Lamai

Lamai is the island’s second beach, about fifteen minutes south of Chaweng down the east coast. It has most of what Chaweng has, in smaller quantities and at lower prices.

For 12 to 15 January 2027, Phannarai House was around ฿2,250 a night and Banyan Tree Samui around ฿32,286, and by their coordinates those two sit under three kilometres apart. Three Trees is held at its November figure (around ฿7,770) pending a spot check; Beluga had no January price.

It also holds both of the perfect sub-scores we list on Samui: Phannarai’s 10 for staff, and Banyan Tree’s 10 for wifi.

The location scores are the genuinely odd thing here, and we would rather flag it than smooth it over. The three properties sitting directly on the sand score 8.1 (Thai Fight), 8.4 (Three Trees) and 8.5 (Rocky’s). The guesthouse up the hill scores 9.7, and the resort out on the headland scores 9.4. Beluga, on the beachfront, scores 9.2 and breaks the pattern again.

We do not have a confident explanation. The most likely reading is that guests rate location against what they were expecting, and a hillside guesthouse at ฿2,250 is not expected to be walkable to anything, while a beachfront resort at ฿11,542 is. Treat the beachfront numbers as a comment on Lamai’s quietness rather than on the properties.

For what it is worth, the practical advice does not change: you will want transport for anything beyond your own stretch of beach, wherever on Lamai you end up.