Although we spent almost all our time on Koh Samui going to the same beach — Chaweng, which we had come to love — the island has plenty of other great beaches. We did not get round to all of them, but we did see the most popular ones. So this article is about the most popular beaches on Koh Samui.
After trying out the different beaches, we still decided that, all things considered, Chaweng suited us best, even though many people speak rather poorly of it.
In short: which Samui beach is best for swimming. In our experience (this article was written in 2015) it is Chaweng: clean, transparent water, fine sand, a gently sloping entry and shade under the trees; it is usually calm there, but roughly once a week there were strong waves. Lipa Noi has almost no people and no vendors, but there are no cafés or shops nearby either. At Mae Nam the depth increases quickly and the water was a little murky; Lamai has good infrastructure, but the water was dirty every time we visited; Nathon is unsuitable for swimming at low tide. Details and photos for each beach follow below. And do bear the season in mind: October, November and December are the rainiest months on Koh Samui (according to World Meteorological Organization normals for 1991–2020 — 295, 445 and 263 mm of rainfall, against 64–134 mm in the other months).
1. Map of Koh Samui’s beaches
2. Lipa Noi beach
It is not marked on the map, but it lies just south of Nathon: turn off the ring road, drive through a palm grove and you will see a sign with the name of the beach:
Along the shore there are hotels with individual bungalows, pretty grounds and swimming pools. The sea view from the hotel side:
There are very few people on the beach, yet it is a very pleasant beach, with fine sand:
The entry into the sea is gentle, but the depth increases quickly, and the water is slightly murky because of the sand:
Hotel sun loungers:
The view is very beautiful:
As well as palms, the beach has casuarina trees, in whose shade you can shelter without worrying that a coconut might drop on your head:
A pleasant place with a minimum of people:
The hotel grounds:
On the grounds of one of the hotels:
This is what the bungalows look like:
In short: on the whole we liked the place — clean water, pleasant fine sand, minimal crowds, no vendors: everything you need for a quiet, peaceful life. Few people come to this beach just for a swim; most of those you see are guests of the hotels, staying 100 metres from the water. But along with the peace and quiet there are some inconveniences, such as the lack of shops and cafés within walking distance. So the ideal option is to stay straight away in one of the houses on the shore, occasionally driving out to shops and markets for groceries (which means you definitely need transport). And yes, this pleasure is certainly not cheap: when we wrote this article in 2015, there were no budget accommodation options there, only modern luxury villas (bungalows).
3. Nathon beach
The next beach we called at was Nathon. But Nathon itself stretches a long way, and the more or less attractive spot is south of Nathon pier, right by the Marine Police office.
Every time we drove past Nathon there was a strong low tide, so the beach looks roughly like this:
Nobody swims here, as it takes far too long to walk out to any depth, but you can admire the beautiful view:
Palms and casuarinas grow here, though there is no infrastructure at all:
There are a few benches along the beach, so you can come here to relax:
In short: a beautiful and deserted beach, but completely unsuitable for swimming.
4. Mae Nam beach
One of the most popular beaches (especially for families with children) is Mae Nam. The beach is heavily hyped, and I had heard many glowing reviews of it, but in my subjective opinion there is nothing special about it.
Fishing boats like this one are “parked” right next to the beach:
The beach has all the infrastructure for a holiday — sun loungers with umbrellas, cafés and water activities:
You can see that the water is a little murky because of the sand:
And yes, the depth increases very quickly; on the other hand, the beach is simply huge:
You can find both a deserted spot and infrastructure with cafés:
We ended up here at the hottest time of day, so there were very few people, practically nobody:
Hotels stand right there, two minutes from the beach, and the prices, incidentally, were quite reasonable: within 5–10 minutes you could find a small, simple house for 15,000 baht (out of season, in summer; the price at the time we wrote this article in 2015):
There are also more expensive options:
You can see that the water is not transparent at all; I do not much enjoy swimming in water like that:
The beach in the other direction:
In short: there are few people and the beach is very big, so even if you like being alone you will be able to find a suitable spot. At the same time it has everything you need for a holiday — sun loungers, cafés, showers. There are several entrances to the beach, and you can also walk to small shops such as 7-Eleven (when we wrote this article in 2015 there was also a Family Mart nearby, but in 2023 the chain left Thailand and its shops were converted to the Tops Daily brand).
The minuses:
- non-transparent water
- the depth increases quickly
- no shade to shelter in; all the vegetation is far from the sea
- unpleasant coarse sand (it was even painful for me to walk on it).
