Best for
Beach holidays, couples, families, resort life
Nightly range
฿1,098–฿18,557 a night
When to go
Samui runs on a different clock to the Andaman coast. December to April is driest. October and November are the wettest months, which catches people out.
Koh Samui has its own airport, which is the single fact that shapes a trip here. Most Thai islands cost you a travel day at each end on ferries and transfers. Samui costs you a short flight, and that changes what a one-week holiday can look like.
The island splits roughly into the busy east coast beaches, quieter northern bays, and a much sleepier south and west. Between them you get the full spectrum, from beach bars to villas where you will not see another guest.
Where to stay
in Koh Samui.
Pick the area first and the hotel second. On a trip this size the half hour between one beach and the next shapes the holiday more than the room does.
Ordered by the mean guest score of the listings in each area, the same basis as the hotels below.
Photo by Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons6 places to stayLamaiSamui's second beach, fifteen minutes south of the noise, and the widest price range of any area on the island.Explore Lamai
Photo by Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons5 places to stayBophutThe north coast beach with Fisherman's Village attached, so there is somewhere to walk to in the evening.Explore Bophut
Photo by Damian Moore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons6 places to stayChoeng MonA residential bay on the north-east tip, ten minutes from Chaweng and a different world from it.Explore Choeng Mon
The Big Buddha at Wat Phra Yai, Bangrak. Photo by Golfer70, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons6 places to stayBangrakThe beach nearest the airport, which makes it the obvious first or last night on the island.Explore Bangrak
Chaweng Beach. Photo by Wipkinger, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons7 places to stayChawengThe main event. Longest beach, most hotels, and the most consistently high location scores on the island.Explore Chaweng
Mae Nam beach. Photo by Elmschrat, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons3 places to stayMae Nam & Bang PorThe quiet north-west stretch. Lowest average prices of the areas we cover, and the one where you genuinely need a car.Explore Mae Nam & Bang PorTop rated in Koh Samui.
budget / Lamai
Phannarai House
Researched Pick฿1,098
a night
luxury / Choeng Mon
SALA Samui Choengmon Beach Resort
Researched Pick฿8,818
a night
luxury / Choeng Mon
Garrya Tongsai Bay Samui
Researched Pick฿9,199
a night
luxury / Lamai
Banyan Tree Samui
Researched Pick฿18,557
a night
mid range / Bophut
Riviera Beach Hotel
Researched Pick฿3,650
a night
budget / Bophut
Jade cottages
Researched Pick฿2,250
a night
Ordered on guest evidence alone: mean score across every booking platform we checked, then review depth. Having stayed somewhere does not push it up the list.
Things to do.
Tours carry each operator's own score, never averaged with the others running the same trip. Places you simply visit carry no score, and say so.
Two badges.
No grey area.
Every one of the 40 Koh Samui listings carries one of these. We never blur the line between somewhere we went and somewhere we checked.
How we research →We went. The listing names who stayed, when, and for how many nights. If we haven't been, it doesn't get this badge.
1
in Koh Samui
Not been yet. Confirmed on more than one platform, with its real guest score and review count recorded from each. Each one prints its working.
39
in Koh Samui
Get the good stuff first.
New listings, price movements worth knowing about, and the occasional note on somewhere that stopped clearing our bar. No list exists yet, so this button does nothing on purpose.