Backpacking Koh Samui
Samui is the grown-up one of the three Gulf islands, and that cuts both ways. There are resorts, beach clubs and an airport, which makes it the easiest to reach and the most expensive to stay on. There is also a 51 kilometre ring road, waterfalls in the interior and beaches on the south coast that nobody bothers with.
Koh Tao is about diving. Koh Phangan is about the full moon. Samui does not have one thing, it has a bit of everything, and for a lot of backpackers it works best as a comfortable two days between the other two.
Stay around Chaweng or Lamai where the hostels are, rent a scooter, do the loop, and take the boat out.
Why Koh Samui is popular with backpackers
- Beach clubs and a hostel scene that punches above the island
- Ang Thong Marine Park, 42 islands off the coast
- A ring road made for a scooter day
- Waterfalls and viewpoints in the middle of the island
- Half an hour by boat to Koh Phangan
- The only Gulf island with its own airport
Best time to visit Koh Samui
Samui is a Gulf island, so its season is the opposite of Phuket and Krabi. The wettest stretch here is in autumn.
Samui costs more than Phangan and Tao because it is fundamentally a resort island. As a backpacker you want to be around Chaweng and Lamai, which is where the hostels are and where the prices still make sense.
Backpacker budget: around €22 a day
- €7hostel bed
- €2local meal
- €1.80beer
- €6scooter per day
Guide prices from our own days in Koh Samui. Add a tour or a night out and it climbs fast.
Best hostels in Koh Samui
Lub d Koh Samui Chaweng Beach
Probably the nicest hostel in Thailand, and it is right on Chaweng Beach. Pool with a swim-up bar, DJs, something on every day, and dorms that feel like a boutique hotel decided to slum it. If you have been in €5 rooms for three weeks, this is where you spend a bit more and feel human again.
SocialTel Samui, Chaweng Beach
In the middle of Chaweng with a pool, coworking space and a big international crowd. Good balance if you are mixing a few working days into the trip and still want to be out most evenings.
Us Hostel
Cheaper and calmer, with a pool and no organised anything. The choice when you want to explore the island all day and have a quiet beer afterwards, rather than be handed a wristband.
Best things to do in Koh Samui
Ang Thong Marine Park
Forty-two uninhabited islands an hour offshore. The climb everyone does is up to the viewpoint over the Emerald Lake, a saltwater lagoon sitting inside a collapsed island. It is steep, it is worth it, and this is the main reason to give Samui a third day.
Ziplining over the jungle
Lines strung across a jungle valley in the middle of the island, finishing at a café built into the trees. Half a day, and the inland part of Samui is greener and emptier than the coast suggests.
Around the island in half a day
Big Buddha, the waterfalls, the viewpoints and the odd rock formations at Lamai, in an air-conditioned van. The version for people who would rather not ride the ring road themselves, which is fair enough given the traffic.
Snorkelling at Koh Tan and Pig Island
Half a day out to the reefs off the south coast, with a stop at the island where pigs swim out to the boat. It is exactly as daft as it sounds and the snorkelling at Koh Tan is genuinely good.
Free, and worth the scooter:
- Sunset at Fisherman’s Village
- Na Muang Waterfall, and the second one further up the trail
- The night market at Chaweng or Fisherman’s Village
- Viewpoints along the south and west of the ring road
- The Big Buddha and Wat Plai Laem, both free to walk into
Best area for backpackers
Chaweng
Chaweng is where the hostels are, and on an island this expensive that settles it. Longest beach, most bars, most restaurants, and the centre of Samui’s nightlife after dark.
Good to know about Chaweng
- Almost every social hostel on the island is here
- Straight onto the longest beach on Samui
- The best nightlife, if that is what you came for
- Everything bookable within a few minutes’ walk
- Good pickup point for tours and transfers
- Plenty of other backpackers, which is not true everywhere on Samui
Lamai is the quieter version twenty minutes south, and Fisherman’s Village in Bophut is the prettiest place to eat. Both are easy on a scooter.
