Understand the island, don't just see it.

How a tour works

From booking to the ride back to your hotel — what to expect.

Pickup

at your hotel

Guide

English

Cancellation

up to 24 h before

Tours

half & full day

Hotel pickup

When you book, you enter your hotel; the pickup window is sent to you in advance. The ride back to your hotel is included on almost all tours — exactly what's included is listed with each tour under "What's included". No hunting for a taxi, no haggling over prices.

Guided by locals

The tours on this page are accompanied by Thai guides. Especially at temples and when it comes to traditions and the island's history, that makes the difference: you can ask questions and get answers from someone who grew up with them.

What to bring

Sun protection, a hat and swimwear, plus a towel for boat trips. For temples, shoulders and knees should be covered — a light scarf in your day bag is enough. Some cash in Thai baht is handy for small purchases along the way.

Koh Samui at a glance

What you should know about the island before you explore it.

Province

Surat Thani

Area

228.7 km²

Sub-districts

7

Own municipality since

2012

Location and layout

Koh Samui — "koh" simply means island — belongs to Surat Thani province and lies in the Gulf of Thailand, geographically part of the Chumphon Archipelago. At 228.7 square kilometres it is one of the country's largest islands and, alongside Phuket, one of Thailand's three big tourist centres. Since 2012 it has governed itself as a municipality of its own. It is divided into seven sub-districts: Ang Thong, Lipa Noi, Taling Ngam, Na Mueang, Maret, Bo Phut and Mae Nam.

A ring road of around fifty kilometres links the coastal towns — a full loop takes about an hour and a half without stops. The interior, by contrast, is hilly and forested, the highest point lies at about 630 metres, and much of it can only be reached by four-wheel drive. This split explains why island tours and jungle safaris on Samui are two completely different excursions.

Where the name comes from

Its origin has never been settled; there are three common explanations. The first traces สมุย back to a Sanskrit-Tamil word meaning roughly "sea weather". The second derives the name from a southern Thai tree, the ต้นหมุย. The third points to a Chinese word that, depending on the reading, means "first island", "gate" or "beautiful beach". None of them is conclusively proven.

From coconut island to holiday destination

According to tradition, the island was settled in the 15th century by fishermen from the Malay Peninsula and southern China. For a long time it lived almost entirely from the coconut — hence its nickname, the coconut island, still in use today; plantations still shape the interior. Tourism arrived late and then grew fast: in the first half of 2019, Surat Thani province counted around 3.05 million visitors, the largest foreign groups coming from Germany, China, Eastern Europe, Australia and the United Kingdom.

To this day the east of the island is the tourist focus — Chaweng and Lamai with their long beaches — while the west and south have stayed quieter. That's exactly where many of the places lie that make an island tour worthwhile.

Weather on Koh Samui

Three periods instead of four seasons — and what that means for your tours.

Dry season

Jan – Feb

Hot season

Mar – Sep

Rainy season

Oct – Dec

Average sunshine

approx. 6 h/day

The three periods

Koh Samui doesn't have four seasons but three periods: a dry phase in January and February, a hot one from March to September and a rainy season from October to December. Because the island lies on the side of Thailand facing the mainland, its peak rainfall is shifted by several months compared with the Andaman coast — if you run into the monsoon in the west of the country, you may well find sunshine here.

Tropical means unpredictable

Tropical weather is hard to forecast, and in the rainy season rain tends to come in short, heavy bursts rather than all day. Roads are then briefly under water — usually only a few centimetres; locals simply ride through on their mopeds. After an hour or two the water has usually drained away, and the sun often comes out again in the afternoon.

What this means for your tours

On average the sun shines for about six hours a day, and the sea stays warm all year — snorkelling and boat trips are therefore possible practically all the time. In rough seas, however, boat tours can be cancelled at short notice; the captain decides in the morning based on the current conditions.

In the rainy season, land programmes — island tour, temples, waterfalls — are the more reliable choice; the waterfalls even carry more water then than in the dry months. Ang Thong National Marine Park is officially closed from 1 November to 15 December 2026.