Experiences

Bottle Beach (Haad Khuat)

Boat-access bay · North coast, east of Chaloklum · No road access. 9 km / about 20 min to Chaloklum, then a 15 min longtail boat

A wide north-facing bay with no proper road to it, which is most of why it still feels the way it does. Longtail boats run over from Chaloklum in about fifteen minutes, or you can walk the rough jungle trail from Haad Khom in one to two hours. There are a few bungalow operations and beach kitchens, no shops and no ATMs, and the last boat back leaves around 5pm, so the day has to be planned around it.

Boats stop running when the north swell comes up, mainly November to January. Ask in Chaloklum before committing to the trip, because getting stranded is a real possibility.

Photo: Renek78 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Haad Khom (Coconut Beach)

Snorkelling beach · Chaloklum · 11 km, about 25 min by scooter

A short curve of sand on the eastern side of Chaloklum Bay, backed by coconut palms with a couple of low-key bungalow restaurants behind it. The reef sits close enough to shore that you are over living coral about a minute after you put your face in the water. The road down from Chaloklum is steep and rough, so most people park at the top and walk the last two minutes.

Snorkelling is best from December to March, when the bay is calm and clear. It can be churned up and murky during the November monsoon.

Photo: lanjan · CC BY-SA 3.0

Haad Rin Nok (Sunrise Beach)

Full Moon Party beach · Haad Rin · 16 km, about 35 min by scooter

Roughly 800 metres of pale sand on the island's southern tip, and the beach the Full Moon Party has been held on since the 1980s. On every other night of the month it is an ordinary swimming beach with bars, tattoo shops and cheap food along the back, and the swimming is genuinely good. Come at sunrise and you will more or less have it; come on the full moon and you will share it with tens of thousands of people.

One party a month, on or near the full moon. Rooms across the whole south of the island get scarce and expensive for two or three days around it, so book well ahead or plan to be elsewhere.

Leela Beach (Haad Seekantang)

Quiet sunset beach · Haad Rin · 17 km, about 40 min by scooter, then a 10 min walk from Haad Rin

Around the southern point from Haad Rin, ten to fifteen minutes on foot and a completely different mood once you get there. Shallow clear water, granite boulders closing off each end, and Koh Samui sitting on the horizon as the light goes. A few resorts along the back serve food and drinks, but there is no through road and nothing much happens after dark.

Busiest in the two or three days either side of the Full Moon Party, when Haad Rin overflows and people walk over here to escape it.

Mae Haad Beach and Koh Ma

Sandbar and snorkelling · Mae Haad, north-west coast · 8 km, about 20 min by scooter

At the north-west corner of the island a sandbar runs out from Mae Haad beach to Koh Ma, a small rocky islet sitting inside a protected marine zone. At low tide you can walk across it; at high tide you swim, and the coral off the far side is the best snorkelling on Koh Phangan. Bring your own mask, and reef shoes if you intend to walk out.

The sandbar only surfaces at low tide, so check a tide table before you go. Snorkelling visibility is best roughly February to September, and the corals sit awkwardly shallow at the bottom of the tide.

Photo: Christophe95 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Secret Beach (Haad Son)

West-facing sunset cove · Haad Son · 4 km, about 10 min by scooter

A crescent of about a hundred metres of sand between two headlands, with Koh Raham's rock-terrace bar on the point above it. The water is calm and clear and the cove faces due west, so the sun drops straight in front of you rather than off to one side. The track down is steep and loose in places — take it slowly on a scooter, or come by taxi if you plan to stay for sunset drinks.

The access track gets slippery after rain, and it is a genuinely awkward climb back up in the dark.

Photo: Renek78 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Srithanu Beach (Haad Sri Thanu)

Calm swimming beach · Srithanu · 2.5 km, about 7 min by scooter

The shallow bay below Srithanu village, where the water stays waist-deep a long way out and the sand is soft rather than coarse. It is the easiest swim on this stretch of coast and an uncomplicated place to sit out a sunset, with beachfront kitchens serving food all afternoon. Srithanu village behind it is the yoga and vegan end of the island, so it is an easy half-day rather than a single stop.

Very shallow at low tide — worth checking the tide if you want a proper swim rather than a wade.

Than Sadet Beach (Haad Than Sadet)

National park river beach · Than Sadet, east coast · 20 km, about 45 min each way over the mountain road

A river-mouth beach on the wild east coast, inside Than Sadet–Ko Pha-Ngan National Park. Thai kings carved their initials into the boulders in the stream behind it over more than a century, and the stream still runs down across the sand to the sea. Getting there means a steep, twisting mountain road in both directions, so it is a full day out rather than an afternoon.

The stream and the waterfalls behind the beach run hardest from October to January. The mountain road turns slippery after heavy rain, and there is a 100 baht national park fee at the gate.

Photo: lanjan · CC BY-SA 3.0

Zen Beach

Sunset drum-circle beach · Srithanu · 2.5 km, about 7 min by scooter

A narrow strip of sand just north of Srithanu beach, reached along the rocks or through the trees rather than by any obvious road. People start turning up in the late afternoon with drums, guitars and fire staffs, and by sunset there is usually a circle going. No sunbeds, no vendors and patchy shade, so bring a sarong and your own water.

The sunset gatherings run year-round but thin right out during the November and December rains.

Photo: Alexey Komarov · CC BY-SA 4.0