Thread: Ko Samet - worth a visit?

thinking of checking this place out on my up and coming bus trip round some parts of SEA - anygood - I see it's near Pattaya so that's always handy....?

its a nice island though believe the prices have rocketed try getting away from the main beaches we used to stay at Au Vongduan, was a pretty beach not many people there until the weekend.

IMO, worth a visit for the first time and a short stay of 1 night.

Last time i visited 2011, roads not paved rough, bumpy and uneven....

All depends what you're after. Ao Vungduan is ok. If you want a really quiet beach go past Ao Vungduan and go to Ao Lung Dam. Only two restaurants and they shut at 9:00 am.

Ye we used to walk up there, though thought the prices were expensive considering its location, to get there years ago was a nightmare the road was horrendous.

If you decide to go around were m Rebbu and I have suggested get the ferry that's goes to Au vongduan, you don't have to pay the entrance fee to the island used to be 400 baht for farang can't remember the Thai charge.

it was a dirty sh1thole when I went there in 2003 - over exploited by the average thai and rubbish everywhere

next island I will go to will be Koh Chang - though none of these islands compare to the ones off the north queensland coast

Originally Posted by baldrick

though none of these islands compare to the ones off the north queensland coast

Papua New Guinea?

I hear great things about the Paradee resort there. Expensive, but you won't have to worry about any roads or people like Baldrick, you can only get to it by the resorts speedboat.

Originally Posted by withnallstoke

Papua New Guinea?

close

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinchinbrook_Island

I stay at Paradee Resort, it's the dogs danglies.

can you get reasonably cheap rooms, bungalows etc...maybe quite near where the boat gets off

Originally Posted by Prikkus

where the boat gets off

I think your referring to the fairy?

Originally Posted by Kurgen

I stay at Paradee Resort, it's the dogs danglies.

I had no idea you were bucks up like Seth Landreth!! Cheapest room on Agoda was 15,000 up to 30,000 a night. Wow

any girlie bars on the island?

Originally Posted by Black Heart

IMO, worth a visit for the first time and a short stay of 1 night.

so you've met my ex in Oz?

Originally Posted by Kurgen

Originally Posted by aging one

Originally Posted by Kurgen

I stay at Paradee Resort, it's the dogs danglies.

I had no idea you were bucks up like Seth Landreth!! Cheapest room on Agoda was 15,000 up to 30,000 a night. Wow

It's a very quiet, peaceful resort with a locked in beach. Worth every penny as it keeps the back packing scum, the ruskies and the chinks well away.

Anyone spending £300 - £500 plus a night to stay on a private beach for a couple of nights in Thailand where the food and service is equivalent to any £50 a night pension in France or Spain where the beaches are infinitely better and cleaner is plainly an idiot.

Aah, yes, indeed - but a RICH idiot, no less...............so


















good for 'im!

Originally Posted by Seekingasylum

Anyone spending £300 - £500 plus a night to stay on a private beach for a couple of nights in Thailand where the food and service is equivalent to any £50 a night pension in France or Spain where the beaches are infinitely better and cleaner is plainly an idiot.

As I already live in Thailand it's much cheaper for the 5 of us to drive to Koh Samet than fly to Spain, you idiot.

Also when I lived in Spain for 2 years, 15 years ago, I would often pay around 200-300 Euros a night for decent hotels, you idiot.

If you were to actually stay at Paradee Resort you would realise why it costs more than a poxy pension in France or Spain, you fukking idiot.

Originally Posted by Kurgen

you idiot

Originally Posted by Kurgen

you idiot

Originally Posted by Kurgen

you fukking idiot

I think Kurgen disagrees with TheGent

Koh Samet has always suffered from over-pricing for its accommodation, particularly in the sector of the market with a claim to "higher quality ". A combination of numerous idyllic beaches and coves with little development, ease of access, proximity to Bangkok and the closed shop that is the island's mafia ensure this. It's the economic reality of the place and one accepts that, however, a point is reached when the return falls short of expectations commensurate with investment and that is well exemplified by the likes of the Paradee and others with similar pretentions.

I rather think Kurgen is one of those who lacks the refinement or intelligence to appreciate the distinction between true quality and a mere approximation. Pearls before swine springs to mind and I should imagine he is the sort of chap who can't pronounce Montrachet properly when he orders his wine.

I prefer to drive the extra 2 hours to Ko Chang, tbh. Samet upgraded it's prices about ten years ago, trying to punch above it's weight for the standard of accommodation provided. Still subject to oil spills and other detritus from the lovely nearby Maptaphut industrial base too.

popular thai beach resorts have nearly all lost their charm thanks to infrastructure that cant cope, a mostly appalling visitor demographic who care little about standards, poorly trained staff and a management who know that whatever service you provide, a beach location will ensure that there is another sucker just waiting to book in.

look around these so called luxury resorts and it is not hard to spot the poorly installed fittings, the shoddy construction, the dead cockroach in the cupboard, the creepy crawly exiting the drain in the bathroom that lost its cover, the less than hygienic kitchen housing the sleepy dog and the mangy cat and the two inch deep layer of dust on top of cupboards, and this being a thai mafia controlled island, the lack of security and the knife wielding rapist lurking in the shadows behind the trees..... these days those guys are almost a protected species on thai islands.

i was on samet in the eighties and early nineties, it was rough and ready and friendly and funky but enjoyable and exotic and you knew exactly what you were getting. and of course there was no enormous poison belching industrial site and oil refinery 10 miles away.

these days, its all concrete, cockroaches and cocktails and a huge letdown.

there are far better beaches with better family run resorts to be found on the other side of the gulf both north and south of prajuab.

20,000 b a night !!! you've gone troppo.

Originally Posted by taxexile

popular thai beach resorts have nearly all lost their charm thanks to infrastructure that cant cope, a mostly appalling visitor demographic who care little about standards, poorly trained staff and a management who know that whatever service you provide, a beach location will ensure that there is another sucker just waiting to book in.

I was asked recently what Chaweng in Koh Samui was like. Most of it is described above. My comment was that it was like Blackpool but with better looking hookers.

The Island continues to change and develop, without thought for the essential supporting infrastucture. Upmarket hotel chains have started to move in and provide isolated pockets of higher western standards but once you leave the resort, the failings are clear for all to see. It's the same with high end managed villas.
I enjoyed my 2 years living there. Once you accept the developing world status, it still has a good side and can be enjoyed for what it is.
Interesting that any searches of the usual travel sites for high end tourism, all the accommodation is priced in US$ by default.