Koh Samui Arrival Costs and Best Time to Visit

I’ve just spent the last 2 weeks on the island of Koh Samui. First, let’s talk about one of the most frustrating aspects about visiting Koh Samui, and that’s getting here. So, Koh Samui is not on the mainland. It’s on its own separate island, and it does have an airport. However, that airport is owned by Bangkok Airways and therefore because it’s the airline that has actually built the airport, they’ve managed to rack up the price a lot for their flights and there’s simply no other option but to take it if you want to fly to the island for convenience.

I think we paid around $300 per person from Bangkok to Koh Samui for this trip, which is by far the most expensive flight within Thailand. If you’re planning on visiting Phuket, you can do that for around $30 or $40. So, it’s actually like 10 times the price of flying elsewhere in Thailand, which is really frustrating. Luckily though, there is a way around this. You can fly to Surat Thani for much cheaper and then catch a boat to the island.

But this does involve a lot more travel time because you have to catch a bus from Surat Thani airport to Don Sak Pier and then a boat to Koh Samui which takes another hour and a half. But if you want to save some money, then this could be an alternative option. So this is actually my second time visiting Koh Samui. I have been here before. However, when I last arrived, the weather was terrible and I didn’t even really want to stay around on the island for very long.

I didn’t get up to much because it was just raining the whole time. This time though, the weather has been pretty much perfect. A little cloudy on some days, but really, really great weather overall. So, when is the best time to visit? So, the times when I visited in the past have been in December, which is weird because historically December is the end of the rainy season month throughout Thailand, but I know from my experience when I was here 2 years ago, it hammered it down through till the end of December.

And I know also people here who were here last year in December, it also rained through then. So, I would actually, if you’re visiting this island, I’ve been visiting it after Christmas. I’m currently right here now in April. And like I said, the weather has been pretty much perfect on most days. Uh perhaps even a little bit too hot if anything.

Luckily, it’s a short walk away from hopping in the pool or the ocean.

Koh Samui Boat Trips to Ang Thong Pig Island and Koh Tao

But one of my favorite things about visiting Thai islands is taking a boat trip. So, what are the best boat trips to take from Koh Samui? Well, luckily, there are some pretty unique places to visit nearby.

By far, the furthest boat trip will take you to one of the most unique locations in not just Thailand, but anywhere in the world. There’s a really beautiful set of islands that are connected by a white sandbar that connects them together, and you can walk along it. It’s just three small islands and then basically one weird beach that connects the three of them.

This is known as Nang Yuan Island and it’s the furthest point away or the furthest boat trip away from Koh Samui and it’ll take you probably over an hour, hour to two hours maybe on a speed boat to get there. Luckily, this can be combined with Shark Point which is at the southern tip of Koh Tao and you can go swim with Blacktip reef sharks. The only thing about this boat trip is if you’re planning on visiting Koh Tao later in your trip, I probably wouldn’t bother because it’s much closer.

It’s actually on Koh Tao, so you don’t really need to do it from that. But if you’re looking for another awesome trip with great snorkeling, you can check out the Ang Thong Marine Park. This boat trip will take you to the set of islands surrounding Koh Samui and you’ll hit some beautiful snorkeling spots along the way.

But one of the most unique places you could possibly visit right next to the island of Koh Samui is Pig Island. And it’s exactly like it sounds, an island full of pigs. On this day trip, it is much closer.

You can probably get there within about 20 to 30 minutes by speedboat. And you can spend the day relaxing on this weird island full of pigs.

Koh Samui Food Taxi and Beach Prices

But there’s one thing that if I had known it, I would have budgeted a little better on this trip, and it’s the prices. It turns out Koh Samui is definitely one of the most expensive islands in Thailand. It’s twice what it is in Bangkok.

Now, I would say overall the food quality is quite good, but it’s definitely more expensive. Even for Thai food, I’m usually paying for like 200 to 300 Thai Baht per meal. If I want more international food, actually, I would say the international food, the prices aren’t jacked up quite as much, but it’s still more expensive because international food is always more expensive no matter where you are in Thailand.

