate island. Koh Faan is joined to Samui by a causeway, so the 12-metre statue sits on its own islet off the north-east corner.
The mummified monk at Wat Khunaram wears sunglasses. Luang Pho Daeng died meditating in 1973 and has sat in a glass case in the lotus position since, the sunglasses added out of respect.
The Secret Buddha Garden was one man's retirement project. A fruit farmer began it in 1976 and worked on it until his death; one of the statues is of the maker himself.
Wat Plai Laem, the floating temple, was built in 2004. It is recent rather than ancient, which almost nobody realises looking at the 18-armed Guanyin over the lake.
Samui took about 2.78 million air arrivals in 2024, up 21% on the year before. This is a busy, developed island with real infrastructure and a full-spectrum market, from dorm beds to private-island resorts.
Coconuts were the island's economy before tourism. The plantations still cover the flats, and a coconut farm visit is a normal tour product on an island most people think of for beaches.
Local tips for Koh Samui
Donsak, not Surat Thani
The boats leave from Donsak, seventy kilometres east of Surat Thani city, and there is no ferry from the city itself. The joint bus-and-boat ticket from Bangkok takes you door to pier.
Four piers, not interchangeable
Nathon and Lipa Noi on the west take the mainland ferries; Bangrak and Maenam on the north take the Phangan and Tao boats. Check which pier your ticket names before you book the taxi.
Fly to Surat, not Samui
The low-cost carriers serve Surat Thani from Don Mueang for a fraction of the Samui fare, and the ferry combination adds three hours. The direct flight is expensive because one airline owns the airport.
How long to stay
Most people give Samui 3 nights on Stippl, and the ring road makes one base enough: Ang Thong, the north-east temples and a night market are the three days.
Agree the fare first
No tuk-tuks, one taxi company that refuses the meter, and songthaews that run the ring road in daylight for a euro or two. Grab and Bolt show the price up front and are the answer.
Vinegar for a jellyfish sting
This is the coast where the fatal box-jellyfish cases have happened, most in July to October. Vinegar first, thirty seconds, then the hospital; Samui has full private hospitals, which the smaller islands do not.
Koh Samui questions, answered
By letting the rain decide the order rather than the map, since the two coasts dry out at opposite times of year. Lay both sides out in Stippl and put the wetter one first, while you still have days left to move things. Then show the route to people who have done that crossing, in subreddits like r/ThailandTourism.
About a third do: 36.4% of the trips that include Koh Samui on Stippl carry all three Gulf islands. The boats between them are short, so the real question is whether you want a diving island and a party island as well as a resort one, or would rather give those days to a single coast.
Longer than on most Thai islands: only 14.1% of Koh Samui stops planned on Stippl are a single night. The island is big enough that one night gets you Chaweng and nothing else, and the day trips that justify the flight each need a full day of their own.
One of four, and they are not interchangeable. Nathon, Lipa Noi, Maenam and Bangrak serve different routes, and a ticket that says Koh Samui does not tell you which of them you are landing at. Check the pier name against your hotel before booking, because crossing the island costs the better part of an hour.
No, it happens on Koh Phangan, about half an hour away by boat. Plenty of people sleep on Koh Samui and cross over for the night, which is why the late boats run at all, but the party itself and the whole build-up around it are on the other island.
More than half do: 52.8% of the trips that include Koh Samui on Stippl also carry another country. The island's own airport is part of why, since leaving the region costs you neither a ferry day nor a domestic hop to reach a long-haul gate.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
Plan Koh Samui in Stippl
Day-by-day planning, stays and budget in one app, with every place from this guide already on the map.
Download the app