Koh Samet: Bangkok’s Weekend Island Koh Samet sits 200 km southeast of Bangkok — close enough to reach in three hours by bus and ferry, which makes it the default weekend escape for Bangkok’s expats and middle class. It is a national park island, which keeps development limited and the beaches relatively clean. The water…
Pattaya: Thailand’s Most Misunderstood City Pattaya has a reputation that overshadows everything else about it. Yes, Walking Street exists. Yes, it is exactly what you have heard. But the city that surrounds it is 170,000 people, a long coastline, several decent beaches, a Sanctuary of Truth that took 30 years to build, and the closest…
Koh Tao: Where Divers Learn and Stay Koh Tao — ‘Turtle Island’ — is a small island 45 km north of Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand. It has a single significant claim: it is the cheapest and one of the best places in the world to learn to scuba dive. PADI Open Water…
Koh Phangan: More Than One Party Koh Phangan sits between Koh Samui and Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand, and it has been defined internationally by a single event: the Full Moon Party at Hat Rin, a beach rave that draws 20,000–30,000 people to the southern tip of the island once a month. That…
Koh Chang: The Jungle Island of the Gulf Koh Chang — ‘Elephant Island’ — is Thailand’s second largest island, a mountainous jungle island in the Gulf of Thailand near the Cambodian border. It is larger than most visitors expect: 30 km long, with peaks rising to 743 metres covered in dense forest that has never…
Hua Hin: The Beach Town Near Bangkok Hua Hin is the closest proper beach to Bangkok — 200 km south, three hours by road or train. It is the oldest resort town in Thailand: the royal family has maintained a palace here since 1926, and the railway hotel built in 1923 is still operating as…
Koh Samui: The Gulf Coast Alternative Koh Samui is Thailand’s second-largest island and the largest in the Samui Archipelago in the Gulf of Thailand. Where Phuket faces the Andaman Sea on Thailand’s western coast, Samui faces east into the warm, sheltered Gulf — a different sea entirely, calmer in different seasons, with different light and…