So, I’m usually spending about 250 to 500 Thai Baht per meal when I’m in Koh Samui, which is definitely a lot more expensive than I would ever spend in Bangkok. Similarly, taxi prices can be quite expensive, too. Weirdly, I found if you’re traveling a longer distance, the prices aren’t actually jacked up too much, but if you’re traveling a short distance, they can be really, really expensive.

At some points, I’ve just driven for like a 5-minute drive down to the next beach and it has cost me like 300 to 400 Thai Baht. Whereas actually when I’m trying to get on the other side of the island or much further, it might cost me like 500 to 600 Thai Baht. 500 or 600 Thai Baht in Bangkok would get you from pretty much anywhere to the airport.

Like it would get you a really long distance. But here in Koh Samui, it’s taxis are also definitely more expensive.

Chaweng Beach Nightlife and Sunrise

But which is the best beach on the island? Well, frankly, there’s quite a lot to choose from. Most of the main beaches are located in the northeastern part of the island, and that’s where you’re going to find places like Chaweng, Bo Phut, Lamai. So, one of the things I wanted to find out for myself was was Chaweng too touristy. Chaweng is by far the most popular place to stay on the island and it’s known for its night life and lots of things to do.

And generally, it’s my inclination not to stay in the more popular parts of the town or island because I’ve seen in Thailand sometimes they can get a bit destroyed. Like I’m thinking Patong in Phuket, it gets a bit too overcrowded and it’s just not a very good vibe. Gets a bit scruffy. Same in uh Pattaya. It also just gets a bit run down and it’s not my not the nicest place to stay in my opinion.

So I wanted to find out for myself is Chaweng like that too. And what I found was quite surprising actually. The first thing I noticed was the beach itself is one of the most beautiful on the island. I’ll talk a little bit about other beaches that I visited but the sand here was perfect to walk on. The water was completely clear and blue and I was blessed with good weather on the days we were staying there.

But it was just probably the best and most beautiful beach that I’d seen on the island. In terms of night life, I actually thought it was quite well done. Like I say, in places like Patong and Pattaya, which are known for the night life in Thailand, they I find them to be a bit scruffy and if anything, they kind of just get run down by like it’s over tourism or like in your face, loud music kind of and like cheap and tacky bars. Whereas I found the bars in Chaweng to be actually of a really good quality and just good vibes all around. One thing to note about all of the major beaches on the northeastern part of the island is that they are east facing, meaning they catch great sunrises but not very good sunsets.

So, actually this is noticeable especially because I like to fly my drone over here. And I’ve noticed usually I like to wait for golden hour to get the best sunsets, but actually you can’t really get great shots of the beaches at sunset because it’s behind the island. So, actually, it’s in a lot of shade. So, most of the time when you’re taking these shots on the drone or even just as the sun is setting, you’re already in the shade. So, it gets a bit darker a bit quicker.

So maybe one thing that’s slightly disappointing about the island is that it doesn’t have very good sunsets, especially compared to somewhere like uh Phuket where most of the beaches are west facing and catch awesome sunsets.

Bo Phut Beach Fishermans Village and Choeng Mon Beach

I’m here now at Bo Phut Beach, which is a really really beautiful stretch. You can see here that it goes on for quite a while and I was actually surprised to find that there’s not loads and loads going on here. I thought this might be one of the more touristy areas of the island, but apparently not.

I mean, there are huge stretches of beach here that have like no bars, no hotels in them, so it’s got a really natural feel to it. That being said, it is also home to Fisherman’s Village, which I found to be one of the coolest night markets I’ve been to in Thailand. And we went there last night and I thought there was a lot going on in terms of um international food, Thai food, and then they had some really, really cool bars and cocktail bars that were serving cheap cocktails, too.

So, one of my favorite night markets that I’ve been to, but one of the coolest beaches that we visited during our time here was Choeng Mon Beach. Choeng Mon Beach to me is a really beautiful beach. It had pretty good sunset, even though the sunset behind the mountains.

Uh, the sand was really nice and to me it was a bit more upscale. There’s a lot of high-end resorts on Choeng Mon Beach. Um, but also a few good a few good bars on the beach as well.

So, I would definitely check it out if you visit. But if you’re looking for one of the best cocktail bars on the island, you have to head to Savan Bar. Now, this is in the middle of Chaweng.

