Hotels in Ko Samed

The beaches are fantastic. The main beach Sai Kaew is where I spent most of my time. The water was extremely clear, the beaches had amazing sand, and they were pretty clean when I visited (Mid September, 2020). I went during the week, Sunday - Wednesday, so it wasn't too busy, mostly Thai folks visiting from the city. So a chill atmosphere all around. Prao beach is beautiful as well and has nice accommodations along it. Definitely, definitely rent a scooter when you visit. It takes maybe 20-30 minutes depending on your speed to traverse the length of the island. It just makes it a lot easier to get around, of course. I'll be back when I can. That being said, if you stay near Sai Kaew, then there are plenty of bars, restaurants, massage shops, etc. to visit, all within a 10 minute walking distance.

A very nice island that was very clean and has wonderful beaches. This was truly relaxing for me, so if i ever visit Thailand again, I will make sure I stay here for some R & R. It was truly a nice getaway from the fast-paced city life.

The island is close and easy to get to from Bangkok so that’s good. Otherwise there’s not much good to say about the island. The beaches are overrun with Chinese tourists who are obnoxiously loud and have no concept of personal space. There are so many of them and all they do is take photo after photo with so many selfie sticks that you’re probably going to get poked in the eye with one. most of them come in on super polluting speed boats which have killed off any of the coral reefs that remain and they block the swimming access to the main beach. The island is completely over developed and the national Park fee of 200 Baht clearly is not going towards any type of conservation activities at all. There is garbage everywhere including millions of pieces of micro plastics everywhere you go along the beach. There is no fresh water on the island. All water is shipped to the island at a great cost to both the environment in terms of pollution from additional boat traffic and hi costs for the locals. Anyone with a conscious wouldn’t go there as the poor locals although they do depend on tourism also have to pay for their water...it’s not a sustainable economy whatsoever. The island is overpriced and is not of a high caliber or quality compared to other places in Thailand that I’ve visited. All of the locals that I spoke to say that there are no young people visiting the island anymore. Personally I saw very few young people.All I saw when I was there besides the super obnoxious Chinese tourists were old white western men with young tight ladies. It was quite disgusting. They are much better places to go in Thailand than koh Samed.

Koh Samed is very nice, the beach is beautiful and the location is very convenient to escape Bangkok for a few days. You can eat some pretty nice meals, you can have a drink at night and do some water activities. For families or couples or friends. There are resorts for every budget

Beautiful, romantic, small island. Its quite spacious, despite some chinese tourists not crowded. You can chill out at the beach, watch some fire shows, or do some speedboat tours (I can recommend the sunset tour where they drop you off for an hour at a nice beach in the southern part to watch the sunset) . There is basically one main street with bars and shops. I would say in 2-3 days you have explored everything by foot. Can't say if there is possibly more if you rent a scooter.

Koh Samed is a convenient Island due to the nearness to Bangkok and to the mainland. It takes only 3 hours by car, from Bkk, and 10 mins of speed boat. Also the food in the island is simply great about the quality. By the other hand you have to pay once got the pier,to get out of it andyou have to pay again if you wanna even only visit the side of the island defined "national park". Pity, the"national park" is where the locals are dumping all the rubbish,in whatever spot they find. The main road which run across the island is broken and in a very bad condition from at least the pat 3 years and finally renting a motorbike cost, in the week end, not less than 400 Bht