Best beaches to visit in Thailand

Checklist of key points for best Thailand beaches

What’s with Phuket

• Andaman Sea
• Most developed island with international airport
• Some of the top six star resorts in Thailand on beautiful beaches
• Somewhat pricey but all the comforts you’d expect of a major tourist destination
• One our of three visitors to Thailand come here
• Also accessible by land
• Top standard medical care
• Sex change capital of Thailand
• Go island hopping near Phuket
• Pearl of the South

What’s with Ko Phi Phi

• Andaman Sea
• Excellent diving and snorkelling
• Lots of development after tsunami
• Popular for singles

What’s with Ko Samui

• Gulf of Thailand
• Thailand’s second most popular island
• Resorts from economy to luxury
• Chawang, Lamai, Mae Nam are beautiful beaches
• Boutique spas and hidden jungle getaways
• Busy island with a million visitors a year

What’s with Ko Samet

• White sand beaches some of the best in Thailand
• About an hour after Pattaya
• Small island
• About 7kms from mainland
• It’s a national park
• Good weather normally all year round

What’s with Ko Chang

• Tropical marine national park
• Abundance of wildlife and marine life
• Over a dozen bays and beaches
• Large jungle on island, waterfalls, elephant riding
• Near the Cambodian border
• Best preserved tourist destination in Thailand

What’s with Ko Tao

• Turtle island
• Gulf of Thailand
• Haven for divers, with 25 dive sites near the island
• Popular singles scene
• From quiet beach to busy beaches

What’s with Ko Pha Ngan

• Gulf of Thailand
• Home of the Full Moon Party
• Infamous for its parties
• Over a dozen bays and beaches
• Popular singles scene
• 70% mountainous
• Producer of coconuts
• Powder soft white sand

What's with Hua Hin and Cha Am

• Gulf of Thailand
• King’s Residence
• Near Bangkok about 2 hours drive
• Excellent golf courses
• Thailand’s oldest beach resort
• Good for families

• Long beach

• Thailand has some of the finest and most enjoyable beaches in all of South East Asia.  Here are some of our favourites that we recommend:
  1. Ko Samui  - Ko Samui is very well known and the two best known beaches there are Chaweng and Lamae  But there is a more secluded beach known as Silver Beach, better known by its official name, Tong Takien.  It’s suitable for families and well worth a visit if you’re on Ko Samui Island, which is located in the Gulf of Thailand.
  2. Phuket – Phuket is highly developed, and if you’re on a beach the chances are that you will be surrounded by scores of other holidaymakers and plenty of touts selling you anything from squid, friend chicken, shrimp, watches, clothes, and much more.  Most of these items are going to be a lot cheaper if you take the time to go to a proper market, particularly in Bangkok, but if something catches your eye there and then, they’ll be pleased to oblige.  Surin beach is one to watch out for in particular, where you can enjoy a nice swim in the sea.
  3. Ko Phi Phi -  Ko Phi Phi is comprised of two islands, and not far from Krabi on the Andaman Sea.  It’s about a two-hour ferry ride from Krabi.  The beach to look out for is Tonsai Bay, which is extremely stunning.
  4. Ko Samet – Ko Samet is about an hour past Pattaya on the Gulf of Thailand, and it has a famous beach known as Diamond beach, with a second name of Crystal Sand Beach. It’s a really beautiful beach not far from Bangkok, and popular with city dwellers on the weekends who need to escape the bustling metropolis to enjoy sand and sea.
  5. Krabi – Krabi has its own excellent beach, called Ao Nang.  You need to get to the southern part of it to enjoy the best scenery there.  Krabi has all the restaurants and services you would ever need, and faces the Andaman Sea. Venture further south and you will find Noppharat Thara, which is a national park with its own spectacular beach scenery. This is an ideal family beach, and you can walk to three islands just offshore when the tide is low.
  6. Ko Tao – This is the island to get away from it all, and also a diver’s paradise. The beach to visit here is Sairee beach, where you can feel like you really are in another world.
  7. Prachuap Khiri Khan – Near the border of Myanamar is one of the best and least tourist visited beaches in Thailand called Ao Manao, or Lemon Beach. Great for family holidays this beach is well worth a special visit, and one of Thailand’s jewels.
  8. Ko Chang – Elephant island as it is called is the second biggest island in Thailand and located near the border of Cambodia. There are a great selection of beaches on its west coast.  The White Sand beach is one of the most popular on the island.
  9. Pattaya – the beach in Pattaya is not one of Thailand’s finest by any stretch of the imagination, but you can take a short ferry ride to one of the nearby islands and enjoy much better beaches for swimming and splashing about. Pattaya is well known for other things that may or may not appeal: be fully aware of what to expect before setting out.
  10. Hua Hin -  Hua Hin is a developed resort with some fine hotels and a long stretch of beach.  The more commercial beach isn’t that great, but it is still highly popular among visitors and suitable for families.  There are some other nearby prettier beaches to be discovered, and Hua Hin is a great place to relax in one of its fine resort hotels.  People come to Hua Hin because it’s a great town and it’s well maintained, as it’s the main residence of the King of Thailand.

