koh samui and koh phangan or phuket and ko phi phi?

hunggar

hey heading to thailand in the summer with my girlfriend. we really confused about which resorts to go for. we are heading for 3 weeks in the middle of may. we want more of a chill out holiday and nothing mad. we want to go to the islands in the south but dont want to travel around to much so maybe just a couple.
i was thinking of ko samui and ko phangan or phuket and ko phi phi. anyone have any recommendations? does anyone have anything good to say about ko samui?

Trampas

head up north first and do some trekking.

then you can always head down to the islands to relax when finished.

Can fly from Chang Mai straight down.

willy wonka

I went to samui and Koh phangan in 2001. Ko Samui was very much a couple's island - quiet and romantic. I found it very dull but I was young at the time and was more into going out. So definitely for honeymooners. However it is a beautiful island - as close to paradise as you'll get; palm trees, jungle, white sands etc. I kept thinking of Hawaii all the time I was there. The airport is amazing - a series of connecting beach huts! Check out the Big Buddha on the island - a massive gold Buddha statue!
You can get a boat over to Koh phangan.

Koh phangan as you may know is home to the famous Full Moon Party and unless you want crazy party nights most of the time - when we were there, there was the main Full Moon night but also half -moon nites, new moon nights, etc! At the time it was brilliant, but it has gotten so commercial that it's supposed to be a bit tacky now.

Haven't been to the other islands you spoke of so can't say.

CountryWise

hey op, I did all the islands in 2008 with my girlfriend.

Here are me thoughts:

On the East

Ko Samui....wouldnt be my cup of tea, people selling stuf all the time,McDonalds,Starbucks, etc etc

Ko Phangan....lovely island, head up north we stayed in a beautiful place called Ao Thong Nai Pai Yan and the resort was beautiful with a pool and on the beach too. place is dreamland resort and it lives up to the name. Full moon party is a speed boat away if thats your thing.

Ko Tao, primarily for diving and heading out on the piss, great fun island and worth 5 days of time

On the West

Phuket....try find somewhere quiet, stayed in kata resort and it was lovely on Kata Beach

Ko Phi Phi...beautiful place but if you have the money pay some extra for some nice accomodaton as there is lots of crap places to stay

Ko Lanta.....lovely island for couple and worth a few days

Railay....not my cup of tea it smellls but great for climbing


have fun

niborm

hunggar wrote: »

does anyone have anything good to say about ko samui?

It has lots of boats leaving regularly, and an airport for a quick escape.

Have you heard of Koh Chang? It's only 7 hrs from Bkk on bus and boat, and is incomparably better than Samui, with a whole range of resorts/huts.

Also what CountryWise said about Pha Ngan.

If you go to Phi Phi and don't want anything mad (but the option only a short hop away!) try Long Beach. It has some great spots, and brilliant snorkelling right off the beach.

Check out this thread...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055334283

jimbling

without a doubt go to koh samui and koh phangan. Mainly due to the fact that phuket is a horrible place, and koh phi phi is not half the place it used to be. Seems to be full of english louts these days.

Koh Samui is very couply all right, but there are lots of different places to go. Cheweng is very busy with beach sellers etc. There are other beaches on the island that are very quiet.....
Similar for koh phangan... up north is beautiful and quiet.. check out bottle beach. down south is amazing too, but a huge party zone.

The first poster mentioned about going up north... and I would take that advice.

6ix

Went to Phuket/Phi Phi when travelling through Thailand last October. Phi Phi was fantastic, one of the highlights of the trip. A few English/Irish around but nothing like a holiday in Spain!

I'd really advise a few days up North too - I really like Chiang Mai and it's surrounds. So much to do too - trekking, Patara Elephant farm etc.

BTW, if you do go to Phi Phi, and want to go and see "The Beach" on Phi Phi Ley (from the film), don't bother with a tour - just hire your own taxi boat and go at 7/8am. It's paradise, fantastic beach for relaxing or swimming. When I went there were just two others there along with my girlfriend and I.

After 9am it starts getting packed with tourist boats - really packed. I passed by it at about 11am one day and it looked awful - up to 100 people walking the beach. I'm not one of those "I only go to unspoiled/quiet places" people, but a few hours makes such a difference when you go there.

tina m

Koh Samui is one of the worst places I've ever been to. It's not real Thailand! It's a beautiful island ruined by tourism and it's quite sad, tbh. The only difference between koh samui and fuengarola or other such resorts in Spain is that koh samui is further away... there are no local people living there anymore (the few thais you see there have all moved there from the north just for the business). If you google a little, you might be able to find a series of articles that the Bangkok Post ran couple of years ago which was called something like 'koh samui, paradise lost'. It's a perfect example of how tourism can ruin a beautiful place, it used to be 90% covered in coconut trees, now it's 10%, the water is ruined, all original locals have moved to the main land because the hotels have squeezed the out, everything that's there, is there just for the tourists. Really, it's not real thailand. even the temples are there for tourists. Not to mention it's stupidly expensive!

Koh phanang is fab, though, and there are lots of other nice island. Krabi is meant to be nice, though I've never been myself.

I also recommend going up north, that's where you'll see the realy thailand, real culture. I lived in Chiang Mai for a year and it's honestly the most fantastic little city on earth and there's so much to do. You can visit the hill tribes, see lots of different style temples and learn about the culture, do stuff like go chat to the monks in temples etc. Not to mention shopping and eating It's really the best place to go to. Flying from place to place is very easy. Check air asia for cheap flights, it's a v good airline! They actually fly to London now too, from kuala lumpur (which is an amazing city!). I hope you have a fab holiday! I absolutely love thailand and that whole region!

darrenh

i was in thailand last march and would strongly recommend going up north first for a week. we then flew to phuket and near karon beach for 2 days. phuket is a big and doesnt even feel like an island. it is like going to the beach here (except the sun and warm water). Phi Phi i would really recommend. We didnt stay at the main/only village on the island. We had booked phi phi relax beach resort which was bout half an hour in a fairly slow boat up the side of the island. Phi Phi relax was about 15 huts, 1 bar, 1 restaurant and a massage area all situated on about 150mts of beach. only you and no more than 30 people. i couldn't recommend it anymore. if you want to check out my pictures of the place you can at www.mytb.org/Wanderly-Wagon.

glee123

Hi - I'm going to Thailand with my boyfriend in June and we have been to Thailand before. We bypassed Ko Samui and Phuket before as were warned off them and considering going to Ko Samui this time aswel as probably back to Ko Tao. Would Ko Samui be nice? We are willing to spend some money for decent standard accomodation as starting work after university in July. Any specific recommendations? Should Phuket be avoided at all costs?

TravelJunkie

why is everyone trashing koh samui? I thought it was great. Lovely hotels, great relaxation. the island is tiny so you can see all of it in practically one day. yes, it is a little touristy, but in a nice way. (I was there in 2005)

i would definately recommend a little of inland thailand and then on one of the islands.

darrenh

It is the least like Thailand out of anywhere in the country. It is actually quite a big island. I didn't like it at all but everyone has different tastes!