How to plan your days in Koh Samui
Most backpackers do Samui in two days, usually on the way to Phangan or Tao.
Chaweng and the temples. The longest and busiest beach on the island, with everything you need on it. Then ride up to the Big Buddha and Wat Plai Laem in the northeast.
Tonight: the bars along Chaweng Beach Road, or somewhere quieter at Lamai.
The ring road. Fifty-one kilometres around the island, past the Na Muang waterfalls, the Grandfather and Grandmother rocks at Lamai, and the quiet beaches in the south.
Tonight: the Sunday night market in Lamai, or the fish market at Fisherman's Village.
Ang Thong Marine Park. Forty-two islands offshore, with kayaking, snorkelling and the climb up to the viewpoint over the Emerald Lake.
Tonight: ferry to Koh Phangan or Koh Tao.
Food and drink in Koh Samui
Samui has the most resorts of the three Gulf islands and therefore the most expensive restaurants. The night markets and the fishing villages have not moved though, and they are still Thai and still cheap.
Go to the Fisherman’s Village Walking Street on a Friday, or the Sunday market in Lamai. Two euros gets you dinner, and you will eat better than at anywhere with a sea view and a menu in four languages.
What to eat here:
Getting there and onward
Samui is the only one of the three Gulf islands with its own airport, which makes it the easiest and the most expensive to reach.
Getting there. Flying from Bangkok takes an hour and costs a lot, because the airport is privately owned and behaves like it. Cheaper is the night bus or night train to Surat Thani and the ferry from there.
On the island. The ring road is fifty-one kilometres. Songthaews run during the day, but a €6 scooter is far more practical.
Onward. Koh Phangan is half an hour by boat, Koh Tao two and a half. The mainland is via Surat Thani or Don Sak.
- PlaneBangkok in an hour, its own airport
- FerryKoh Phangan 30 min · Koh Tao 2.5 hrs
- To the mainlandDon Sak 1.5 hrs, connects to the bus
- ScooterFrom about €6 a day
- SongthaewShared pickup along the ring road
Staying safe on Koh Samui
Samui is safe, but the ring road carries real cars at real speed, which makes it more dangerous than the smaller islands.
- Film the scooter at pickup, existing damage included
- Watch the flags at Chaweng and Lamai. The undertow here can be serious
- Use a taxi app. The meters in ordinary taxis on Samui are almost never on
- Bring something that covers shoulders and knees for the Big Buddha and the temples
- Ride the ring road at night. Cars move fast and the lighting is patchy
- Hand over your passport as a rental deposit
- Swim by the rocks at Lamai when there is any swell
- Rent a jet ski without filming it first. The damage claims here are notorious
Rebels on the Road tip
Take a scooter and do the whole ring road in one day, anticlockwise, starting early. You get the Big Buddha before the coaches, the waterfalls before the heat, and the south coast in the afternoon when there is nobody there. Fifty-one kilometres, about six euros, and you will see more of Samui than most people who stay a week.
Frequently asked questions
Is Koh Samui good for a first island?
Yes. Everything works, transport is easy and you can arrange anything from your hostel, which is a soft landing before Phangan and Tao.
Chaweng or Lamai?
Chaweng is busier and where the backpacker hostels and nightlife are. Lamai is calmer and cheaper, twenty minutes south, and better if you have a scooter.
Can you island hop from Koh Samui?
Easily. Ferries to Koh Phangan run all day and take half an hour, and Koh Tao is two and a half hours.
Is Koh Samui expensive?
The most expensive of the three Gulf islands, around €22 a day. Stay around Chaweng or Lamai and eat at the night markets and it stays reasonable.
What should you not miss on Koh Samui?
Ang Thong Marine Park, sunset at Fisherman’s Village, and a full loop of the ring road on a scooter.
Is Koh Samui good for digital nomads?
Increasingly. Decent cafés, fast internet, coworking at a couple of the hostels, and a real town rather than just a beach strip.
