Koh Samed a first visit ...

[ChiFlyer]

I spent three nights at the Sai Kaew Beach Resort with the TGF to celebrate her birthday.

https://www.saikaewbeach-resort.com/

This is not an economical hotel and I spent about $550 for a "Premier" room. The room and hotel were nice enough and I might go there again for a short visit. We drove in our own car and it took a little under 2 hours to get to the Resort Ferry Pier (aka Sri Ban Phe Pier( and aka again as Ao Praya Pier)). Use Google Maps when you get just outside of Rayong.

The hotel is located on Sai Kaew Beach which is the closest to Rayong. This is probably the most accessed destination on the island. I decided to keep it simple for a first visit. We parked the car at the covered parking at the pier and bought two round trip ferry boat tickets. Total cost was 640. Car was well looked after. No complaints.

A few pics and then a summary.

hotel view for dinner.

Looking down the beach at sundown.

A restaurant I liked - Ploy Thalay

Another restaurant I liked - Buddies Grill

I asked a few Qs about Koh Samed in another thread and there were a few informative responses including some p4p tips.

Round up -> Koh Samed is a very laid back place to take a GF or just kick back on the beach for a few days. It may even be more laid back than Koh Chang, if that is possible. Late night partying is limited IMO, if that is your thing. Still I enjoyed a few days there with my lady, but I am most certainly no longer a young Turk, or a Turk at all for that matter.

I liked Koh Chang better, but it is a 4.5 hour drive, where as Koh Samed is under 2.

Will I return. Maybe, but I am not in a hurry to do so.

Also, I suspect I liked it as much as I did because it was not crowded at the end of high season, but that was probably influenced by Covid19.

Edited March 8, 2020 by ChiFlyer