5 Days in Koh Samui

The Big Buddha sits on a small island, Ko Fan, joined to Samui by a short causeway just north of the airport. The gold-painted figure is 12 meters high and was built in 1972, which makes it younger than the first road around the island. It shows the Buddha in the Mara posture, calm after resisting the temptations of Mara, the lord of illusion. Wat Phra Yai is the official name, but nobody uses it.

Climb the stairway lined with naga serpents, walk around the base where the bells hang, and look back over Bang Rak and the airport. It doesn't take long, and the bazaar at the bottom sells tourist items and amulets. Go early, before the heat and the tour buses.

Less than a kilometer away is the better temple. Wat Plai Laem is a modern complex built around a lake, with Chinese and Thai elements, partly designed by the Thai artist Jarit Phumdonming. The main statue isn't the Buddha. It's the eighteen-armed Guanyin (Cundi), the bodhisattva of compassion, standing white and gold in an open pavilion on the water, with a laughing white Budai nearby and small shrines to Ganesha, Vishnu and Shiva.

This is an active temple, so keep your voice down, don't point your feet at statues and don't climb on anything. A morning visit also gives you softer light on the water. Sources disagree on hours (opening between 06:00 and 08:00, closing between 17:00 and 18:00), so don't plan around the last half hour.

Choeng Mon is the quiet bay on the north-east tip, a crescent of wide white sand about 500 meters long, with a rocky end on one side and a small island at the other. It's calm and clean, and a handful of upscale resorts dominate it, so there's not much to do beyond swimming, lying down and eating. That's the point.

Kayak out to the islets of Ko Fan Noi and Ko Fan Yai at the eastern end. At low tide you can wade across to Ko Fan Yai, but stay below the high-tide line, because most of the island belongs to a private resort. There is some coral at the west end and around the islets, but with an east wind the water gets choppy and visibility drops close to zero.

Bophut's Fisherman's Village is one of the few places on Samui that keeps some of the island's original Thai-Chinese atmosphere. A narrow lane of old Chinese shophouses runs along the beach, now converted into restaurants, spas, boutiques and small hotels. There has been a conscious effort to keep the commercial side of Thai nightlife out, so there are no go-go bars. Roughly 30 bars and restaurants line about 700 meters of street.

Come around 17:00, before the market fills the lane, and walk down to the beach for the sunset. Bophut is known for its sunsets and for variety on the plate: French, Italian, seafood and good Thai. The water is calm but often murky, especially around December, and the beach is narrow and drops off quickly, so it's a place to sit rather than to swim.

On Friday evenings from about 17:00 to 23:00 the village lane closes to traffic and fills with stalls: Pad Thai sizzling in woks, grilled skewers, tempura seafood, banana pancakes, and kanom krok, the small coconut rice pancakes cooked in a pan of round hollows. There's also Mango Sticky Rice for dessert, plus fabrics, jewelry and handmade goods. On Fridays a roundabout halfway down turns into a beer garden.

Arrive by 17:30 or 18:00, before the queues build, and bring cash, because most stalls don't take cards. Prices are higher than at a mainland market, but the seafront is part of what you're paying for. Parking fills quickly, so take a taxi or songthaew instead of a scooter.

Chaweng is the biggest, busiest and most commercial beach on Samui: about 7 km of powdery white sand, with a coral reef offshore where the waves break, so the bay itself is calm. Behind it is Samui's largest concentration of restaurants, shops, pubs and convenience stores. Until the early 1990s it was a sprinkle of wooden bungalows; today it's a resort strip where luxury hotels sit next to cheap guesthouses.

The north end is quieter and the middle is crowded, and the beach is usually reached through hotels because there is no beach road. Vendors sell fruit, coconuts and satay, most small items around 50 THB (1.50 USD). Go in the morning, when the sand is empty and the sun isn't brutal. If you want nightlife, this is the place: the bars and clubs of Soi Green Mango and Soi Reggae officially close at 01:00, though in practice it's somewhere between 01:00 and 02:00 and the police are strict about it.

When the Michelin Guide first covered Samui in 2024, it picked out a few places that cook southern Thai food, and one of them, Kapi Sator, is on Soi Had Chaweng 5, off the ring road, with listed hours of 10:00-22:00. The menu changes with the catch. Order local squid in a sweet coconut-milk soup with lemongrass, or deep-fried pomfret with a spicy southern curry on top. Both show the style: coconut, chili, fresh fish, and a lot of heat.

If it's closed or full, look for a place where Thai families are eating, with a menu in Thai as well as English. Southern Thai food is hot. If you want less heat, ask for mai phet (not spicy). Order a Green Curry and Som Tam alongside, to compare the local style with the national classics.

