We went to Koh Samui for our first stop on our Asian cruise, so I should have done this post before Thailand! In this post, I want to explain what we did in Koh Samui, Thailand, and tell a little more about Koh Samui for future travelers. Remember, we were there for only a day and only got a glimpse, but Koh Samui is rather small and lacks a lot of activities.

By far, the most popular activity is sunbathing at Chaweng Beach on the eastern side of the island. The water and sand are the most beautiful here, and you’ll see a beachside town has sprung up. There are cafes, bars, nightclubs, and a ton of hotels ranging from basic to chic.

We came by cruise, though, and it’s an excellent way to get to the island. For us, it felt like a day island anyway, but I do wish we had a little more time on the island than what we had. Overall a great experience, and here I’ll outline our time on time at Chaweng Beach, Koh Samui, Thailand.

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All ships dock at Nathon pier, which is unfortunately on the other side of the island. But from Nathon, it’s only about 30 to 45 minutes one-way leaving cruise ship passengers with enough time to sunbathe on the beach. It should be noted that several cruise schedules don’t give a lot of time to Koh Samui, which is somewhat of a shame. We only stayed from 8 am to 3 pm!

There are taxi’s all over Nathon waiting to take cruise passengers wherever they like. Make sure you have some Thai money and be prepared to pay around $40 to $50 round trip. You could try to haggle, but honestly, it’s not going to save you much, and you may have a pissed off taxi driver. There is a coffee shop right across from the pier that does have an atm. We got Thai money and then hopped into a cab, and we were off to Chaweng Beach.

Travelers arriving by plane have it more accessible as the airport is very close to Chaweng Beach. There are regular taxis from the airport, and they aren’t that expensive, but make sure you have some Thai money.

Video of my time in Chaweng Beach! Filmed with my iPhone and a GoPro.

Like I said earlier, we were in Koh Samui from 8 am to 3 pm, and so that isn’t that much time. We arrived at around 9 am and left-back for Nathon around 1 pm. So around 4 hours to explore the beach, get a drink, and walk around the city.

And as you may have guessed by now, the area around Chaweng Beach was utterly dead. Thailand is a party at night kind of place, and we heard the real fun begins late at night. So it was kind of a shame that we didn’t get to experience that option, but we made the most of what we had.

The good news is the beach was empty early in the morning. Tourists just woke up a morning coffee or drink, but otherwise, the beaches were deserted and open to walk on. We decided that we wanted to sit out for a bit and get a Thai beer, so that’s what we did.

If you’re a day traveler to Chaweng Beach, then my suggestion is to pick a restaurant, grab some food or drinks, and pick a chair. Most hotels don’t seem to care if you sit down on one of their lounge chairs as long as you buy something. Chaweng Beach is very long, and there are a ton of options.

We decided to settle on the northern part of the beach as it was near where we were dropped off. We stopped at the Iyara Beach Hotel and got some morning beer and relaxed. It was the morning, so there weren’t that many people out, and it was also somewhat cloudy.

The great thing about not renting a chair all day is that you can always move if you don’t like where you are. Because it was threatening to rain, we decided it would be best to move to someplace that had a cover overhead. We could eat, enjoy the waves and sip on a drink.

So we moved over to the ARKbar, which is a club at night but also serves drinks and food. It’s a well-covered place to get some food and, more importantly, get an alcoholic beverage. Prices in Koh Samui and in Thailand itself is not very expensive, and you can get a good size plate of food for less than five dollars.

We came at a bad time, and you can tell that Chaweng Beach comes alive at night. I wish we could have stayed for nighttime festivities as Chaweng Beach is probably way more fun. But since we had to head back to the cruise ship in the afternoon, we walked the beach and then went on the main street adjacent to Chaweng Beach.

There a ton of shops but because we were there so early, most shops were beginning to open up. And nobody was out. That’s okay because we decided to look around to what was open and stop to have some ice cream at a Haagen Dazs store. It was then time to wrap up our time at Chaweng Beach.

Chaweng Beach is the highlight of Koh Samui. Sure there are other excursions to consider, but Koh Samui is not a very big island and would take no time to travel. My suggestion is to stay near Chaweng, or if you’re coming by cruise, visit the Chaweng Beach area. We had a great time with our afternoon there.

Just a couple of travel gear items for a trip to Chaweng Beach, Koh Samui, Thailand.