And what I found quite interesting about this bar was while Chaweng has got bit of a party atmosphere, this is like kind of you step off like this really busy road with a lot of loud music and a lot of techno and stuff like that and you step into like quite a classy cocktail bar. We had a couple of nice cocktails we were there and some of the specialties taken taken from flavors around the island of Koh Samui. So I got the fisherman and the Koh Samui Sunset and they were both very nice cocktails.

Koh Samui Beach Clubs and Family Beach Days

One of the things I think Koh Samui does better than pretty much any other island I visited at this point is beach clubs. So, what is a beach club? Well, a beach club is kind of like a bar, a restaurant, a swimming pool on the beach all rolled into one.

I found here there’s a lot of places to spend a day at. Depending on the quality of your hotel, you might want to experience like other hotels or other bars that have nice swimming pools, too. And some of them are really well done, especially at the Nolan Point at Chaweng Beach.

We visited Arkbar in the evening one time, and it had a lot going on. It had an absolutely excellent fire show and there was people swimming in the pool, great drinks, great music. But for a more family-friendly atmosphere, you can check out the White Elephant.

This is where we spent a day. I took my daughter as well. And she was able to sleep in the shade and play in the pool and then hop in the ocean all in one.

Plus, the food was really good, too.

Koh Samui Muay Thai Training and Airport Drone Rules

If you’re looking to stay fit during your time in Koh Samui, you could do worse than joining Elite Fight Club here. This was a place that I visited when I was in Chaweng. I don’t know if it was the absolute best gym in the world, but it’s definitely got modern facilities. Uh they had good coaches, and it was good for beginners as well.

So, I had a really great class. To be honest, I don’t think Koh Samui is the island if you want to come to train Muay Thai seriously. I think you’re better off, at least on the Gulf of Thailand, heading to Copanyang. I think the fighting is a bit more serious there, and I know people who went there and trained.

So, the gyms are maybe a little bit better and there’s more opportunities to fight. Although, if you’re just looking to train for a little bit of fun, Koh Samui is a great place to experience it as well. One really strange factor about Koh Samui is that the airport is right near the main tourist spots. Now, this affects things in a few ways.

One, it means you don’t have to travel too far to get to your hotel from the airport, but also it leads to some really really cool shots. If you are staying near Chaweng or on Bo Phut Beach, you can actually see the planes come in and they fly really low. Uh it means they are a bit loud, but it does get you. It is a pretty cool experience.

But most of all, most importantly for me or anyone who is flying a drone here, it means you have to be very very careful about where you’re flying it. So, on the DJI app, you will uh there’ll be a circle around the restricted fly zone, but you’ll also be able to see the runway of the airport, and that’s a completely you cannot fly there, but also you need to make sure you have the right equipment and the right licenses to be able to fly in most of the touristy areas because they’re not in a free unrestricted zone. So, please be careful where you fly it. Don’t break the rules and definitely don’t crash any planes.

Koh Samui Fire Shows and White Lotus Locations

But, you can’t leave Koh Samui without visiting a fire show. Now, personally, I think Koh Samui actually has some of the biggest and best fire shows that I’ve ever seen in Thailand. They definitely make more of a show of it, and there’s some places that are quite famous for their fire shows.

Uh, we saw one of the better ones at Arkbar. That was a really huge one, but the one that’s supposed to have some of the best in Thailand is Coco Tam’s. We went there the other night, and it’s a really, really big coordinated show.

It’s not like sometimes you go to some other places, it’s quite a small fair. It’s just one or two people with a fire stick kind of performing, but this is big, coordinated, you know, they got 10, 15 people. uh and it’s quite something to watch.

So check it out at Coco Tam’s. White Lotus Fever has definitely taken over the island. There are numerous spots around the island where you can go and experience things that were either in the show or things that are related to the show, especially luxury travel.

So we stayed at the Anantara Bophut, which is a really really stunning resort and was one of the key locations on the show. But there’s also the Anantara Lawana which is another hotel that’s featured in the show as well as the Four Seasons which is the main one featured. Now each of these they actually you can go visit the bars and have a drink there because they’re advertising their experiences.