Between Chaweng and Lamai, just before the ring road climbs a hill, is a small cove that's often called the best swimming beach on Samui. Its proper name is Hat Thongtakian, but everyone calls it Silver Beach or Crystal Bay after the two resorts at its end. The water is clearer and the beach quieter than at Chaweng or Lamai, and there are only a few places to stay and eat.

It's a good place to do nothing for a few hours between the two big beaches. It's quiet, so bring water and snacks in case the few places there are closed. If you only swim at one beach on the island, make it this one. The sea is still the Gulf, so it's best on a calm day without wind from the east.

Lamai is Samui's second beach and a different place from Chaweng: smaller and a little rougher. The widest sand is in the southern third, close to the town, where loungers and jet-ski hire fill the beach; it has the best swimming but also strong waves and occasional rip currents, so watch for the flags. The northern end is quieter, with resorts and small restaurants, and a lagoon behind the sand.

Lamai Beach Road is the nightlife strip, and it leans toward go-go bars, bikers and beach lounges rather than clubs. Pick your stretch: the south for activity, the north for calm. Old Lamai in the north has small French, German and Italian restaurants as well as Thai ones.

At the south end of Lamai Beach are two weathered granite rocks that look exactly like what the Thais say they look like: male and female anatomy. They're called Hin Ta and Hin Yai, the Grandfather and Grandmother rocks, and they're one of the island's biggest attractions.

The legend says an elderly couple, Ta Kreng and Yai Riem, sailed with their son to ask for a bride from a family in Prachuap Khiri Khan, but a storm sank their boat. In one version their bodies washed ashore and turned to stone; in another the gods did it. The rocks are slippery after rain, and there is a drop onto sharp stone if you climb for a photograph. Stalls along the path sell drinks and snacks. The light is better and the crowd smaller around 08:30 to 09:00, so if you're staying in Lamai, walk down first thing.

Sabeinglae is a seafood restaurant on the ring road near Hin Ta Hin Yai, listed by Michelin in 2024 with hours of about 10:00 to 22:00, and known for local dishes such as mussels with glass noodles and ginger. It's also a simple model for how to eat seafood on Samui: choose the fish, agree how it's cooked, and ask for the weight and price before it goes on the grill.

Seafood is priced by weight or species and it's where bills get big, so check the price first. In high season demand often exceeds local supply, which is another reason to order what's fresh that day rather than what you came for.

Hua Thanon is a small fishing village on the south-east coast, and its market is a good place for breakfast the way locals eat it. It's a morning affair, so check the hours locally. Look for khao yam, the southern herbal rice salad with toasted coconut, and roti with curry for about 30-50 THB (1-1.50 USD).

Southern Thai cooking is spicy and coconut-heavy, with Malay and Indian influences, and you'll find curries you won't see on a Bangkok menu. Kaeng tai pla (a curry made with fermented fish innards) isn't available every day and it's strong: order a small serving if you find it. For a milder start, try a coconut-based Green Curry and ask how spicy it is.

Wat Khunaram is the island's most famous temple for one reason: the body of the monk Luang Pho Daeng, sitting upright in a glass case. He was born on the island in 1894, raised a family, ran a successful business and at 50 became a monk, known as a meditation master. When he felt death approaching he gave instructions that his body should not decompose, and he died meditating in 1973. Luang Pho Daeng hoped to self-mummify, but that didn't fully work, so others preserved the body and built the glass coffin he had asked for.

Look closely and you'll see sunglasses on the face: the eyes rotted, and the monks covered the sockets. Some people suspect a wax figure, but researchers who X-rayed it in 2002 found the organs still in place, shrunken by dehydration. Wat Khunaram is a working temple, so dress properly, speak quietly and don't treat it as a freak show. Devotees leave flowers and incense.

On the southern tip of the island, the pagoda at Wat Laem Sor is one of the most important shrines on Samui. The chedi (the bell-shaped Buddhist monument) is covered in yellow tiles that give off a golden glow, and it stands near the sea at the end of the south coast road.

It's a short drive south from Wat Khunaram, so take it before heading up into the hills for the waterfalls. Dress modestly and take off your shoes before entering any hall.

The Na Muang Waterfall pair is the best-known on the island. Na Muang 1 drops around 18 meters into a natural pool, a five-minute walk from the car park, and you can swim in it. Na Muang 2 is further up, a steep hike of 20-35 minutes, with purple-tinted rocks around a much higher fall, listed at about 79 meters. Hin Lat Waterfall, inland from Nathon, is the quieter alternative (day five).

Tour groups often pair the falls with the Secret Buddha Garden, so go early or late, and wear proper shoes, because the climb to Na Muang 2 is rough and wet. Flow is strongest in the wet months (sources say October to January), so in January or February expect lower water but calmer pools. Some sources mention a small fee at Na Muang 2; recent reviews say it's free, so be skeptical of anyone demanding an unofficial one on the path.

