Koh Samui
A monk at Wat Khunaram died meditating in 1973 and has sat in a glass case in the lotus position ever since, wearing sunglasses. Forty-two limestone islands make the best day out.
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.
À qui Koh Samui s'adresse
First-time Thai islanders
an airport, hospitals, ATMs, a ring road and a deep hostel market make Samui the easiest Gulf island to start on; Choeng Mon and Bophut are the named soft-landing bases
Families
Bophut for a walkable contained base, Lipa Noi for shallow clear water with almost no coral or rock underfoot, plus go-karting, jungle waterslides and a mall for the wet afternoon
Nightlife travellers
Chaweng is the unambiguous answer: beach bars into clubs, cabaret at 20:00/21:30/23:00 and Muay Thai at the stadium, all within walking distance
Wellness and yoga travellers
a real cluster rather than a marketing line, concentrated around Lamai and Na Mueang, with retreats typically running seven days
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
For the European summer
this is the headline: in June–September the Andaman coast takes 237–387 mm of rain a month and Samui takes 112–147. If you are in Thailand in July, Samui is the correct island
Island-hoppers
Phangan is 30 minutes away and Koh Tao 1h30, so Samui works as the anchor of a Gulf trio with real transport rather than as a dead end
Scooter explorers
the ring road is good and the interior is genuinely different from the coast: rubber and coconut plantations, waterfalls, village markets, the highest temple on the island
Maybe not for you: anyone looking for Thailand's cheap island (four independent sources call it expensive and the live pass quantifies it at 20–40% above the mainland), serious divers (the good sites are off Koh Tao and Koh Phangan; Samui is the base, not the dive), anyone whose whole reason for coming is the Full Moon Party (that is Koh Phangan), November visitors (a quarter of the annual rain, and Ang Thong shut), and nervous scooter riders on an island where our sources' own safety framing is that the road is the danger
The best time to visit Koh Samui
The dry window
Feb–Apr
58–78 mm a month over 5–8 rain days, calm sea, everything running. This is the island at its best and it is a narrower window than the guidebook "December–April" implies
The light-rain middle
May–Sep
112–147 mm a month over 14–16 rain days: rain most days, but short afternoon showers rather than washouts. Volume-wise this is the island's second-driest stretch, and it is when the Andaman coast is unusable
The wet window / northeast monsoon
Oct–Dec
988.9 mm, 50.5% of the annual rainfall in a quarter of the year. Cheapest rooms, thinnest crowds, real disruption
- January, the shoulder: 137.8 mm over 11 rain days, wetter than any month May–September. Guides that call January "peak dry season" are describing the tourist calendar, not the weather
- Undated: a "Fisherman's Village" festival in Bophut, named after the village. One source, no date, no other mention anywhere; recorded as a lead, not a planning fact
- National festivals: Songkran, Loy Krathong, Chinese New Year, are country-level and not island-specific
- Daytime temperature is not a reason to pick a month. Every month sits between 29.0 °C and 32.6 °C by day and 23.9–26.1 °C by night. On Samui, rainfall is the only variable that matters
- The single most useful planning fact this island has: Samui is out of phase with the Andaman coast. Samui takes the northeast monsoon, Phuket and Krabi take the southwest, and they are roughly six months apart. In June–September Phuket takes 237–387 mm a month while Samui takes 112–147. In November it inverts: Samui 489.6 mm, Phuket 173.7 mm. February–April both coasts are dry and either works
- The wind matters more than the rain for anyone with a boat to catch. Rough-sea days cluster across the whole northeast monsoon period, roughly late October to February: documented examples include a Lomprayah route closure across Koh Tao–Phangan–Samui–Donsak on 12–13 February 2026 and Ang Thong suspending trips on 8 and 9 January 2026 for high seas. Do not book a tight onward connection on a ferry day between late October and February
Add your Koh Samui dates and we'll flag the weather
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Décrivez votre voyage et obtenez un itinéraire pour Koh Samui en quelques secondes
Tout ce guide est déjà dans Stippl. Dites au planificateur combien de temps vous avez et ce que vous aimez : il construit l'itinéraire, les journées et les temps de trajet, et vous modifiez ce que vous voulez.