   

Thailand Travel Deals – Ideas on How To Get Great Travel Deals when going to Thailand and avoid being ripped off

When traveling to Thailand, here are some ideas for how to get some great travel deals, which we always recommend and include in your holiday bookings with My Thailand Home.

You may wonder why we are suggesting ways to save money when traveling to Thailand, given that we cater for the luxury sector of the market. It’s because we believe that fair value for what you get is important and a good deal is a good deal, and we do as much as we can to ensure that our customers aren’t ripped off when enjoying their next holiday in Thailand.

• Travel during low season to Thailand if you’re not fussed about time of year.  High season in Thailand tends to be October-February, and traveling through low season will reduce your costs
• Hotel prices in Thailand are quite transparent these days, and not hard to find whether or not you aregetting a good deal on the Internet. Use the hotel aggregators to check your prices, the most popular ones are www.AsiaRooms.com and www.Agoda.com
• Look for a good exchange rate to get local currency (Thai baht), and carry some money with you in Thai baht if the rate is favorable. You can check currency exchange rates on www.xe.com ATM machines in Thailand often have hidden currency conversion costs, so be careful how frequently you use them, and it almost goes without saying that youcan pay a lot more for your currency exchange at the airport or at the hotel as opposed to going to a local bank.
• Share resources when traveling with others, why not stay in a holiday home with friends or share a hotel with a friend you’re travelling with if you desire to save money. Hotel prices canvary a lot depending on location and quality, so if you’re not looking for themost luxurious accommodation you can save a lot of money by picking the rightplace. You’d be surprised how good some less expensive hotels are, but be sureyou know what you’re picking (Trip Advisor can help for those who don’t know anything about the hotels and areas).
• Avoid touts on beaches and public places for the most part, who claim to offer you great deals and shove products they want to sell in front of your face, as all the other touts aresure to hassle you as well and often their wares aren’t any cheaper anyway. Once in a while, you can indulge yourself and help them out (as many of them do this line of work out of necessity), but be sure you’re about to leave when you do to avoid being continuously hassled.
• Go to the local markets inThailand for your shopping, and don’t spend your hard earned money in the flashiest malls, unless you like to buy at top prices that is.
• Thailand often unofficially operates a two-tiered pricing structure for goods and services, one for locals and one for tourists/foreigners. You don’t always have to pay the highest ratesfor what you want if you know someone local and can get them to help you out.This structure doesn’t really apply to hotels in Thailand, and other foreign establishments, and is more applicable for places where both Thais and foreigners frequent.
• When in Bangkok, try and use the SkyTrain and Metro services, they are not only cheaper but they are much faster.  We recommend private limosfor trips that involve night travel or traveling outside of Bangkok’s city centre. Bangkok is legendary for its traffic jams, so save money and use public transport in the city centre. If you are traveling by car, then use the expressways not so much to save money (although you probably will save in termsof petrol cost), but to get around faster
  

Thailand Travel Videos To Enjoy

A picture can really paint 1,000 words, and a video can show you more closely than almost anything else what you’re likely to see and experience on your holiday.   So here are some other people’s videos that we’ve hand picked (we found them on  the web ourselves) for you to get a real feel for Thailand. We’ll be bringing out   some of our own videos in a few months time, so keep watching and we do   hope to hear from you when you’re thinking of going to Thailand on your great  next holiday.
  

When most visitors come to Bangkok, they only think of it as an overnight stopover, but it’s so much more, which this video will give you a taste of.

So who hasn’t heard of Phuket as a great destination for a beach holiday, here’s why.

We quite like this video, made by a French professional video cameraman while on his holiday (in 2009).  Take a look and you’ll see why.

Want to get a slightly deeper insight into Thai people, here’s one to watch.

We also quite like this one, a personal insight into John’s (the guy who made the video) Thailand holiday.

And if you like a nice sing along, here are some great Thailand travel images with a fun sing along in this video

For more information on your next Thailand holiday, email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and tell us what you'd like to do and where you'd like to go. 

What are you waiting for? A great holiday awaits.