Once Koh Samui, always Koh Samui?

The third stop on our Thailand trip was Koh Samui. For me, Samui was the most well-known island in the country and, judging by the origins of the passengers on our flight from Bangkok, was firmly in German hands. So I definitely wanted to spend part of my vacation here. I had heard very different opinions beforehand – from “my absolute favorite island” to “yes, you’ll see it once and then never again” – it had everything. This made me all the more curious to see for myself. So we took the ferry from Koh Phangan back to Bangrak Pier, where a hotel employee was already waiting for us and drove us the ten minutes to the hotel. I had been aware when booking that the self-proclaimed 5* luxury resort Melati Beach & Spa was somewhat remote, but I only realized HOW remote, and especially without the usual mini-market, scooter rentals, and the like, on the trip. Unfortunately, checking in at the hotel didn’t brighten my mood… The staff member in charge was more interested in pushing some additional services than in our well-being. The rooms weren’t available until 2:00 PM (supposedly again), two hours later, and we couldn’t spend the time relaxing on the beach or by the pool like we did on Koh Phangan because every single lounger was taken. This annoyance would continue to haunt us for the next few days, especially since by 8:00 AM, every single lounger was reserved… So we decided to have lunch at the only restaurant within walking distance, right next to the hotel beach – please don’t try this! We didn’t eat this badly during our entire vacation – and that was Thai food…

Our room 224 in the Melati Beach Resort & Spa 

Finally, it was two o’clock, and we were able to get to our rooms. They were far from the lobby and pool, and only the adults-only pool was right outside. On the way to our rooms, we wondered several times what exactly was worthy of a 5* hotel at this resort… Pipes were sticking out of the ground everywhere, dilapidated areas were visible around every corner, trash had obviously not been cleared away for days, and so on. And the rooms themselves, while huge, were very dated, so that thanks to the gigantic gaps in all the windows and doors, a lot of uninvited four-legged creatures would come and visit us in the evening when we had to light the room. A real nightmare for the kids and me.

is that a 5* hotel?

Since the hotel was truly not great and was located in the middle of nowhere, we needed a means of transport as quickly as possible. We found this again in the form of two scooters, which were delivered to the hotel the next morning by a German-speaking rental company and served us faithfully for the next few days.

in Central Samui

The first trip was just the two of us, to Chaweng, 20 minutes away, and its “Central Samui” shopping mall. At lunchtime, we gathered the kids for dinner and found a restaurant near the soccer golf course. The boys had requested that it be on the afternoon itinerary. My older son and I only watched, but the whole thing was really beautifully laid out and a wonderful activity for the whole family, with friendly service!

Soccer golf Samu

From there, we headed to Bophut in the evening, following a recommendation, to the Fisherman’s Village and its Night Market. There were many small shops selling not exactly authentic replicas of everything you could imagine, but the kids had a lot of fun selecting and haggling for their souvenirs.

Fisherman’s Village in Bophut

The next day, we all went to the shopping center in Chaweng. In addition to local shops, there are also branches of Starbucks, H&M, and UNIQLO. You can easily spend an hour or two there. Right in the square, a market opens daily with souvenirs, food, and all sorts of other things.

Back at the hotel, we wanted to spend the afternoon at the beach. However, by Thai standards, the term for the tiny bit of sand and the tiny area where you were allowed to swim in the sea is actually quite outrageous. Since—surprise surprise!—there weren’t any loungers available, we tried our luck at the pool. But the same thing happened there. The kids only jumped in for a short while, but emerged a little later, somewhat disgusted, because they discovered considerably more dirt than they would have liked with their goggles.

On Koh Samui, we also had plenty of cultural activities. We visited the island’s most famous temples, Plai Laem and Wat Phra Yai. They weren’t as impressive as the temples in Bangkok, but I was still keen to see them. For lunch, we went to the Cocoon Viewpoint – the last few meters on scooters were a bit adventurous and definitely expensive, but the view is truly unique!

Since the hotel’s private beach was a disaster, we took a trip to Coral Cove Beach, which definitely made up for it. I had also picked out many other beautiful beaches on Samui beforehand. However, since the traffic was sometimes quite bad and the drive to most of the other beaches would have taken at least 40 minutes, we put all our trust in our last stop in Khao Lak and settled for this lovely trip to Coral Cove Beach.

Coral Cove Beach

All in all, we’re now more of the “now we’ve seen Samui, we don’t need any more” team mentioned at the beginning. This may be primarily due to the unfulfilled expectations of our hotel, but also to the island itself – somehow the spark just didn’t fly. Therefore, we were looking forward to the next and final stop of the trip in Khao Lak.

With that in mind: แล้วพบกันใหม่

Helpful Links:

www.melatiresort.com

www.rollerverleih-auf-kohsamui.com

https://www.samuifootballgolf.com

https://www.central.co.th/en/store/central-festival-samui

https://www.thejumpinbeansamui.com

https://cocoonsamui.com

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