Things to do in Koh Samui
Photo by Ainur Iman via Unsplash
Photo by Vyacheslav Argenberg via CommonsAng Thong National Marine Park
the island's number-one day trip and the thing every publisher leads: 42 limestone islands about 30 km away, reachable only on a government-approved tour boat, with snorkelling, kayaking, a viewpoint climb and the Emerald Lake. A big-boat day runs 8–9 hours for 1,100–1,500 THB, plus a 300 THB park fee almost every operator excludes. Closed 1 November to mid-December
The northeast temple circuit, done early
the Big Buddha (Wat Phra Yai), a 12 m gold Buddha built in 1972 on a small causeway-linked island, sometimes visible from the plane and worth returning to at night when it is lit; Wat Plai Laem, the 2004 "floating temple" ringed by a lake with an 18-armed Guanyin and a ~30 m laughing Buddha, fifteen minutes away and always paired with it; and Wat Khunaram, where a monk who died meditating in 1973 sits mummified in a glass case with sunglasses over the eyes. All free, all busy by mid-morning
Hin Ta & Hin Yai
the Grandfather and Grandmother rocks beside Lamai: a fifteen-minute free stop with a genital-shaped rock formation, a local legend about an elderly couple lost at sea, and the stalls that sell galamae. Do not swim at the beach there
The rotating night-market circuit
the practical version of "eating out" on Samui: pick the market that is on tonight rather than the restaurant, with Fisherman's Village as the flagship and Chaweng as the fallback
The interior, by scooter or 4×4
the thing almost nobody does and our own data's own local tip: rubber and coconut plantations, the Na Muang waterfalls (One is a drive-up swim pool and free, Two is a 20–30 minute climb with rope sections and 30 THB), the Secret Buddha Garden a fruit farmer began building in 1976 and worked on until he died, and the island's highest temple. The safari version puts you on roof seats for the final climb
Koh Madsum and Koh Tan
a 10–15 minute boat hop from Thong Krut Pier in the south to white sand, snorkelling and the beach pigs; the counterweight to a trip that otherwise never leaves the east coast
Les quartiers de Koh Samui
Chaweng (east)
nightlife
The loud one and the island's centre of gravity: ~7 km of beach, the nightlife, the shopping, the mall, watersports day and night. Central enough to reach anywhere, busy enough that you never escape it
Seven kilometres of beach, nightlife, shopping and a mall, all in one place.
Bophut / Fisherman's Village (north)
families
The characterful one: an old fishing village that kept its wooden shophouse frontage, the flagship Friday walking street, boats still landing catch. Polished but not a resort strip
The Friday Walking Street in a fishing village that still lands its catch.
Maenam (north)
long stays
The backpacker-quiet beach: cheap, green, slow, long-stay. Also where the immigration office now is, and a Lomprayah catamaran pier
A cheap, quiet long-stay beach, and where the immigration office is.
Nathon (west)
markets*
The island's town and main ferry port, not a holiday base: administration, the Seatran pier, a Saturday walking street, sunset-facing water
The main ferry port, with a Saturday walking street and sunset water.
South & west coast (Lipa Noi, Taling Ngam, Thong Krut, Bang Kao)
families*
The quietest end and the sunset side. Lipa Noi is shallow, clear and almost rock-free, the named kid-friendly beach, and is also the vehicle-ferry pier. Thong Krut is the departure point for Koh Madsum and Koh Tan
Lipa Noi's shallow, almost rock-free water is the island's best for kids.
Lamai (southeast)
backpackers
The second beach, ~4 km, calmer than Chaweng but not calm: a real bar and restaurant strip, usually flat swimmable sea, cheaper beds. Hin Ta & Hin Yai sit just south
A calmer bar strip than Chaweng's, next to the Hin Ta & Hin Yai rocks.
See every Koh Samui neighbourhood on one map
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Où loger à Koh Samui
Which beach you book matters more than which property, and it is the single most useful thing this sources can say about sleeping on Samui: Chaweng for nightlife and centrality, Lamai for cheaper and calmer, Bophut for family and character, Choeng Mon for quiet with the airport nearby, Maenam for long stays and budget, Bangrak for the cheapest beds and the pier, the south and west for seclusion
Chaweng (east)
The loud one and the island's centre of gravity: ~7 km of beach, the nightlife, the shopping, the mall, watersports day and night. Central enough to reach anywhere, busy enough that you never escape it
Bophut / Fisherman's Village (north)
The characterful one: an old fishing village that kept its wooden shophouse frontage, the flagship Friday walking street, boats still landing catch. Polished but not a resort strip
Maenam (north)
The backpacker-quiet beach: cheap, green, slow, long-stay. Also where the immigration office now is, and a Lomprayah catamaran pier
Nathon (west)
The island's town and main ferry port, not a holiday base: administration, the Seatran pier, a Saturday walking street, sunset-facing water
South & west coast (Lipa Noi, Taling Ngam, Thong Krut, Bang Kao)
The quietest end and the sunset side. Lipa Noi is shallow, clear and almost rock-free, the named kid-friendly beach, and is also the vehicle-ferry pier. Thong Krut is the departure point for Koh Madsum and Koh Tan
Lamai (southeast)
The second beach, ~4 km, calmer than Chaweng but not calm: a real bar and restaurant strip, usually flat swimmable sea, cheaper beds. Hin Ta & Hin Yai sit just south
Que manger à 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
Discover food spots in Stippl
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Koh Samui customs and what not to do
