Accomodation
Koh Samui has two kinds of accommodation to offer tourists visiting the island, resorts and private holiday villa rentals. The villas are becoming ever more popular as it enables large families to come on holiday and stay together rather than spread throughout a resort. Each villa comes with in house staff to look after your every need during your stay.
In my Helpful Links column ( right side of your screen ), you can check out some great accomadations.
You can choose from luxury hotels
to
luxury holiday villa rentals
to
Very cheap properties to saty while you are here in Koh Samui.
Many BIG Brands are already here on the Island.
- Four Seasons, Banyan Tree, W, and Renaissance. Trusted Brands the world over.
( Note, Banyan Tree is the latest to open, just opened on July 15/10. Breathtakingly beautiful property )
- There are also some other brands that are also fabulous.
The SixSenses property is also amazing.
In terms of location, there are a few choices.
Chaweng - central and where everything happens. Stay in Chaweng if you like to be in the midst of everything. Chaweng beach is by far the most popular beach on the island.
Lamai - Stay here if you like peace and quiet but also want easy access into town. About 15-2o mins drive to Chaweng.
Choeng Mun - Also a quiet area but the neighbourhood has some of the islands wealthiest people living here. About 30 mins drive to Chaweng.
Fishermans Village in Bophut - This village in Koh Samui looks like the South Of France. Beautiful Night Bazaars with high end restaurants to choose from. Fishermans Village also boasts to be the only part of Samui where there are no 'GIRLY BARS'. Ideal for families who wants to bring youg children and walk around at night without exposing them to the savage sex-trade industry here. Location is about 10-15 mins from Chaweng.
Maenam - too far out and would not really recommend.
There are other parts on the island where one can stay but these would be my recommendations.
If you are thinking about visiting Koh Samui, Thailand, I might just have very useful information to share with you. I will try to share from A-Z about Koh Samui From Beautiful Beaches to Fine Dining ,Local Thai Food, Best and Pricey places to stay to cheap and fantastic bargain accomodations as well as things to do in this little island that i have called home in these past 10 months.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
4. Koh Samui Airport
My own personal opinion is that Koh Samui Airport is the most beatiful airport in the world. It looks like a High End Resort.
When alighting the plane, try to be amongst the first few to alight as there will be buggys to drive you to the immigration counter. This will be for those of you who fly directly into Koh Samui from overseas.There are only 2 counters and the officers take a long time to process your entry. Being ahead might save you a fair bit of time. If you are coming into Koh Samui from other parts of Thailand, no immigration check as you are still within Thailand.Once you clear immigration and collect you luggages, dont be fooled by what looks like the pick-up area. You should head left until you see a travellator, get on it and then you will reach the pick up point.
Some hotels offer free limousine service to pick you up and you will see alot of people holding up names of travellers. If you do not have a limousine service arranged, dont fret as there are plenty of taxis on the 'prowl'. Here is where your haggling prowers come to test. Taxis here will charge you alot of money. What you shold do is haggle, ask for discounts and continue to do so. If you are not confident in getting a good deal, i would tell you to book a limousine service directly form the airport. "Might save you money" and Time.
Koh Samui Travel Map
3. Getting Here...
The are a few ways to get to this little island.
The most popular for alot of people is to fly into Bangkok or Phuket and then fly into Koh Samui.
There are alternatives though. Go to Bangkokair and see the possibilities.
I would recommend one of four options though.
* Fly into Bangkok or Phuket and then fly into Samui.
* Fly into Singapore or Hong Kong then fly into Samui.
* Fly into Kl where there are 2 different carriers to Koh Samui ( Cheaper Alternative )
** For those of you wanting to arrive in Style Thai-Real.com can offer a private jet and helicopter service. ( Very Very Expensive Alternative )
Note. ( if your travel time is between end of May to end of July, I would highly recommed Flying into Singapore. Spend either the first 2 nights or your last 2 nights in Singapore as every year during this time period, Singapore has the Great Singapore Sale or GSS in short. Great time to shop over there.)
The most popular for alot of people is to fly into Bangkok or Phuket and then fly into Koh Samui.
There are alternatives though. Go to Bangkokair and see the possibilities.
I would recommend one of four options though.
* Fly into Bangkok or Phuket and then fly into Samui.
* Fly into Singapore or Hong Kong then fly into Samui.
