Koh Samet

The route is road then boat. From Pattaya drive or take a transfer about an hour south-east along Sukhumvit Road and the motorway to Ban Phe, the fishing town opposite the island; minibuses and buses also run from Pattaya’s bus stations to Rayong and Ban Phe. From Ban Phe pier, slow ferries cross to Na Dan pier on Koh Samet in about 40 minutes for a modest fare, and speedboats go direct to individual beaches in 10–15 minutes for several times the price. Everyone pays the national park fee on arrival, 200 THB for foreign adults. Packaged day trips from Pattaya bundle the pickup, the boat and the fee from around 1,200 THB; doing it yourself works out near 1,000 THB and gives you control of the timing.

Sai Kaew at the northern tip is the long, busy beach with the most restaurants, fire shows at night and the day-tripper crowd; it is also the most convenient from Na Dan pier. Walking south the bays get smaller and quieter: Ao Phai and Ao Hin Khok are the backpacker stretch, Ao Wong Duean is a wide crescent with mid-range resorts and a pier for direct speedboats, and Ao Kiu at the southern end is the quiet, upscale one. Ao Prao on the west coast is the only sunset beach and the most expensive. For a day trip, Sai Kaew or Wong Duean; for a night or two, anywhere south of Ao Phai.

As a day trip from Pattaya, Koh Samet means roughly five hours of travelling for five hours on the sand, which is fine once and tiring twice. If you have a night to spare, stay: the last boats back leave in the late afternoon and the island becomes a different, calmer place, with beach barbecues and clear-water mornings before the next day’s visitors arrive. Rooms range from simple fan bungalows to resorts on Ao Prao and Ao Kiu, and book up at Thai weekends and holidays.