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Manfred Werner, CC BY-SA 3.0

Koh Samui

Koh Samui is the Thai island in the Gulf of Thailand of beach resorts at Chaweng and Lamai, with the Ang Thong marine park offshore.

Best things to do in Koh Samui

The one thing not to miss

Take the boat to Ko Pha-ngan, Koh Samui's neighbour island and home of the Full Moon Party at Haad Rin.

Ko Pha-ngan and the Full Moon Party (boat trip)
  1. Koh Phangan01
    Manfred Werner (User:Tsui, CC BY-SA 3.0

    Ko Pha-ngan and the Full Moon Party (boat trip)

    • A full day or a night
    • Tickets needed
    • Adults
    • Couples

    Koh Samui's sister island to the north, where the all-night Full Moon Party began at Haad Rin in 1985 and is held around every full moon.

    6,806 readers a month

    Sources
  2. Ban Mae Haad Ko Tao
    kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0

    Ko Tao (boat trip)

    • A full day or more
    • Tickets needed
    • Active
    • Couples

    A 21 km² island in the Chumphon Archipelago, north of Ko Pha-ngan.

    3,065 readers a month

    Sources
  3. 12 Armige Statue
    Gunther Dihlmann, CC BY-SA 3.0

    Wat Plai Laem

    • Under an hour
    • No booking needed
    • Couples
    • Families

    A modern Buddhist temple mixing Chinese and Thai styles, whose main statue is an eighteen-armed form of Guanyin.

    1,036 readers a month

    Sources
  4. Budda kuju
    Abrget47j, CC BY-SA 3.0

    Big Buddha Temple (Wat Phra Yai)

    • Under an hour
    • No booking needed
    • Couples
    • Families

    A modern temple on Ko Phan, a small island joined to Koh Samui's north-east by a causeway.

    911 readers a month

    Sources
  5. Secret Buddha Garden
    אברהם שוורץ, CC BY-SA 4.0

    Secret Buddha Garden

    • 1 to 2 hours
    • Check entry rules before you go
    • Couples
    • Active

    A private sculpture park on Pom Mountain, one of the island's highest peaks.

    467 readers a month

    Sources
  6. Mu Ko Ang Thong, Islands in the sea 2, Thailand
    Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0

    Ang Thong Marine National Park (boat trip)

    • A full day
    • Tickets needed
    • Active
    • Couples
    • Families

    A marine national park of 42 islands in the Gulf of Thailand.

    436 readers a month

    Sources
  7. Samui 2013 May - panoramio (79)
    Roma Neus, CC BY 3.0

    Wat Khunaram

    • Under an hour
    • No booking needed
    • Couples

    A temple known for the shrine of the mummified monk Luang Pho Daeng, who died in 1973.

    412 readers a month

    Sources
How we ranked these

By how many people read about each place on English Wikipedia in a typical month, measured October 2026. It is a popularity measure, not our opinion. Ko Pha-ngan and the Full Moon Party (boat trip) leads with about 6,806 readers a month. Photos come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences; the author and licence are on each photo.

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