Up a steep side road in the hills above Na Muang is the Secret Buddha Garden, also called Tarnim Magic Garden. In 1976 a local fruit farmer named Nim Thongsuk, then 77, started sculpting on his durian farm: human figures, animals and deities, Buddhist statues and little temples, scattered through the jungle. There's a pond with a bridge, shrines up the hill and a statue at the top above the canopy.

It's an eccentric, slightly overgrown place, and that is its charm. Treat the Buddha images with respect and dress modestly. The final stretch of road is a rough dirt track and the walk up is short but steep, so ride a scooter only if you're experienced, and take a taxi or tour if you aren't. Hours are roughly 09:00 to 17:00 or 18:00.

Samui's east coast faces the sunrise, so the sunsets are on the west, where the beaches are still comparatively quiet. Taling Ngam, on the south-west coast, is a bay with a few resorts and restaurants and far fewer people than Chaweng. Don't plan on swimming; the sky is what you came for.

Get there 30-45 minutes before sunset, which in January is a little after 18:00, and find a table facing west. Beachfront places cost more than a roadside restaurant, but a drink and a view are worth it once. Plan your ride home in advance: songthaews thin out in the evening and taxis charge what you agree.

Mu Ko Ang Thong National Park was set up in 1980 and covers 42 islands, a mix of sheer limestone cliffs, beaches and lagoons 30-40 km from Samui. Ko Wua Talap is where the park headquarters are and most boats land. The main walk is the viewpoint above the headquarters: a steep, rope-assisted trail of about 500 meters, 25-30 minutes up, with a view over the island chain at the top.

Wear shoes with grip, not flip-flops, and bring water. If your tour gives you limited time on the island, do this first, before the heat.

Thale Nai, usually called the Emerald Lake, is a saltwater lake on Ko Mae Ko, enclosed by cliffs and connected to the sea by underwater caves. A trail of about 20 minutes leads up to a viewpoint above the lake. The color is the point.

Boats from many operators stop here, so be patient at the viewpoint and give other people room for their photos.

Lunch is the middle of the tour, and many operators serve a Thai buffet or a set meal, on board or at the restaurant on Ao Phi beach on Ko Wua Talap, where the park headquarters also has a small shop. Check whether lunch is included in your tour price. Some cheaper tours exclude it, and the park fee is separate in any case, so bring 300 THB per adult in cash.

The active part of the day is kayaking among the limestone islands and snorkeling at a reef; which island depends on the operator. Ko Sam Sao has beaches and a coral reef but no shops or restaurants. Most speedboat tours include a kayak, though some charge extra, and the snorkeling is decent rather than Maldives-quality.

Gulf seas in January are less predictable, so visibility can be hit or miss, especially after rain. Wear a rash guard and reef-safe sunscreen. Boats return in the late afternoon.

Mae Nam is a quiet beach on the north coast, decent for swimming and sunbathing, and good for families with small children because the water is shallow. It's a calmer base than Chaweng, with a village behind the sand.

There's little to do but swim, walk and eat, and that's the point of the morning. A Thursday evening walking street here may no longer run, so don't plan around it.

Bang Por, on the north-west shore, has a row of seafood places on the sand. Bang Por Seafood Takho is one of them, in the 2024 Michelin Guide with listed hours of 10:00 to 22:00 daily, so confirm it's open. Order steamed sea bass with lime and chili, pla kapong neung manow, about 350-500 THB (10.50-15 USD).

Try the Tom Yum Goong here too if you haven't, and ask for medium spicy the first time. Prices are by weight, so ask first.

Inland from Nathon, Hin Lat Waterfall is a series of tiny cascades, some with basins big enough to swim in. It's easy to reach by car, and Wat Hin Lat, a temple, is right next to it.

Wear shoes with grip, because the rocks are slippery. In January the water is lower than in the rainy season, so the cascades are smaller. Ban Lipa Yai, a village in the same area, grows rambutan, durian, mangosteen and langsat, so if there's fruit on a stall, stop.

Nathon is Samui's port and administrative center, on the west coast, where the ferries from the mainland arrive. It's a working town, not a resort, and there isn't much to see, which is the honest verdict. What it gives you is the island without the beach industry: ordinary shops, the pier and people going about their day.

Walk the seafront and watch the ferries come in. Hotel rooms here are the cheapest on the island (from around 400 THB, 12 USD, in older listings), which makes it a base only if budget beats beach.

By the ferry area in Nathon, a night food market sets up in the afternoon and evening (listings say it runs until about 22:00), serving local people rather than visitors. Expect grilled skewers, fried chicken, Som Tam, stir-fries and sausages. Vendors vary from night to night, so treat it as a place to graze rather than a fixed menu.

This is a good last dinner: cheap, local and unpretentious. Som tam in the south is often made with fermented crab and dried shrimp, and costs around 50-70 THB (1.50-2 USD). Bring cash.