Thailand Archives - AdventureCampitelli

BEST THINGS TO DO AND SEE ON KOH SAMUI THAILAND

Must see places with your Kids

When people think of Thailand many people think of Phuket, Thailand’s largest and most touristy island. Our family likes to travel to less busy places and we mostly stay away from over commercialized areas so Koh Samui was the perfect island for us. Ko Samui is Thailand’s second largest island located in the Gulf of Thailand off the east coast. It is only an hour flight from Bangkok making it a very accessible destination but not yet as busy as Phuket. Koh Samui is known for its beautiful beaches lined with palm trees, dense mountainous rainforest and luxury resorts and villas. It also has amazing food, markets, hiking and even a 12m-tall golden Big Buddha statue at Wat Phra Yai Temple, a local must see landmark.

Here are some amazing things to do on this island that has a little something for everyone! We stayed here for 7 days which we felt was a good amount of time to explore the island.

STUNNING BEACHES

You really can’t go wrong with any beach on this island but we had a few favorites:

Chaweng Beach

This beach is located on the East Coast and is the longest beach on Koh Samui. It is a very busy beach lined with many resorts and restaurants but when you see it you know why. The sand is soft, powdery and white and the water is a beautiful blue color. It is absolutely stunning! Be sure to walk the streets of the busy town of Chaweng which is packed with shops and restaurants. Lots of fun restaurants to try with delicious budget friendly Thai food.

Lamai Beach

Lined with fancy resorts, this beach is stunning with beautiful sand and calm warm water. We had to find parking outside of the resort along a narrow road and walk in but it was so worth it. The water here is clean and so is the beach. There’s also restaurants and cafes along this beach so it’s easy to grab a quick bite. We stayed in a Villa close to Bophut to keep costs down but if you’re looking for luxury resorts the ones here would not disappoint. It is much quieter than Chewang if you’re looking for a more peaceful place to stay.

Bophut Beach

This beach is located on the North part of Koh Samui behind the Fisherman’s Market. The sand there is more yellow and coarse but it is quite large and has water activities that you can do. There weren’t many people there so we found it very relaxing.

WATERFALL HIKES

Our family enjoys being active and a must-do at every place we visit is to find the best family-friendly hiking spots. We hit up two hikes on this island that are worth checking out.

Namuang Waterfall (Namuang I and II)

These two waterfalls (located close to each other) are accessible by car and there are parking lots for each of them and a fairly short hike. We chose to park at Namuang I, and did the short hike only a few minutes from the car park area. It is the most popular waterfall so it is quite busy and there is a market there to buy food, drinks, souvenirs, etc.

At these falls you are able to cool off in a creek at the bottom which can be perfect in the tropical heat. This waterfall is the most accessible if you’re wanting just a quick walk to see a waterfall.

For the second waterfall, Namuang II, you can either drive or walk there which will take you about 45 minutes. Once there it’s about a 1 km hike up from where you would park. Walking to the parking lot plus doing the hike was quite hard because of the heat and humidity. Our kids were troopers and managed it with lots of stops to drink water and rest in the shaded areas. This waterfall is far less busy than the other one which is great. There is even a waterslide that drops into a natural murky pool below but the slide wasn’t on when we were there. There’s also a huge drop off the waterslide so we didn’t think we’d let the kids go down it even it was open. And….what is in that murky water anyway?

BIG BUDDHA TEMPLE – WAT PRAH YAI

You can’t miss this guy which is located close to Bophut and Fisherman’s Village. You walk up a set of stairs to see the statue and you can look out and get a view of the neighbouring island Koh Phangan. It is a religious site so be sure to follow the dress code or they will not let you in meaning make sure your legs and arms are covered. There are sarongs you can borrow if you forget to bring one and there are people watching to make sure you dress appropriately. There are also many cafes, clothing stores and souvenir shops located near the temple so you can get some shopping in as well.

Unfortunately, we missed Big Smiling Buddha which looks incredible. We didn’t find out about it until after we left so I suggest you check that out.

Fun Facts: Did you know that “wat” means temple and “Koh” means island?

