Just finished up a lovely ten day stay on koh samui and thought I'd do a little trip report. My trip was very last minute, but I was very happy with the area I ended up staying in. If anyone out there is looking for a quiet, peaceful area of samui then bang po beach might suit you well.
It is about a 20 min drive from the airport, and much less built up than the chaweng area. No nightlife, but a string of beach-side restaurants, a few bars, and some accommodation. There is a 7/11 there which has an ATM.
I stayed a footprints bungalows (found them on airbnb). 6 little bungalows with hammocks out the front, right on the beach. 500 baht for the ones at the back, 600 for the ones facing the ocean. They have tv and AC and friendly and helpful staff.
The ocean there is really, really shallow - so not much good for swimming unfortunately.
On either side of footprints are nice restaurants - one Thai cheapy place, where I ate all the time. Lovely fresh food and big servings. On the other side is a German-Malaysian restaurant, which does a very nice salad.
If you walk out of the German restaurant and walk about 200 metres to your right you will get to a really sweet massage place. The woman running it has massage tables set up in her garden with sea views. She is well qualified and gave me a really good massage for 300 baht. It was meant to be one hour but went around 90 mins. Highly recommended!
Overall, an extremely relaxing ten days. No nightlife or shopping, but if you are looking just to chill it's great and the locals are really friendly.