5. Chaweng beach
Skipping a few small beaches on the map, we finally arrive at Chaweng! Generally, the three most popular (and longest) beaches are Lamai, Chaweng and Mae Nam. And while Mae Nam is considered more suitable for families with children (it is a little less crowded there), Chaweng beach, and indeed the whole Chaweng area, is considered the party capital of the island.
So when we were choosing an area for a long-term stay, we were a little worried that it would be too noisy, crowded and uncomfortable. In fact, if you are prepared to live not right by the sea but a little further away (5–10 minutes by motorbike), you can find excellent quiet and budget options (for example, the house we rented cost 7,500 baht — the price at the time we wrote this article in 2015).
The lively party scene only begins after sunset, so we barely saw any of it during the whole time we lived on Samui.
And in the morning the beach looks like this:
There are very few people, so we preferred going to the beach in the mornings — plenty of free space:
From time to time, during strong low tides, the shore looks like this:
Incidentally, it is very convenient for small children — they can splash about without any risk of drowning. At the same time the bottom slopes gently, so the depth increases gradually, not like at Mae Nam; here you have to walk 200–300 metres to reach any depth.
The water is crystal clear and always transparent, the sand is very fine and pleasant to the touch, and the views around are stunning:
Chaweng beach at low tide:
Palms, frangipani and casuarinas grow along the shore, so finding shade is no problem. There are also cafés, sun loungers (at the time we wrote this article in 2015 — 200 baht per day if you are not a hotel guest) and water activities (jet skis, flyboards):
Look how crystal-clear the water is:
Local people also relax on this beach:
In the evenings it really is noisy and crowded here — locals, tourists, vendors:
But it is better to come in the morning, when there is almost nobody on the beach:
Most of the time Chaweng is calm, but sometimes there are strong waves (about once a week):
In short: as I wrote above, Chaweng is our favourite beach on Samui; it just so happened that everything there suited us — the sea, the sand, the trees, the infrastructure, the road and so on. Of the minuses I can name only the large number of people in the evenings; everything else is excellent.
6. Lamai beach
And finally, Lamai beach — very popular, crowded and convenient. The Lamai area is full of budget accommodation to suit every taste; an evening market opens near the beach on Sundays, and the surrounding area has all the infrastructure needed for a long-term stay.
The path from the evening market to the beach:
There are not all that many people in the central part of the beach:
The sand is fine and pleasant, but the look of the water bothers me; you can often see dirt, algae and simply rubbish on the surface, and I do not understand how anyone can swim in it:
Many people write that Lamai beach is very clean, the water transparent and so on. It is possible, of course, that we came at the wrong time, but nevertheless we saw the same picture every time — the water terribly dirty, and people swimming right in that dirt. To be honest, I found it unpleasant even just to walk on the wet sand, because the dirty water kept getting on my feet. And we did not come to Lamai once or twice, but almost every weekend for the evening market, and we also spent our first week on the island there — so the impression was not very good. Perhaps in other seasons everything is different, but in spring and summer this is exactly how it was.
There are as many people on Lamai as on Chaweng, but they are mostly tourists, so there are more activities too; next to every boat like this hangs a price list for water activities:
The price list itself; the prices are aimed at tourists:
Flyboarding looks quite amusing, incidentally, though the price still seems unjustifiably high (when we wrote this article in 2015 they were asking 1,500 baht for just 10 minutes — a bit much, in my view), but people do ride it:
We happened upon the beach in the most wonderful weather, when all the photos come out simply stunning, so from the photographs it seems like the most beautiful place:
Hotels and bungalows line the beach:
Walk a little further and there are masses of people:
And here are the vendors:
A beautiful view of the hill from the beach:
We decided to walk to the very end of the beach (the beach is almost 4 km long, incidentally, so the walk turned out to be tiring); here the loungers are almost in the water — high tide:
Beyond this rock is one of the cosiest spots on the beach:
A small cove, and in the shade of trees too — an excellent spot:
Though from the other side the beach looks like this:
But that does not stop tourists enjoying their holiday:
Visually everything is fine, and the water is transparent; only the photo does not show the unidentifiable murk floating in that water, so you do not much feel like swimming:
In short: in terms of infrastructure, Lamai beach is quite a decent place. Despite the crowds, the beach is so big that there is room for everyone. And if it were not for the dirty water, it would be no worse than Chaweng, and in some ways even better. Perhaps it all depends on the season, and in other months the water on Lamai is clean, but we saw this rather unpleasant picture.
And in general I would add that the perfect beach does not exist: every beach is good in its own way, and to work out which one you like best you need to visit each of them. After all, if you spend all your time in one place, how can you tell that it is the best?