Even around the island like there’s there’s tours now that I take you to some of the filming locations just in the shopping mall. They have stuff that is related to the show and related to luxury travel. So if you’re fan of the show there’s definitely a lot to see and do while you’re here.

Koh Samui Big Buddha and Hilltop Restaurants

But one of the most iconic landmarks in Koh Samui has to be the Golden Big Buddha or Wat. Now, this is located again at the northern point of the island. To be honest with you, I don’t think if you spent a lot of time in Thailand’s temples. It’s not the most impressive temple you’ve ever seen.

It’s got quite a nice view because it’s on the ocean, which makes it a little bit more unique. Um, but I wouldn’t say it’s absolutely must-do, but let me tell you now about some of the most unique restaurants you’ll find anywhere in the whole island. Like I said, the quality of the food here has been generally good throughout my entire trip. However, if you’re looking to find one of the best viewpoints in the entire island, you need to check out some of the restaurants in the center of the island.

What you might not know from looking at on a map, but actually Koh Samui is quite hilly. So, the best viewpoints are in the center of the island. And if you go there, there’s some great restaurants to eat at to enjoy the view. Now, the most famous of all the restaurants is the roof, which we actually haven’t checked out.

The reason being it’s quite difficult to get a reservation there. So, I think this is by far the busiest one. However, there’s a point on the island known as the roof car park, and this is where a lot of these restaurants will pick you up from. You have to get your taxi to the car park, and then because it’s so steep, they’ve got like 4x4s and truck that will take you to the top of the island.

I wouldn’t necessarily try in a taxi because it gets pretty steep and uh I wouldn’t want to fall down it. But even getting up to the top can be quite exciting in itself. But once you get to the top, the two restaurants that we’ve tried have been Sky Lounge which is a Jamaican restaurant which had really really great food and amazing views of the island and the Highlander which had a good mix of Thai international food and very very good cocktails. This is a good place to sit and watch the sun go down.

Koh Samui Hotels and Accommodation Costs

So let’s talk now about accommodation and how much it can cost to stay here on Koh Samui. So, actually during my two weeks here, we’ve stayed on four different accommodations. And that’s one because I wanted to see different parts of the island and see what it was like, but also because I wanted to stay in some high-end places, but you know, save a bit of money at other points of the trip. So, on our first night, we stayed in the Ibis near Fisherman’s village. And this was a good location. It was about 20 to 30-minute walk, so it wouldn’t have been ideal if I was staying there much longer to the fisherman’s village.

This was the cheapest one we stayed in per night. And it was around about $30 a night, which in my opinion was good value for money. Even though it wasn’t a perfect hotel and it was quite far away, I think it was still still quite good value for money there. After that, we stayed in the Anantara Bophut. And this is one of the filming locations for the White Lotus Seer. This was a very very nice resort again on Fisherman’s Village.

The main reason we stayed in the Ebas night before is cuz we didn’t want to spend so much money on a hotel if we were just arriving late. But this is definitely one of the nicest hotels we ever stayed in. This cost us around $300 per night, but that was with a family room because we were sharing with my mother-in-law and my baby as well. Next up, we moved over to Chiang. And in Chiang, we stayed in Matcha Resort, which was about halfway down Chaweng Beach. Again, this was one of the more budget ones, and it was about $67 per night.

Again, not bad for what it was. Uh, we stayed about midway down Chaweng Beach, so it was a little bit noisy, especially cuz it was during Songkran. However, it was uh not right in the middle of the party district, uh, which if we’d stayed in the Northern End, maybe that would have been a bigger problem. And then currently at this point of the trip, my the rest of my family flew out. I got my mom, my stepdad, my sister, and her boyfriend staying here as well. So, we’ve rented a huge villa.

So, this villa is tucked away right in the most northeastern point in the island. And it’s four bedroomedroom villa. You can see behind me actually is uh the six senses over. So, this is definitely one of the places where higher-end resorts are. And this location for our four-bedroom villa based on the hillside. We actually got quite a good deal on it.

I believe we’re paying around £100 per night per couple. So, around £300 per night. The location is a little bit remote, so you would be paying more if you were staying in some of the main beaches for a villa like this. However, since it’s a little tucked away, you can get good offers. My only complaint is it’s about 15 to 20-minute drive to most bars and restaurants.