My top beaches on Ko Samet, Thailand

Once you take the ferry or speedboat from Rayong pier, your journey begins and takes between 20–45 minutes.

The drive to Rayong from Pattaya only takes about an hour, and from Bangkok it takes 3 hours. We usually stop in Pattaya for a night or two.

Koh Samet offers all the essential elements that make up a fun-filled holiday escape — an endless expanse of turquoise blue sea, white sand, water sports and quirky beaches. We have visited many times this year, We still haven’t seen any rain!

This Island is usually packed with visitors on weekends and long holidays. Lots of the resorts cater to groups of tourists. Accommodation is usually fully booked. From observation, this island is busiest during Chinese holidays.

This island caters to every type of person.

Sai Kaew Beach

We usually base ourselves on Sai Kaew Beach. It’s the busiest beach, but it’s conveniently near everything, including a good choice of restaurants and a 7Eleven. If you are into lots of boat trips this is the best beach for you, but be warned there is music playing until 11pm.

At Christmas, places put up decorations and ornaments. At night, the resorts and bars have a neon/jellyfish vibe. Some of the bars have mini full moon parties.

Ao Phai Beach

Walking towards this beach from Sai Kaew, you come to a smaller, quieter and quirkier beach called Ao Phai. I could spend weeks on this beach relaxing and sipping cocktails. Some locals do just that, they even bring their dogs. This beach is nice because there are no boats.

There are many places to rest, some people sleep on the rocks.

You can do what you want on this beach without being judged.

There is a pontoon that you can swim up to and dive off.

Ao Wai Beach

This beach feels the most natural with just one resort occupying it. If you like sunbathing and just relaxing; keeping yourself to yourself. For some quality family time, this beach is ideal. Again there are no boats.

TIPS

Be mindful of the scooters. Some people don’t know how to ride them properly. We saw one guy rev his bike into a ditch and another swerving along the road. No wonder there are 60 deaths a day from motorcycles.