Island Review: KOH SAMUI

Koh Samui is one of the three most popular vacation islands in the Golf of Thailand. It's the biggest one out of the three of them. Koh Samui even has an airport that you can fly to directly from Bangkok.

WHAT TO SEE

Fisherman's Village

The Fisherman's Village located at Bophut Beach is a really charming little place on Koh Samui. The real center of it, is the one long street parallell to the beach. There is lots to discover! There are so many different restaurants and bars and due to the many many tourists here, you can even find European and American food. Though I would recommend to stick to Thai food! We tried this Pizza place one night and if you are used to real Italian Pizza like us, you will only be disappointed. (As Germany is so close to Italy, we have really good italian restaurants here)

One thing I like most about Fisherman's Village is, that there are plenty of souvenir shopping opportunities. You can buy those typical Thailand-hippie-clothes, cute little bracelets and necklaces, scarfs, buddha and elephant figures. It is the perfect place to get your friends a little Thailand gift.

The downside of eating out or shopping on Koh Samui is, that it is far more expensive than on any other island we've been to. Koh Samui is a very touristic island and while other travellers might like that, we didn't like it too much. 

Big Buddha

The Big Buddha statue is the landmark of the Koh Samui Island. It is situated on a little peninsula and if you arrive on Koh Samui by plane, it will be the first thing you see of the Island. The golden statue is 12m high and looks quite impressive when you stand at the bottom of the stairs leading up to it. As at every other buddhist temple, you have to dress approprietly here too. Meaning: cover your shoulders and your knees or they won't let you in!

Wat Plai Laem

The temple Plai Laem is featured on many Koh Samui postcards because this is where the big colorful Buddha and another huge Buddha statue are situated. There is not much to do here but marvel at the two statues but it is definitely worth a short stop on your sightseeing trip through Koh Samui.

Grandfather Rock (Hin Ta & Hin Yai Rocks)

How would you call a rock shaped like a male genital? The Thais called it Grandfather Rock and it became very popular with tourists. There is also a counterpart called Grandmother Rock but it is not as unmistakably identifiable as the Grandfather Rock. They are located at the end of Lamai Beach.

Near Grandfather Rock is a little market place where you can get coconut icecream and there is also a very cool Bar called the Rocks Bar that you shouldn't miss visiting.

BEACHES

The two most popular beaches on Koh Samui are Lamai Beach and Chaweng Beach. To be honest both of those beaches are not on the list of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. But please note that this is criticism at a very high level because Thailand has soooo many breathtakingingly beautiful beaches that the Koh Samui beaches we've been to, just didn't make the list... Sorry Koh Samui!

Nevertheless are both beaches with their sea promenades nice spots to spend an afternoon swimming or watching the sunset at a restaurant table directly on the warm sand.

LAMAI BEACH

CHAWENG BEACH

WOULD I VISIT KOH SAMUI AGAIN

While our time there was nice, I would not visit Koh Samui again because I feel like I have seen everything I wanted to see and I simply did not fall in love with it the way I did with other Thailand islands. I am glad I visited Koh Samui but i probably won't return. There are so many other thai islands that we did not visit because we didn't have enough time. So if I return to Thailand I will focus on the islands that are left on my list ;).