Thailand Island Guide

Thailand has long been a top destination in Asia and for very good reasons too. Besides the famous hospitality of the Thai people and the peaceful, tolerant local culture, Thailand’s gorgeous islands have been drawing in millions of travelers for decades. Here is a short list of some of Thailand’s best islands based on travel preferences.

Best Island: Overall

If you do a survey of what travelers think of Phuket, you are likely to get a wide array of seemingly contradicting impressions. Some would describe Phuket as being full of lush greenery and quiet pristine beaches. Some describe Phuket as a nightlife haven for young travelers while other describe it being the perfect retirement island. In truth, Phuket is all of that and so much more.

For starters, it is one of the easiest places to get to in Thailand. It is home to an international airport where you can choose to fly in from any major destinations in Thailand and fly straight in from your country. There are no shortages of direct express bus connections from all major cities in Thailand. No long ferry rides, no transits, no hassle.

If you are into shopping, bars and clubs, Patong Beach is the area for you. Almost the whole stretch of beach is dotted of restaurants, bars, discos and clubs for you to choose from. The activity reaches a climax towards Bangla Road area. Depending on your preferences, you might want to stay in a hotel that is as near to or as far away as possible from this area.

Other than the Patong Area, almost every other part Phuket is geared towards a quiet and more relaxing pace. If you are in a mood for adventure, Phuket is the perfect base for you to explore the surrounding areas where you take day trip for hiking, snorkeling or sightseeing to surrounding areas like Coral Island, Phi Phi and the Phang Nga province. It is also a great place to sign up for live-aboard diving trips to the Similan and Surin islands.

Best Honeymoon Island

For this category, our votes go to Koh Samui. After Phuket, Samui is the country’s most developed island in terms of tourism. In many ways, Samui is very similar to Phuket. Chaweng beach is Samui’s equivalent to Phuket’s Patong Area and there is also lots of variety of activities to choose from on the island. There is however, one major difference that makes Samui the clear winner in this category. Samui is generally much less crowded than Phuket. Due to that and the lower level of activities on the island, it is just really hard to get stressed out on Samui!

If you are arriving by plane (highly recommended), you will instantly fall into vacation mode the moment you step off the plane. As you descent from the plane, you will be greeted by several brightly colored theme-park-style buggies that will ferry you to the main terminal. The Koh Samui international airport is nothing like any other in Asia. The whole airport area with the exception of the gift shop seems to be open air. All the staff are dressed in casual island where and all the building structure are predominantly built from timer, bamboo and roofs that are made out of palm leaf. The whole experience of arrival felt more like checking in into a luxurious beach side hotel more like anything else!

Also, there are no shortages of luxurious romantic hotels and resort on the island such as The Library, Napasai, Banyan Tree and The Four Seasons. For active couples, there are also plenty of water sports to choose from and places to visit around the island. If that proves to be insufficient, you can always to a short exploration trip to the neighboring islands of Koh Pahngan and Koh Tao. All in all, Koh Samui is well developed enough to be extremely convenient for the average traveler yet sparse enough in its development to give every honeymooning couple a priceless slice of privacy during their stay there all at the same time, making it a perfect honeymoon destination.

Best Party Island

This title has to go to Koh Phangan. Their legendary full moon parties draw in thousands of visitors from all over the world every full-moon.

Like many things, the event has become extremely commercialized where it has become quite expensive to visit the island during these periods of time. Normally, the cost of food and hotels on Koh Phangan are quite affordable, even slightly cheaper than mega tourist magnets like Phuket and Samui. During the full-moon parties, the prices inflates to such astronomical levels that your short visit to the island during this period of time may end up being the most expensive of all your trips in Thailand. Hotel prices go up as much as three fold and many implement a minimum of stay of three to six days.

With that said, the parties on the island will prove to be irresistible for those who are looking to party hard during their vacation. The beach parties will last all the way till sunrise and whether you are a partygoer or not, it is hard to resist the incredible festive energy on the beach.

For those who are just looking for gorgeous beaches and a healthy dose of solitude, you have to visit the islands in the Trang and Satun District on the south of Thailand. These islands may not be the easiest to get to but that seems part of the whole point. The islands towards the south are far less developed and are also much smaller in sizes too. Best of all, these islands house some of the finest beaches in the whole of Thailand.

Koh Lipe for instance, is so small that the longest walking trail on the island takes just 25 minutes or so. Some of the other more popular islands in these areas include Koh Mook, Koh Ngai, Koh Lao Liang, Koh Tarutao, Koh Kradan and Koh Adang. Each of these islands has something different to offer but the one thing in common is that they seldom get very crowded. If during peak seasons, solitude is always a short 5 or 10 minute stroll away. The best launching pads for these islands are Trang and Pak Bara Pier.