There is a Chinese community
described as dating back hundreds of years: Taoist shrines around the island including one in Maenam, a 200-year-old Chinese merchant's house open to the public, a 16 m Guan Yu shrine with Chinese restaurants in front, and a Chinatown character to the Maenam market
The temples are for worship
the northeast cluster is not a photo stop. Cover shoulders and knees, wear shoes you can slip off, and go early, the advice is to do Wat Phra Yai, Wat Plai Laem and Wat Laem Suwannaram before the tour buses
Wat Khunaram asks more
you are looking at a body, not an exhibit, and both sources that describe it say so explicitly, dress modestly and behave accordingly
The test is contact, not words
"sanctuary" on the sign proves nothing. The 2026 Dutch source is explicit that elephants are broken young for tourist work and that any direct contact, touching, washing, riding, signals that welfare is not the priority, including at venues calling themselves sanctuaries. The Australian source promotes an island venue that meets that bar (opened 2018, rescued from the trekking industry, no riding and no bathing) and repeats the same warning about the wider industry. The two are consistent
Agree the price first
songthaew fares, beach massages, and a Koh Madsum boatman's waiting time. This is standing practice on Samui specifically because the taxi monopoly and the tourist premium make quoted prices elastic
Fish are released for luck
Wat Plai Laem's lake has locals releasing fish into it for luck, and Guanyin's many arms are explained locally as reaching everyone who needs help
À faire
- Go to the northeast temples early in the morning, before they fill
- Carry cash for small attraction entries, the Ang Thong park fee, beach bars, songthaews and markets, none of them take cards
- Agree the fare or the price before you get in or start
- Check which pier your ferry ticket actually lands at before you book a hotel transfer
- Use Grab or Bolt when a taxi refuses the meter, the price shows up front
À éviter
- Don't ride, wash or touch an elephant anywhere on the island, whatever the venue calls itself
- Don't hand over your passport as a scooter deposit, agree cash
- Don't assume "Koh Samui" on a ferry ticket means the pier nearest your hotel
- Don't book a tight onward connection on a ferry day between late October and February
- Don't expect to swim in Ang Thong's Emerald Lake, you view it from above
Budget quotidien à Koh Samui
Budget
≈ €32–48
hostel dorm or basic fan room, street food and local restaurants, songthaew or a shared scooter, a beer or two
Budget–mid
≈ €48–73
simple private room, a mix of local and tourist restaurants, an occasional tour
Mid-range
≈ €93–160
3–4★ hotel, restaurant meals, a tour or a spa, taxis rather than songthaews
High-end
≈ €160–320+
5★ resort, fine dining, private transfers and charters
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Anecdotes sur Koh Samui
Samui is Thailand's second-largest island, after Phuket
It is the only privately-owned airport in Thailand in our own data's phrasing; the sourced version is that Samui International is owned and operated by Bangkok Airways, which owns three Thai airports in total (Samui, Sukhothai, Trat), so "only privately owned" is wrong as written and should be corrected in our own data
The Big Buddha technically stands on a separate small island (Koh Faan), joined to Samui by a causeway
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 Secret Buddha Garden was one man's retirement project, begun in 1976 by a fruit farmer and worked on until his death; some statues are over a century old and one of them is of the maker
Wat Plai Laem, the "floating temple", was built in 2004: recent, not ancient, which almost nobody realises looking at it
Conseils locaux pour Koh Samui
Four piers, not interchangeable
Koh Samui's boats do not all leave from the same one. Nathon (Seatran, Songserm) and Lipa Noi (Raja's vehicle ferry) are on the west coast facing the mainland; Maenam (Lomprayah, Songserm high-speed) is on the north; Bangrak/Big Buddha (speedboats, Seatran Discovery) is on the northeast. A "Koh Samui" ferry ticket does not tell you which one: check before you book a hotel transfer, because Lipa Noi to a Chaweng hotel is roughly 45 minutes by taxi and Bangrak is roughly 15
Donsak, not Surat Thani
boats to Samui leave from Donsak, not from Surat Thani. Donsak sits about 65–70 km east of Surat Thani city, and there is no ferry from the city itself. It has two separate operator terminals a few kilometres apart, Raja Ferry Port and Seatran Ferry Pier, and a ticket for one is not valid at the other
The crossing is 1h30
crossing time from Donsak is 1h30 on both operators, running roughly hourly from 05:00 to 19:00, with extra half-hourly departures at peak on Seatran
The road is the danger
Samui is safe otherwise, and the island says so itself. Road accidents are common, Thailand's road-accident rate is high, and the blunt version is that the most dangerous thing on the island is yourself. Everything else is petty: a drunken disagreement or a small scam
Box jellyfish are real here
in a way they are not on the Andaman coast, and this is the coast where Thailand's fatal cases have happened. A peer-reviewed study of Koh Samui and Koh Phangan records 15 severe cases across 1997–2015, of which 6 were fatal and 8 near-fatal, six of Thailand's seven recorded box-jellyfish deaths occurred on these two islands. Eight of the cases were on Samui. The species involved are mostly Chirodropidae, the multi-tentacled family that kills
Questions fréquentes sur Koh Samui
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.
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