Koh Samui in Thailand was one of the tourist destinations we visited right after our wedding. Back then, there weren’t that many cars or roads or shops. There were hotels along the beach (still do). There were mostly westerners (mostly do today). And there were only a few roads that connected to various part of town. We didn’t need a map back then. Now, you could get lost easily in Koh Samui.
PS. This trip was made back in February 2019.
In the past, we would pick up a jeep from the hotel in order to travel around town. Now we rented a car online to through rentalcars.com. It was a bad idea. I would advise renting direct. We couldn’t find the Europcar contact at the airport. There was no way to contact rentalcars.com. There was no Europcar counter at the airport (as they were the newcomer). In the end, we managed to locate the contact. What an experience.
The hotel was of good value. That’s why my wife picked it. It was not next to a beach but the hotel has teamed up with another one to provide guests access to the beach. The location was fine. Next to a chicken farm and a Thai boxing arena. Easy access to food (yummy) and spa (did not visit). A short drive to the city center (which has a Hard Rock Cafe). In the morning, the hotel serves breakfast. The hall has a very strong smell of … how shall I described … cooked blood or intestines if that makes sense to you.
During our trip, the weather was very warm. We visited temples and beaches. Even hiked whereby in retrospect, we may have taken a wrong route. The road was extremely unpaved. Many times I thought we would have been stranded in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately, we didn’t.
Compared to more than a decade ago, Koh Samui has a lot more restaurants and bars, especially the Western ones. All in all, it was a good trip. Probably not a place I would revisit in the near future. Too commercialized.