Thorn Tree travel forum

1

Dear Simonhao...

Always happy to advise about koh samet. as you might gather from my handle i quite like the place!

If you want nightlife (beach bars) head to Naga/Jeps/Toks/Silversands for accomodation. Naga and Toks are probably the cheapest. Silversands your talking closer to 1200 baht +. Once you arrive at na dan pier, easy enough to just hop on a truck for ride to one of them - about 50 baht i think. Remember it costs several hundred baht for the national park entrance.

If you prefer to stay on a beach with lots of restaurants with the beach bars on the next beach (easy walk), stay at saikaew beach. Its near the 7/11 and internet shops etc.
Saikaew Villas is ok accomodation, as is sinsamut next door. 500 baht upwards.

Lots of good seafood & thai around but loads of western food too! BBQ's everynight. Jeps and Beach cafe both do very good food. Beware of the slow service at jeps though. You may need to harrass the lads along!

Any other q's message me!

...if you don't ask, you don't get

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1. 1, NP fee is 400 bht, and I would recommend having NOTHING TO DO WITH SAIKAEW VILLAS. They are a RIP OFF.

3

are there some package tour there and how is the price, such as snorkelling,fishing or ...? i saw the pictures of Wai beach were so nice. but i am not sure if it is suitable for me to go there, because i am alone and want to make some friends during this trip, further more, i do not have too much buddget. thank you so much.

enjoy the trip with other backpackers togeter

4

Good info #1. Just to add my 2 cents, you're likely to arrive at the Na Daan pier on the northern end where pickup trucks shuttle people down the island (some boats go directly to Ao Wong Duen). You pay 400 baht to enter the "National Park" (quite a joke, although rumour has it this will drop to 200 baht at some stage). Then the first/busiest and probably the most expensive beach is Hat Sai Kaew, but continue to Ao Phai beach which is the cheapest and most popular with backpackers, containing (again as ILKS says) Toks Hut and Naga as well as Ao Phai Hut (the three cheapest places). Keep going to Thub Tim beach which is a great medium option. Things get quieter as you move down, but then Ao Wong Duen beach is one very busy beach halfway down, with bungalows in the 1000-3000 range and lots of banana boats and jetskies. Next cove south is Ao Thien (aka "Candlelight Bay") which I like but again you're in the ~1000 baht range. From there south there are scattered bungalows, some cheaper some more upmarket. Sounds like you should head to Ao Phai though for lower budget and to meet more people. The island has a lot of squeaky white sand (some of the best in Thailand) but unfortunately it doesn't have much in the way of good snorkelling. There is excellent fresh seafood available at beachside restaurants. Samet is more or less a place to sunbathe, eat drink and sleep - that's it. Also, since you're looking for budget accommodation, beware of cheap huts near generators which could interfere with sleeping.