Easter holiday with kids aged 6 and 8 - Koh Samui/Phuket for beach stay?

My husband and I went travelling about 17 years ago and spent several weeks in Thailand and totally fell in love the place. We have always wanted to go back and think the kids are now of an age where they will get some great memories and adventures out of it.

Our current thinking is that we will have 2 days/3 nights in Bangkok, 7/8 days on an island and then 2/3 days on an adventure trek from Kanchanaburi. The order depends on where we go for each bit.

We would love Bangkok hotel recommendations and any river market tours. Apart from that, we pretty much know what we want to do.

Our favourite island from years back was Koh Tao but it looks like the journey time is still ridiculous for a 1 week beach stay as part of just a 2 week holiday. Being realistic, it looks like Koh Samui (with a day trip to Koh Tao for snorkelling) or Kata Beach on Phuket (with day trips to Krabi and Phi Phi) are our best bet for the time of year, ages of the kids and travel times.

What do you think? Any preferences either way? Any hotel recommendations?

Neither of these were on our must-do list as backpackers but we need to be realistic about getting a holiday out of this trip. We want amazing beaches, beautiful weather, a few things to visit, snorkelling and nice hotels. Bangkok will give us crazy city time with amazing temples and the trek will give us jungle, animals and adventure. The beach bit is the rest bit!

This holiday is also hanging a little bit on celebrating a big birthday, so we are open to staying in reasonable accommodation for most of it with maybe a couple of nights somewhere amazing.

Help please!!

Many thanks

I presume you'll be flying to Samui, or you'll be pushing it in that time frame.

Don't expect it to be the same as when you were there before- it's not.

I'd go overnight to Tao, rather than just a day trip, as you will have very little time there between ferries.

Thanks, that is a good idea. Yep, we thought paying to fly would be better than losing more days.
I am worried that the islands will have changed beyond recognition but then we also have different needs.
Would you recommend samui/tao over the western side at that time of year?

Thanks again

you could also go to Ko Phangan. fly into Samui and then take the boat. very doable and easier to find quiet beaches. stay on the west side of the island to avoid big party crowds.

Thank you, I will take a look at that option

If you are going to go overnight to Koh Tao, you may as well take the overnight train instead, perhaps it's better for the kids (our kids love the train). You can get a train/bus/ferry ticket to Samui and then go to Tao for a few days for snorkelling or just do a day trip. We have done this a couple of times with similar aged kids. As you are only going for 2 weeks, perhaps skip the Kanchanburi thing this visit and just let them enjoy the islands.

"Our favourite island from years back was Koh Tao but it looks like the journey time is still ridiculous for a 1 week beach stay as part of just a 2 week holiday. Being realistic, it looks like Koh Samui (with a day trip to Koh Tao for snorkelling) or Kata Beach on Phuket (with day trips to Krabi and Phi Phi) are our best bet for the time of year, ages of the kids and travel times. "

If Koh Tao is your favourite island and you were going to make the journey anyway to snorkel, why not skip Samui and just stay on Koh Tao, to get the most out of your travel time? If you take the night train from BKK to Chumphon and then the morning ferry to Tao you'll also waste less day time traveling than if you fly to Samui, since you'll be traveling overnight. I'd be happy to give you a hotel recommendation, if you like - You are welcome to PM me a bit more info on what you're looking for (budget, amenities etc) and I'll give you some info.

Happy travels!