* Fly into Kl where there are 2 different carriers to Koh Samui ( Cheaper Alternative )
** For those of you wanting to arrive in Style Thai-Real.com can offer a private jet and helicopter service. ( Very Very Expensive Alternative )
Note. ( if your travel time is between end of May to end of July, I would highly recommed Flying into Singapore. Spend either the first 2 nights or your last 2 nights in Singapore as every year during this time period, Singapore has the Great Singapore Sale or GSS in short. Great time to shop over there.)
2. Weather in Koh Samui
Koh Samui Weather Seasons
Best Link to check current Samui weather condtions and more :
http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/48550.html?bannertypeclick=gizmotimetemp
Koh Samui enjoys the longest hot season in Thailand with only about 6 weeks of monsoon each year between the end of October and the beginning of December. The rest of the year the average temperature is around 30 degrees Celsius which is 86 degrees Fahrenheit.
I was unlucky enough to have been here during Koh Samui's Summer season between Late March to Early May.
Temperature went up to more than 40 degress Celsius. It was terrible for me. I come from Singapore so i expected to be able to breeze through as Singapore is not that far away and Singapore is not what you could call a 'cool' place. But boy was i mistaken. Many of the tourists who despite the heat still went to the beach ended up getting burnt. Poor folks.
To give you an idea how hot it was, my colleagues and myself out of pure boredom decided on an experiment. We cracked an egg outside and about 2 hours later, we returned to find the egg cooked. Imagine that.
However, despite the despair of the heat, there was a silver lining.
It came in the form of 'Songkran' which is the Water Festival that the Thais celebrate. 2 days of pure fun,fun and more fun. Everyone participated. Both locals and tourists ended up soaking wet. People were throwing water at everyone they came into close contact with. There were people standing along the sides of the roads and everytime a motorcycle passed by, both rider and pillion got drenched by tap water and the worst was cold freezing water. You could buy a water gun anywhere and have fun, shoot strangers and friends alike. Even the policeman were not sparred.
Adults behaved like children again. I would NEVER recommend anyone to come to Koh Samui during the summer beacuse the heat literally sucks all your energy away BUT i would ALWAYS recommend to everyone to come here during the 'Songkran' Water Festival.
These past few days has not been really that great anyways. Rain has been pouring down in Koh Samui and if you are not staying at an accomodaton that has a bcak up power generator, be prepared for constant blackouts and no water. Today up until about 3 pm in the afternoon, the whole of Chaweng ( the most popular area in Koh Samui )had no electricity and water save for a few shops which had a back up power generator.
My word of advice, Koh Samui can be loads of fun but do pick your dates to visit wisely.
Best Link to check current Samui weather condtions and more :
http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/48550.html?bannertypeclick=gizmotimetemp
Koh Samui enjoys the longest hot season in Thailand with only about 6 weeks of monsoon each year between the end of October and the beginning of December. The rest of the year the average temperature is around 30 degrees Celsius which is 86 degrees Fahrenheit.
I was unlucky enough to have been here during Koh Samui's Summer season between Late March to Early May.
Temperature went up to more than 40 degress Celsius. It was terrible for me. I come from Singapore so i expected to be able to breeze through as Singapore is not that far away and Singapore is not what you could call a 'cool' place. But boy was i mistaken. Many of the tourists who despite the heat still went to the beach ended up getting burnt. Poor folks.
To give you an idea how hot it was, my colleagues and myself out of pure boredom decided on an experiment. We cracked an egg outside and about 2 hours later, we returned to find the egg cooked. Imagine that.
However, despite the despair of the heat, there was a silver lining.
It came in the form of 'Songkran' which is the Water Festival that the Thais celebrate. 2 days of pure fun,fun and more fun. Everyone participated. Both locals and tourists ended up soaking wet. People were throwing water at everyone they came into close contact with. There were people standing along the sides of the roads and everytime a motorcycle passed by, both rider and pillion got drenched by tap water and the worst was cold freezing water. You could buy a water gun anywhere and have fun, shoot strangers and friends alike. Even the policeman were not sparred.
Adults behaved like children again. I would NEVER recommend anyone to come to Koh Samui during the summer beacuse the heat literally sucks all your energy away BUT i would ALWAYS recommend to everyone to come here during the 'Songkran' Water Festival.
These past few days has not been really that great anyways. Rain has been pouring down in Koh Samui and if you are not staying at an accomodaton that has a bcak up power generator, be prepared for constant blackouts and no water. Today up until about 3 pm in the afternoon, the whole of Chaweng ( the most popular area in Koh Samui )had no electricity and water save for a few shops which had a back up power generator.
My word of advice, Koh Samui can be loads of fun but do pick your dates to visit wisely.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
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