Ko Samui Travel Guide: Beaches, Bophut and the Island Ferry

See & Do

The beaches, north to south

Chaweng is the main beach, built up since the 1990s with hotels, bars and the loudest nightlife. Lamai, one bay south, is older and cheaper, with the Hin Ta Hin Yai rocks at its southern end. Bophut keeps a fishing-village scale and its Fisherman's Village is the neighbourhood nomads.com members pick first. Bang Rak, or Big Buddha Beach, has the island's best-known statue; Mae Nam and Choeng Mon are where you hear the sea instead of the bars.

Islands and water

Snorkelling straight off Samui is mediocre: the bays are shallow and sandy. The good water is elsewhere. Ang Thong National Marine Park, 42 limestone islands inside the same district, is a day trip; Ko Tao is about an hour by boat; Sail Rock between the two is the site people plan around, with whale sharks usually passing between March and May. Dive boats leave from Bophut and Bang Rak.

Inland, and next door

Na Muang waterfalls, coconut groves and Ban Lipa Yai, a village growing rambutan, durian and langsat, fill half a day. For a change of scene, the Phuket guide covers the other big Thai island and Chiang Mai is the inland alternative.

Eat

What to order

Southern Thai cooking with Malay and Indian roots: massaman curry, khanom jeen rice noodles in fish curry, chicken biryani. Coconuts are the local crop and seafood is everywhere, though high season outruns supply. Bophut has the best restaurant reputation. Watch for dual pricing, where a second menu charges visitors about four times the Thai price, and eat where mains sit under 100 baht.

What it costs

Numbeo (updated 20 October 2026): an inexpensive meal is 150 baht, about $4.46, a three-course dinner for two 1,000 baht ($29.75), a cappuccino 71.88 baht ($2.14), a half-litre of draught 80 baht ($2.38). Local beer is about 90 baht a bottle, imported roughly double, and wine the one dear item at over 2,000 baht. Tipping is 5% and cards work almost everywhere.

Where to Stay

Where to base

Fisherman's Village is nomads.com's pick, with Bang Kao flagged as the area to watch. Chaweng suits nightlife, Lamai a cheaper version of the same, and Nathon, the old capital and ferry port, has rooms from around 400 baht. The quiet money goes to Mae Nam, Choeng Mon or the west coast. The island holds roughly 25,000 rooms and still runs short in high season. The full rent arithmetic is on the Ko Samui living costs page.

What a room costs

nomads.com (21 October 2026) puts a one-bedroom studio in the centre at $843 a month and a median hotel room at $26 a night. Numbeo's independent basket for 20 October prices the same flat at 28,364 baht, which is $844 at today's rate: two sources, one number. Outside the centre it halves to 13,180 baht ($392). Only 37% of buildings have air-conditioning, so check before booking in April.

Logistics

Samui Airport was built by Bangkok Airways in 1989 and it is still the only domestic operator: near-hourly Bangkok flights at 3,000 to 5,000 baht one way booked ahead, daily Phuket flights at 2,000 to 3,000, and international routes limited to Chengdu, Chongqing, Hong Kong and Singapore. A minibus to Chaweng costs about 200 baht, a taxi about 500.

The cheap route is by sea: bus to Don Sak pier, then a 90-minute ferry, 200 to 300 baht in total, landing at Nathon. Songthaews charge 20 to 80 baht by day and become negotiated taxis after 18:00, Grab works, and motorbikes rent for 120 to 700 baht a day uninsured. Walkability, traffic safety and English all grade Bad, and the roads carry potholes.