A Guide to Island Hopping in Thailand (Part 2)

So, I'm back with part 2 of A Guide to Island Hopping in Thailand. As mentioned in my pervious post, we island hopped around the southern coast of Thailand for 16 days. We visited 4 places in total and my previous post covers Bangkok and Phuket.

K O H  P H A N G AN

Koh Phangan - one of Thailand's smaller islands is home to the Full Moon Party. The island is so small, in fact, we had to get there by boat as there is no airport. We stayed on this island for 3 nights. This was probably one of the more relaxing parts of our trip.

Where to Stay

Whilst in Koh Phangan we opted to stay in a little beach front villa instead of a hotel. We discovered these cute stone bungalows called C Villas - probably one of the most picturesque and peaceful places I have ever stayed. We chose the beach front villa which was complete with a terrace and a small private pool and a waterfall shower. The complex was located just outside Haad Rin, a 15 minute walk to the famous Haad Rin Beach where the Full Moon Party takes place.

What to Do

The obvious suggestion would be the Full Moon Party. However, we weren't on the island at the time of the party. The island was really quiet and there wasn't much tourists which was actually quite nice. Although, we still went to Haad Rin Beach and had drinks and you can still watch some fire shows put on by locals. The beaches on Koh Phangan are beautiful and the sea is warm. As we were only there for 3 nights we didn't do much we spent most of our time on the beach/in our pool. At the beach there was lots of water based activities such as kayaking and jet skiing. 

Where to Eat

For being so small Koh Phangan still had some really cool food places. We had an amazing breakfast at Bubba's Coffee - the breakfast tacos are delish! I would also recommend Soho - where we had the best Mexican food. We had a really nice candle lit meal on the beach at Coast, the resort right next to our villa. If you venture to Haad Rin Beach most of the bars there also serve food, although, mostly local cuisine. Before we got back on the boat to Koh Samui we stopped at a New York Deli style cafe called A's Famous and I had an amazing pastrami sub.

K O H  S A M U I

I think Koh Samui was my favourite island of our holiday. It was the perfect balance between the craziness of Phuket and the peacefulness of Koh Phangan. We stayed here for 4 nights.

Where to Stay

We stayed at J4 Samui. Our room was small but modern. We had a walk in shower and they even left towels in the shape of swans on the bed (so I can't complain)! The location of the hotel was perfect - one of the main reasons we chose it. It was located in Chaweng, a 2 minute walk from Chaweng Beach. Chaweng is a lively area with lots of bars and you  are spoilt for choice with regards to food.

What to Do

There is lots to do on Koh Samui. I would defiantly recommend driving to the other side of the island, to Thong Krut Pier, and renting a long tail boat for the day. We got a long tail boat to Koh Tan Island - an inhabitable island covered in greenery - and we snorkelled in the clear blue water. Afterwards, we took the boat to Koh Madsum. Koh Madsum is a tiny island and it is also better known as Pig Island. This small island is inhabited by pigs! You can come ashore, enjoy a Chang and relax with the piggy's. You can also find lots of Buddhist monuments such as the Big Buddha and Wat Plai Laem.

Where to Eat

There was tonnes of nice food places in Chaweng. The Hard Rock Cafe had a familiar menu although it was a little pricey. We switched between the Coffee Club (I highly recommend the Nutella frappe) and Bondi Aussie Bar for breakfast. We had another amazing steak at The Shack in the Fisherman’s Village. Lastly, if you want amazing pizza at an amazing price then Spago Italian Restaurant is definitely worth a visit!

So, that was my final instalment of A Guide to Island Hopping in Thailand. You can find part 1 here! If you have visited any cool places in Thailand let me know in the comments!

Happy Sunday x