Most Popular 8 Beaches of Koh Samui
Koh Samui is one of Thailand’s largest Islands, and boasts a large amount of beautiful, white sandy, clear blue water, and palm tree lined beaches. After we sold our house and started our life as Digital Nomads, the world was our Oyster. The first step was to be where to go. After we had many friends talk so highly of Koh Samui, we booked our 1 way ticket to this Island of paradise.
After being in Koh Samui for 6 months, we have put together 8 of the most popular beaches on the Island. But we are bringing those beaches to you from a different perspective. From the air! Towards the end of our stay in Koh Samui we ourselves a drone for Christmas.
Let us save you time on your trip to Koh Samui by giving you an introduction to each of the beaches to help you decide which area of the Island you want to stay in. Watch this video above for a tour of these beautiful beaches or read our list below:
In this article we cover the following beaches:
- Chaweng Beach
- Choeng Mon
- Lamai
- Lipa Noi
- Maenam
- Silver Beach
- Boput (at Fishermans Village)
- Bang Por
Chaweng Beach
As the gem of Samui, Chaweng Beach is a must see, rated #1 on the Island and as such is the central tourism hub spot. And for good reason, Chaweng is 7 km long with beautiful sand lining the whole beach. You will find tons of beach front resorts here, restaurants, massages, and party bars. Some of the more popular party bars that operate all night include the famous Ark Bar and Cha Cha Moon Beach Party. You will find a variety of restaurants and bars where you can pull up a chair, however finding an umbrella or a lounge chair normally comes at a price tag from one of the many hotels. In busy season, this beach is packed, find out video here taken in January early in the morning at about 9 am. Being that the beach is a destination beach, you will also find the buskers out in full force and hard to find a moment to yourself.
Choeng Mon
The very North tip of Koh Samui features the gem beach of Choeng Mon. Choeng Mon is a smaller beach but just as beautiful, with at low tide you can walk out to a mini Island. If you do not find yourself staying at one of the many resorts on Resort Row with a private beach, in this area Choeng Mon is the closet beach. Sparkling waters and white sandy beaches line this bay. You will quite a few restaurants on this beach but there’s more room at this beach to find a spot to spread your towel and claim your own beach real estate for the day.
Lamai
Samui’s 2nd rated beach, Lamai attracts a much “chiller” crowd than the high-end resort and party lined Chaweng beach. This beautiful laid back beach offers the largest sandy beach area on the Eastern side of Koh Samui and features wonderful swimming areas. Lamai is often a popular spot for expats and backpackers. You will find many more restaurants lining this beach, most of them offering free use of the sun chairs if you purchase a drink or buy lunch from their restaurant. At the end of Lamai Beach is where you will find one of Samui’s top attractions, a rock formation called Hin Ta and Hin Yai which is a beautiful rock formation and has a pretty neat Lamai viewpoint. You will find that being the number 2 beach on Samui that it can be quite busy.
Lipa Noi
Lipa Noi is personally our favorite beach, we spent our last couple weeks on Koh Samui living at this beach and fell even more in love. It’s on of the best swimming beaches on the west side of the island. This beach is normally pretty quiet, so if you are looking for peace and tranquility in paradise, you have found it here! Beaches on this side of the Island tend to be quite shallow, with the exception of Lipa Noi. Lipa Noi beach faces Thailand mainland, so you will find the waves here are quite timid and much calmer. The bay is lined with palm trees and enjoys Samui’s famous pink and orange sunsets every night. You will find a couple restaurants on the beach from a beach hut restaurant to a retro café to 5 star dining. None of them offer shaded lounge chairs so bring your own towels.
Maenam
Maenam beach is one of the longest stretching beaches with approx. 5 to 7 kilometers long. Maenam has established itself as one of Samui’s backpacker and expat havens. You will find easy access to this beach by the Maenam Pier and can walk in either direction. However this beach is much quieter as many of the resorts or small bungalows you find can only be accessed by small pathways, giving parts of this beach much privacy. Around the pier you will still find many restaurant options but you will find very few bustlers interrupting your paradise here.
Silver Beach
Silver beach or also called Crystal Bay is rated in the top 7 things to do in Koh Samui from Trip Advisor. This beach is truly special. It’s a fairly small beach, with only a couple resorts/restaurants lining the beach but the view is tremendous. Being that the beach Real Estate is not that large, if you want to score some shade under the tree, we suggest getting here early. The access to this beach can be a bit confusing because the access to the beach is through one of the restaurants.
Boput
Boput Beach boasts the popular Fisherman’s village on it shores. During the night the beach transforms and offers some high end beach bars and during the day bustling with activity from sea do-s and kids playing. The sand consistency is a bit more “pebbly” on this beach than on others on Koh Samui so you might find yourself keeping those flip flops on when your not right next to the water. This beach offers one of the most popular Hooka bars and beanbags beachside.
Bang Por
Bang Por is easily accessible as a stop off on a trip around the Island, right off Ring Road. At Bang Por, you will find an almost deserted beach on Koh Samui. Bang Por beach stretches the shores just after Maenam and before you ascend the hill to Nathon. There are numerous local Thai restaurants on this beach so you will find some great deals on food and beer here. But the biggest highlight for this beach is wonderful sandy shores, beautiful clear blue water view and there’s hardly anyone here! Over a 2 hour period of being at this beach we were lucky to see less than a dozen people. You can easily access this beach along ring road through one of the vacant lots. Bang Por isn’t the best beach for swimming though, it is quite shallow but still deep enough to sit and swim in shallow waters but you won’t find constant waves here.
