![]() ![]() Popular with backpackers who attend the full-moon parties at Haad Rin Beach and late-night beach parties that involve fire dancers, the island also offers lush jungles, granite boulders, and beautiful beaches. North of Koh Samui lies Koh Pha Ngan, the fifth-largest island in Thailand and the second-largest in this region. Views over Koh Tean/Tan from Laem Sor Pagoda, most southern area of Koh Samui Views over Koh Mat Sum from Laem Sor Pagoda, Koh Samui The only accommodation is the Treasure Koh Madsum Resort. To the east lies the even smaller island of Koh Mat Sum (also written as Koh Matsum and Koh Mudsum) with a lovely white sandy beach, and great snorkelling and kayaking. Koh Taen has a tiny fishing community, Thong Krut, as well as deserted white sandy beaches, a restaurant or two, and fan-cooled accommodation at Koh Tan Village Bungalows. To get a feel for what Koh Samui was like 30 years ago, head south to Koh Taen, a small island off its southern tip. While over-developed and crowded with tourists, expatriates and locals, the island is known for its palm-dotted beaches and coconut groves Rock Beach, Koh Samui Koh Samui, with its international airport, offers an endless number of luxury resorts and spas complete with yoga retreats, cleansing fasts, tai-chi camps, and chakra-balancing treatments. Koh Pha Ngan and Koh Tao are both known for their backpacker scene and rowdy parties, though both islands have several off-the-grid beaches with a more relaxed atmosphere. While Koh Samui, Koh Pha Ngan and Koh Tao nowadays have a variety of tourist accommodation and a mind-boggling number of restaurants and bars, Koh Ang Thong remains undeveloped due to its protected status as part of the national park. Inter-island ferries connect all the main islands The gateways to this region are Chumphon for Koh Tao, and Surat Thani for the remaining islands. To the west of Koh Samui-and the closest group of islands to the mainland-is the Mu Koh Ang Thong National Marine Park, a pristine archipelago of 42 islands covering 102 square kilometres (39 mi²). North of Koh Samui lies Koh Pha Ngan, with Koh Tao even farther north. Development has been rapid over the past 20 years, so today’s Koh Samui is very different from what it was 30 years ago.Ī popular tourist area where finding a lonely beach is still not too difficult. ![]() ![]() This region is dominated by the popular Koh Samui, Thailand’s second-largest island with a land area of 229 square kilometres (88 mi²). While the southern gulf north of Malaysia has no islands of note, the central gulf near the towns of Surat Thani and Chumphon has some extraordinarily beautiful islands. Notes when reading the details in each region.Links to all island regions of Thailand.4) Haad Yuan, Tien East, and Haad Wai Nam, Koh Pha Ngan.3) Secret Beach (Degree Bay), Koh Wua Ta Lap Island, Mu Ko Ang Thong.A friend who’d taken her three children to Isla Holbox the previous winter reported that it is a “charming little island with a great vibe.” We were sold. Online, at least, it looked like the Tulum I remembered from that post-college trip, minus the ruins: white beaches, Kool-Aid-colored ocean, coconut palms and not much else. In search of an alternative, I zoomed out on Google Maps and spotted a slip of an island called Holbox just north of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, where the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea meet. New Year’s is its peak season, and every hotel I tried was either full or demanding over $500 for a room that looked suspiciously like that hammock-under-a-palapa I’d paid $5 a night for 18 years ago. Since my first visit to the Mexican beach town almost two decades ago, when my friends and I slept in hammocks in electricity-less palapas and had the 13th-century Mayan ruins all to ourselves, Tulum has evolved from backpacker haven to wintering spot du jour for the international Instagrammer set. WE’D PLANNED TO spend a week on the beach in Tulum over New Year’s, but Tulum had other ideas. ![]()
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