See the island's villas
An independent tour of a Koh Samui luxury villa — useful for calibrating what the island's top end looks like.
Inside a luxury $5M villa with a 360° infinity pool in Koh Samui
Victoria Witthinrich
Thailand's coconut island in the Gulf of Siam — where the collection begins. Which beach suits your trip, how to get there, and when to come.
Koh Samui is Thailand's best-known Gulf island: a roughly 50-kilometre ring road circles a mountainous, coconut-palmed interior, and nearly everything a visitor touches sits on the coastal strip. The island's genius is that its beaches each keep a distinct pace, so choosing where to stay matters more than almost any other decision. Villas — rather than resorts — dominate the high ground just behind and between the beaches, which is where the sea views live and the road noise doesn't.
Our collection starts here on purpose. Sandalwood, the flagship, sits on the ridge between Chaweng and Lamai — the island's two defining beaches — and it illustrates the general Samui rule: the best villa positions are close enough to the water that dinner is a decision, far enough from the beach road that the night is yours.
Samui runs clockwise from the airport in the northeast.
The island's longest, busiest beach and its nightlife capital — beach clubs, restaurants and the main shopping strip. Stay on the ridge above it rather than on the beach road, and you get the energy on demand and the quiet by default.
Chaweng's easier-going sibling to the south: good sand, older trees, a proper town with markets, and the granite Hin Ta and Hin Yai rocks at its southern end. Popular with returners who have done Chaweng.
On the north coast — a restored old trading village of wooden shophouses turned boutique restaurants, with a famous Friday walking-street market. The most atmospheric dinner on the island; villas climb the hills behind.
A long, quiet stretch of the north coast with calm water, a low-key local town, and some of the island's best value. Ideal for long stays and families who want the island without the volume.
The northeastern cape between the airport and Chaweng: small coves, upscale villas and short transfers. Convenient and composed — you trade a big beach for privacy.
Lipa Noi and Taling Ngam face the sunset and the Five Islands; Bang Kao in the south is the Samui of twenty years ago. Fewer restaurants, longer drives, unbeatable calm.
Samui has its own airport (USM) in the island's northeast — a garden-like, largely open-air airport built and operated by Bangkok Airways, which flies the bulk of its routes; the hop from Bangkok takes a little over an hour. Fares to USM run higher than to mainland airports because of the airport's private ownership, so budget-minded travellers use the alternative: fly to Surat Thani on the mainland, then take a bus-and-ferry combination via Donsak pier (the ferry crossing is roughly 90 minutes; the whole connection takes a few hours). Ferries also connect Samui to Koh Phangan and Koh Tao.
On the island, villas usually arrange airport transfers — ask when you book. Songthaews (shared pickup taxis) ply the ring road, and renting a car or scooter is common, though Samui's traffic and hills deserve respect.
Samui sits on the Gulf coast, which runs on a different calendar from Phuket. Broadly: the driest, most reliable months are February through April; May to September is a warm green season with mostly brief showers (and good value); and the wettest spell is October to December, when the northeast monsoon can bring sustained rain, typically peaking in November. December's second half usually clears into peak season. The full month-by-month picture — for both coasts — is in our best time to visit guide.
An independent tour of a Koh Samui luxury villa — useful for calibrating what the island's top end looks like.
Sandalwood — boutique teak-and-stone pool villas on the ridge between Chaweng and Lamai, booked direct with the owner from THB 7,900 a night.
See Sandalwood Browse all villas