FISHERMAN’S VILLAGE

Located in Bophut, this is a must-see! It is a walking street with a market/shopping area lined with traditional old-style shops with modern cafes and restaurants that are right on the beach. Normally fairly quiet, it comes alive Friday nights as a market where you can buy clothing, jewelry, fabric and other unique market items. There are also food stalls with delicious things like pad Thai, spring rolls and banana pancakes for a taste of traditional fare.

AWESOME FOOD & SMOOTHIES

An important part of travelling is to experience the local cuisine and the food in Thailand does not disappoint! From traditional Pad Thai to fresh fruit smoothies made on the street, you will be in heaven. There are three notable places that we went to:

Had Bang Po – this was voted as the number one beach restaurant in the world in Travel & Leisure magazine. The Pad Thai and seafood were amazing but really, it was about the view. The tables are only about 10 feet back from the edge of the water and you bury your feet into the soft powdery sand while looking out over the ocean. The kids loved it as they could play in the sand while waiting for the food.
Hemmingways on the Beach – is located in Throng Krut which is on the south coast of Koh Samui. The tables are inside but the restaurant is located right on the beach. It is owned by an ex-pat and the food is incredible. It is pricier than most Thai food places, especially street food but they pride themselves on high cleanliness and food safety standards as well as the freshest ingredients. The fish gets caught in the morning and cooked that day!
Sweet Sisters Café – if you’re looking for vegetarian and vegan-friendly food, this is the place. It does have meat and also has something there for everyone. It’s a health food café and there is a health food store right next to the café. Their homemade and granola are. The café is clean but it is pricey.
Fresh fruit smoothies & shakes – you must try the roadside fresh fruit smoothies! Filled with tropical fruit like fresh coconut, mango, pineapple, bananas and other fruit grown locally and blended together, you are in smoothie heaven. Priced at about $2 Cdn for a large smoothie, you can’t get better than this. I will dream about these forever!

THAI MASSAGE

You cannot visit Thailand and not get a Thai massage! We found a place we loved in Bophut and it only cost about $20 for 90 minutes. We loved it so much that we ended up going here even with the kids. It was their first massage ever and the ladies that worked there were so professional and kind. I had a nagging shoulder injury that almost completely went away after my first appointment. I can’t rave more about having a Thai Massage.

Krabi Elephant Sanctuary

An Experience Dreams are Made of

Our family loves animal interactions and visiting an elephant sanctuary was at the top of our animal interaction list. It was important for us to visit an ethical sanctuary where the elephants are not being ridden, worked or treated poorly. Through researching different sanctuaries, we came across a place called Krabi Elephant Sanctuary (https://krabielephantsanctuary.com.) This place is a retirement home for elephants that have been rescued from animal tourism and the logging industry. The sanctuary not only provides a safe haven for the elephants, but it provides employment to the people that work there. They use tourism dollars to feed and care for the elephants while trying to raise additional funds to rescue more of these beautiful animals. We were told that it costs approximately $35,000 US to rescue a single elephant.

What to expect

It is a small group experience (maximum of 20 people) where you participate in feeding, bathing and interacting with the elephants. To kick off the experience, you get a quick education about Asian elephants and their natural behaviors. It is an experience you’ll never forget! At this sanctuary, they had three beautiful elephants at the time of our visit, each with their own unique personality. You can tell by looking at them that they are extremely smart and aware. It makes you want to do more to help rescue others. The sanctuary is about a 50-minute drive from Ao Nang. You get picked up and dropped off so there is no need to hire a driver or rent a car. The total experience is about 4-5 hours including pickup and drop-off. They have fresh fruit, bottled water and hot showers to clean up after the experience. The cost is approximately $105 Cdn (2500 baht) per adult and $84 (2000 baht) per child. Not cheap but worth every penny!

The experience – Amazing!

When you arrive, the caregivers introduce you to the elephants and give you several buckets of bananas to feed them. You also get to hand-make protein balls which get fed to the elephants. Our son loved this part and took it very seriously. The elephants are very gentle in accepting food and there are a couple of ways to feed them: 1) Holding it out for them to take the food with their trunks or 2) Putting the food directly in their mouth which is a bit intimidating but so cool! Once the elephants are fed, you walk with them to a natural mud pond where you get down and dirty with them in the mud. You can even rub mud on their bodies. Expect to be sprayed as I really think they enjoy spraying people! The mud bath though is totally optional and you can just observe if you like. After the mud bath, you walk to a pond where you and the elephants clean off the mud. You are given buckets to rinse off the mud and you get very wet. I have never seen our kids so happy…so different than the experiences they have back in Canada. We were smiling ear to ear after this day.

