Tong Sai Bay Village
Introduction
A very useful site for any Samui traveller is the Sawadee site. It's
not a travel agent, but it's an internet company where every hotel on
the island can have its own site. So you'll find a listing of hotels,
all kind of practical info and even a live webcam.
Getting to Ko Samui
By air
Easiest but also most expensive way is to
fly directly to Samui with Bangkok Airways. They have more then 10
flights a day charging 3.150 Bht single trip.
A cheaper
option is to fly with Thai Airways to Surat Thani. They have 2 flights
a day leaving BKK at 10.30 and 16.15, charging 2.025 Bht. Then you need
to take a shuttle bus to the ferry. Songserm meets all incoming flights
and bring you to the ferry. A joint ticket bus-ferry will cost about
150 Bht and it'll take 3 hours including ferry.
By train
There
are 11 trains to Surat Thani, but some of these arrive in the middle of
the night. Price is 107 till 519 Bht depending on the class. There are
4 night trains:
- dep. 19.20 arr. 6.15
- dep. 19.45 arr. 6.42
- dep. 21.55 arr. 6.26
- dep. 22.35 arr. 7.20
From Surat Thani railwaystation there are buses to the ferry.
By bus
Most travel agents can book combined tickets from almost anywhere in Thailand to Ko Samui.
- From BKK this will cost about 280 Bht.
- From Ko Phi Phi you'll pay 440 Bht
Ferry
There's a ferry from Donsak to Nathon every hour from 8 am till 6 pm (except 1 pm and 3 pm).
Getting around in Samui
Songthaew
There are regular songthaews going around the island. Normal fare is about 15 Bht.
Motorbike
Best thing is probably to rent a motorbike for 24 hours, price is 150
Bht. Be careful, traffic is dangerous at Samui and there's no insurance
included.
Taxi's
Taxi's are very expensive at the island, so try to avoid them.
Warning
If you rent your own jeep, be very careful. Traffic is quite dangerous in Ko Samui.
Secondly,
stick to the paved roads. There was a report on the LP site of someone
who got stuck in his jeep for 1 night. Police had to help him out, and
the car rental company will give you a fine of 10.000 Bht since they
explicitly state this on their contracts (4/99).
Accommodation
If you want something special for a honeymoon or something, and you
are prepared to pay for it, then this is the place to be. They have
bungalows overlooking the bay. all of them are very spacious with all
the luxury you can imagine. Special is the large verandah with seaview
and bath. They have a private beach with swimming pool. Tennis,
windsurfing and sailing are complimentary. Expensive. They have their own website. Highly recommended in this price range.
Santiburi
This
is considered to be one of the best hotels on the island (Mae Nam
beach). Facilities and service are excellent. They have both bungalows
and regular rooms. Facilities include an enormous swimming pool, all
kind of watersports etc...It's cheaper to book this hotel on the
airport then at the hotel desk itself. Check out their website.
Coconut and Landhouse
This is a great place if you're coming to Samui with your family, and you're looking for a villa
instead of a hotel room. In fact, the main aim is to sell these houses,
but some of the owners also rent their villas. They are situated along
Bang Po beach, and every 6 to 10 villas have their own swimming pool.
The area is very quiet, not to be compared with Chaweng f.i. Price is
about 5500 Bht per day for the smallest bungalow of 4 people. This
includes hotel service every 2 days, but no meals are provided (you
have a kitchen with tools, fridge, stove etc...). You can contact them
through their website.
Poppies
Poppies
is situated in the South of Chaweng. It looks very nice, but for the
price they offer I would definitely prefer Tong Sai Bay. Of course, if
you want to be in the middle of nightlife, that's another situation...
Their price at the hotel was 5.500 Bht for a double, while at Sawadee
website they go for 6.800 Bht !! So internet is not always cheaper (but
Sawadee is not a travel agent either).
The White House
This is a nice hotel with large rooms, although the bungalows tend to
be put a bit too close together along the path to the pool and beach.
Still, the rooms are nice with fridge, TV, AC, bathroom etc... Price is
3.200 Bht in high season, but you can get better prices on the
internet. A deluxe is 3.700 Bht, but the only difference is that this
one is on the first floor. You should add 20% tax and service and
breakfast 250 Bht pp.
Charlies Huts
In
the South of Chaweng Beach, probably the only real budget option here
with small bungalows near the beach. 200 to 300 Bht for a basic
bungalow with fan and toilet.
Other budget accomodation
Have a look at the ITIS website.
What to do
Tour around the island
You can book a tour at the
travel agents to visit the island. This costs 600 Bht and includes 2
waterfalls, grandmother and -father rock and some shopping in Nathon.
You can also do this on your own with a motorbike.
I
especially recommend to visit Na Muang waterfall number 2 which is 80 m
high. The number 2 is quite easy with a parking lot right next to it,
but it's not as spectacular as the number 2.
To get to number 2 there are 2 options:
- From number 1 there's a path of 3 km, ask for directions.
-
If you have a motorbike, drive back to the main road. Then go left for
about 30 m and take the road left (easy to miss this road). Drive till
the paved road stops, and continue for 300 m on the rough track till
you come on a kind of parking lot. With a motorbike you can still
continue for 200 m, although the first bit a quite steep. Then start
walking for about 15 minutes. The waterfall is great, just a pity
there's so much rubbish around. No entrance fee here.
The Marine Park
You'll
get plenty of offers to get to the Marine Park, and I can really
recommend it. Usual price is 1200 Bht with a speedboat, but you can get
it cheaper. A regular boat is also much cheaper.
We did the
tour with Popeye's speedboat, and I can really recommend them. The food
was good and they had an English guide on our boat.
- The boat trip takes about 1 hour and leaves between 9 and 9.30 am. Snorkeling gear and life vest is provided.
- First you go snorkeling, but nothing special.
-
Then you go through all these islands and stop at an island where
there's a beautiful laguna. They've a walkway and steps to get over the
rocks and into the laguna, as well as a viewpoint. Quite impressive.
-
Then you go to another island to have lunch. People who went for a
seacanoe tour do that for 2 hours. For the others, the walk (or
actually "climb") to the viewpoint is highly recommended. Mind you, it
is technically and physically quite heavy, but the view is really worth
it !!
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