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Thailand-Koh Samui

Hi All

We are off to Koh Samui in April and just wanted to see where people recommend we stay. Our budget is £100 a night and ideally we would like it to be a quite a romantice place. Any other suggestions about what we should do while we are there would be greatly appreciated.


Jon and Gem
«13

Comments

  • socrates
    socrates Posts: 2,889 Forumite
    jonandgem wrote: »
    Hi All

    We are off to Koh Samui in April and just wanted to see where people recommend we stay. Our budget is £100 a night and ideally we would like it to be a quite a romantice place. Any other suggestions about what we should do while we are there would be greatly appreciated.


    Jon and Gem

    Let TripAdvisor be your friend - there is definitely no reason to spend that much money.
  • jammin_2
    jammin_2 Posts: 2,461 Forumite
    Indeed. Your budget should be £5 a night, not £100. You can buy Koh Samui for £100. Jees.
  • socrates
    socrates Posts: 2,889 Forumite
    jammin wrote: »
    Indeed. Your budget should be £5 a night, not £100. You can buy Koh Samui for £100. Jees.

    Bit of an exaggeration Koh Samui is now quite expensive - you are probably looking around £35-£55 a night.

    Go on trip advisor and contact the hotels directly by email - some people advise to book only one night and then negotiate with the hotel when you get there.
  • jammin_2
    jammin_2 Posts: 2,461 Forumite
    Ah now. 500 baht a night will get a nice bungalow with a fan and maybe air con. And that's before bargaining.
  • Aletank
    Aletank Posts: 569 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts
    We stayed at the Nova Samui Resort and my Girlfriend was very impressed - Only bout £40 a night also !
    Have a read of the below links, especially Trip Advisor, you'll struggle to find a bad review ;)
    http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&expIds=17259,18167,24283,27732&sugexp=gsihc&xhr=t&q=nova+samui+resort&cp=1&pf=p&sclient=psy&aq=0c&aqi=&aql=f&oq=nsamui+resort&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=fb65bc885a9abf7
  • Doshwaster
    Doshwaster Posts: 6,406 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    jammin wrote: »
    Ah now. 500 baht a night will get a nice bungalow with a fan and maybe air con. And that's before bargaining.

    One of the best places I have ever stopped was a simple A/C bungalow on Chaweng Beach. It was literally 5 steps to the beach. I can't remember the name of the resort as it was a few years ago but it was fairly central and less than £20 a night. Prices have risen on Samui recently (and the exchange rate has dropped off) but there is no need to spend £100/night.
  • socrates
    socrates Posts: 2,889 Forumite
    Aletank wrote: »
    We stayed at the Nova Samui Resort and my Girlfriend was very impressed - Only bout £40 a night also !
    Have a read of the below links, especially Trip Advisor, you'll struggle to find a bad review ;)
    http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&expIds=17259,18167,24283,27732&sugexp=gsihc&xhr=t&q=nova+samui+resort&cp=1&pf=p&sclient=psy&aq=0c&aqi=&aql=f&oq=nsamui+resort&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=fb65bc885a9abf7

    Nice place BUT for that money would want to be next to the beach.
  • Moonchild
    Moonchild Posts: 802 Forumite
    I do not get this reverse snobbery towards spending money on a good hotel? I've done thb500 on bottle beach, and uber 5* luxury and a variety of hotels in between. Let's not compare apples and pears.

    Hopefully in a money saving theme, we can make some recommendation, the OP can see what they like, and we can all make recommendations to help them get it as cheaply as possible.

    They have said their budget is £100 per night. They could spend £5 or £1000 per night, but this is what they want to spend, and their comfort will rise accordingly.

    2 Hotels i've stayed at close to that budget and adored was the Zazen (on Bo Phut beach) and Ban Sabai Sunset (on the South West coast). Bo Phut's a lovely place - not too lively, not too quiet - Zazen's at the end of the beach (20 minutes to Chaweng and most lively places) - whilst Ban Sabai is really chilled and quiet (but still only 45 mins into busier area). I'm not sure if they will fit in budget in April (sure they would in May) - but have a look, and check out Trip Advisor as mentioned.

    I can't personally stand any of the Chaweng beaches as can be exceptionally noisy, busy, with plenty of hassles.
  • socrates
    socrates Posts: 2,889 Forumite
    Moonchild wrote: »
    I do not get this reverse snobbery towards spending money on a good hotel? I've done thb500 on bottle beach, and uber 5* luxury and a variety of hotels in between. Let's not compare apples and pears.

    Hopefully in a money saving theme, we can make some recommendation, the OP can see what they like, and we can all make recommendations to help them get it as cheaply as possible.

    They have said their budget is £100 per night. They could spend £5 or £1000 per night, but this is what they want to spend, and their comfort will rise accordingly.

    2 Hotels i've stayed at close to that budget and adored was the Zazen (on Bo Phut beach) and Ban Sabai Sunset (on the South West coast). Bo Phut's a lovely place - not too lively, not too quiet - Zazen's at the end of the beach (20 minutes to Chaweng and most lively places) - whilst Ban Sabai is really chilled and quiet (but still only 45 mins into busier area). I'm not sure if they will fit in budget in April (sure they would in May) - but have a look, and check out Trip Advisor as mentioned.

    I can't personally stand any of the Chaweng beaches as can be exceptionally noisy, busy, with plenty of hassles.

    I do not think (from my perspective anyway) that it is any form of reverse snobbery.

    One of the hotels I stayed in was priced at well over £100 a day until I called them directly and negotiated down to £50 a day.

    My opinion is that if you stay in a £50 or £150 a night hotel - the staff are the same and probably on similar wages. The food is more or less the same (especially the Thai food).

    The main difference is the luxury, the location and proximity to the beach and amenities.

    I would agree that for a romantic couple Bo Phut is a very good location especially as Fishermans Wharf is honeymooners paradise as opposed to Chewang or Thai Magaluf as I like to call it.
  • Doshwaster
    Doshwaster Posts: 6,406 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Moonchild wrote: »
    I can't personally stand any of the Chaweng beaches as can be exceptionally noisy, busy, with plenty of hassles.

    It really depends on the season and the location. At peak time (around now) then yes, it can be very crowded but in Sep/Oct it can be very pleasant. There are also some very noisy "Aussie Club 18-30" type places (esp the Ark Bar) but Chaweng beach is big enough to be able to get away from them.
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