Our Review

This experience was very well organized and the caregivers were great! It was my daughter’s 8^th birthday and I told them this when I made my booking so they surprised her with several mini birthday cakes and sang happy birthday to her. This absolutely made her day and was totally unexpected! This was one of the best experiences of our lives and we can’t stop talking about it.

Check out our YouTube video of our experience here:

Elephant Sanctuary

What to bring

You are in the hot and muddy jungle of Thailand so don’t forget to bring the following:

Hat / Towel / Bathing Suit / Comfortable shoes that you don’t mind getting completely muddy / Sunscreen/Change of Clothes / Bug Spray / and of course your Camera.

Krabi – The Most Beautiful Islands by Boat

When you visit Krabi you must put visiting the beautiful islands and beaches off the coast at the top of your must do list. They are some of the most stunning beaches in the world! You can do this in two ways: 1) Speed Boat tour or 2) Traditional Long-tail boat tour. A long-tail boat is native to Thailand and it is a long wood carved boat, slightly resembling a canoe with a large canopy. The boat is powered by a single engine on a long pole to turn the boat. We decided to try both types of tours, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. There are many islands to visit off the coast of Krabi so we were able to go to completely different spots with each type of boat.

Speed Boat Tour

With this boat tour, we visited Phi Phi islands and got to see the famous Maya Bay (where the movie “The Beach”) was filmed. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stop here as it is currently closed off due to over-tourism. We visited a stunning lagoon to snorkel in as well as Phi Phi island which is a very busy island packed with eating places, restaurants and even a few hotels. The cost of this tour was 1575 baht per person which is approximately $66 Canadian.

Advantages:

The speed boat tours are well-organized tours where you get to meet lots of cool and interesting people. Good for people that are highly social. Our son bonded with a twenty-something traveller that he thought was way cool!
The tour guide has lots of information about each place that you stop at which is a great learning experience.
The boat ride is much faster so you can visit more places and get there quickly.
A full buffet lunch is provided plus water and snacks on the boat ride.

Disadvantages:

The engines are extremely loud, making it difficult to talk to one another.
There is a strict time schedule so you feel very rushed at each location making it not very relaxing.
There are lots of people on the boat so it feels like you are being herded like cattle everywhere.
There is limited space on the boat with many people packed in like Sardines.

Long-tail Boat Tour

For this tour, we chose to see Hong Islands, visiting 4 locations including 3 beaches. These were quieter islands than Phi Phi islands and we could have stayed in a couple of spots forever. We felt like Kings for the day visiting the islands on our own time setting the pace and just chilling out. This cost us 2000 Baht for the day which was only $84 Canadian.

Advantages:

We hired the boat privately so we had it all to ourselves, giving us a lot of space and freedom.
We chose our own schedule, choosing how many islands to visit and how long to stay at each one. This made for a far more relaxing day and we timed it to stay longer at a couple of the islands waiting for the crowds on the other boats to leave.
It was a cultural experience in a traditional Thai boat, each crafted out of wood and uniquely painted and decorated.
Far less expensive than the Speed Boat tour.

Disadvantages:

There wasn’t lunch provided so we had to pack our own food. We did have water and fresh pineapple which was amazing!
These boats can’t go as far as the speedboats as they are slower but they were definitely good enough to reach the amazing sites that we went to.
They wouldn’t be very good in bad weather and rough waves so thankfully the weather cooperated for us.
There wasn’t snorkel gear provided but we already had our own. I’m sure you would be able to rent some gear in advance.

Even though our favourite boat tour was the long-tail boat, we really enjoyed both and would recommend trying each type of tour if you have the time and budget. I think our kids liked the speed boat better as they liked the fast speed and meeting other people. Want to see the amazing scenery? Click here to watch our YouTube video of our experience on the speed boat and long-tail boat.