Koh Samui

Dining and Entertainment
Almost every Koh Samui hotel and beach bungalow has its own restaurant, while other small cafes and restaurants are also common. Fresh seafood and tropical fruits are the natural specialties of Samui, though you will find menus sufficiently varied to cater to all tastes. International favorites as well as spicy Thai dishes are available. Accredited Thai cooking schools on the island will show you how to make that favorite Thai food recipe ( Thai curry recipe, Thai soup recipe, Thai desert recipe).

Chaweng
Chaweng beach is the most popular and developed of Samui's beaches. Despite the recent development, Chaweng maintains the classic image of a tropical beach fringed by coconut palms.

With the new popular bars and quality restaurants, Chaweng is the center of Koh Samui nightlife.  Right on the beach itself is a selection of quieter bars and restaurants, together with a superb view of the Gulf.

Lamai
This is the second- most popular of Samui 's beaches. Visitors are charmed by the open market and the old monastery, which includes a local museum. Take a walk or ride a mountain bike just back of the beach road and you'll discover peaceful coconut and fruit groves.

Beach side attractions include health and meditation centers, dive shops and a Thai boxing school. The Grandfather and Grandmother rocks at Lamai are worth a visit.

North Coast
This part of the island is less developed than the east coast beaches of Chaweng and Lamai , and may afford a greater sense of having got away from it all. This is one of the best places on the island for windsurfing or sailing.

The Big Buddha
Also, on the north coast of Samui you'll find a large shrine and meditation center.

The gaudy bazaar within the temple grounds offer an abundance of souvenirs from T- shirts and hats to protective amulets.

West Coast
Many visitors never see much of this side of the island beyond the pier. There is much to reward the explorer often right in Nathon. There's a fascinating fresh food market and some back streets with old houses displaying very traditional lifestyles.

Just beyond town there are scenic walks up to waterfalls high in the hills, and rustic herbal medicine centers. Some of the island's best know temples are found along the west coast, as well, and make for a relaxing morning's excursion.

Butterfly Farm
The butterflies on the Samui farm flit about naturally amid tropical foliage. Besides observing at close range some of the region's most beautiful butterflies, you can witness the breeding cycle of some species that are raised on the spot. You'll find the butteryfly farm on a hillside overlooking the ocean on the southeast corner of the island.

Koh Phangan (Ko Phangan)
Koh Phangan is easily accessed by daily ferry boats from the Maenam and Bophut piers in Koh Samui. These boats call at Thong Sala and Haad Rin, from where many resorts are accessed by pickup truck over rough tracks. Some resorts on this island can only be reached by small boats.


Koh Phangan is particularly beautiful, being high and rugged, with rocky headlands of huge granite boulders separating the many tropical beaches set in coves lined with coconut palms. Ko Phangan is home of the famous Full Moon Party.

Koh Tao Thailand
Koh Tao is the smallest and remotest of the three major islands. The new speedboat service from Bophut and Nathon can get you there in under two hours.

This island is similar in geography to its bigger brothers to the south, Samui and Phangan, where you will also find many rocky headlands piled high with huge granite boulders. There are fewer beaches, though those few are particularly beautiful.

Koh Tao 's real fame is under the water. The clear tropical waters abound with brilliantly colored fish and live coral. It is this underwater realm surrounding the island that has established its reputation. There is a thriving dive industry on the island, and for those who have never dived before, Koh Tao offers ideal conditions in which to learn.