"Is Koh Samui expensive?" is the question we get most after "when should I come?", and the honest answer is: it depends entirely on which of three holidays you have in mind, and they differ by a factor of five. What follows are prices we see on the island in 2026, in baht, with our own tour rates included so you can check we are not hiding behind vague ranges. Currency moves — count on roughly 37 to 40 baht to the euro and check the rate the week you travel.
Three budgets, per person, per day
Excluding flights, and assuming two people sharing a room.
| Backpacker | Comfortable | Resort | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Room (per person) | ฿300–500 | ฿700–1 300 | ฿2 500–6 000 |
| Food and drink | ฿350–500 | ฿700–1 200 | ฿2 000+ |
| Getting around | ฿100–200 | ฿250–400 | ฿600+ |
| Activities | ฿150 | ฿500 | ฿1 000+ |
| Per day | ฿900–1 350 | ฿2 150–3 400 | ฿6 100+ |
| Roughly, in euros | €24–36 | €57–90 | €160+ |
The middle column is where most visitors actually land, and it buys a genuinely good holiday: a decent room with a pool, eating out twice a day, a scooter or taxis, and two or three proper excursions in a week.
Where you sleep — the biggest single lever
Accommodation is the line that moves your total more than everything else combined, and on Samui it is driven by two things: the month, and the beach.
| Type | Low season | High season (Dec–Feb) |
|---|---|---|
| Hostel dorm bed | ฿250–400 | ฿400–600 |
| Fan room, guesthouse | ฿500–800 | ฿700–1 100 |
| Air-con room with pool, 3★ | ฿1 000–1 800 | ฿1 800–3 000 |
| Good 4★ resort | ฿2 500–4 500 | ฿4 000–8 000 |
| Beachfront 5★ | ฿6 000+ | ฿10 000+ |
High season is roughly mid-December to February, and Christmas and New Year are a category of their own — expect double, with minimum-stay rules attached. The cheapest beaches for what you get are Maenam and Lamai; the most expensive for what you get is beachfront Chaweng. Our full breakdown of who should stay where is in where to stay on Koh Samui.
Eating and drinking
This is where Thailand keeps its reputation. You can eat extremely well here for very little, and the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive meal on the island is a factor of fifty.
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Bottle of water, 7-Eleven | ฿15 |
| Pad thai or fried rice at a street kitchen | ฿60–90 |
| Plate at a night market | ฿50–120 |
| Main course, tourist restaurant | ฿180–350 |
| Dinner for two, seafront restaurant with wine | ฿1 500–3 000 |
| Large Chang at 7-Eleven / in a beach bar | ฿60 / ฿90–160 |
| Coffee in a café | ฿70–120 |
| One hour of Thai massage | ฿300–450 |
The single biggest saving available to you is eating where Thai people eat. A night market plate at ฿80 is not a compromise version of the ฿300 restaurant version — quite often it is the better dish. Our guide to the night markets and where to eat has the day-by-day calendar.
Getting around
| Option | Price | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Songthaew (red pick-up) | ฿50–100 a hop | Agree the fare before you get in |
| Grab or Bolt | ฿150–400 | Price shown before you accept |
| Taxi | ฿300–800 | Meters exist and are rarely used |
| Scooter rental | ฿200–350 a day | See the warning below |
| Petrol | ฿40–45 a litre | A scooter tank costs under ฿150 |
| Airport transfer, per vehicle | ฿440–850 | Our fixed grid, up to 8 people |
⚠️ The scooter is not the saving it looks like
฿250 a day is genuinely cheap, and scooters are the island's main cause of injury every single year. You need a licence valid for motorbikes plus an international permit — without them your travel insurance will not pay for the hospital, and a private room on Samui costs more per night than your resort. Read getting around Koh Samui before you rent one.
Things to do, and what they cost
Plenty of Samui is free: every beach, the Big Buddha, Hin Ta and Hin Yai, the Na Muang waterfalls, the viewpoints, the temples. Budget nothing for those beyond the ride out.
The paid layer is the boat trips, and it is where the island earns its money. Our own rates, per person, with hotel pick-up included:
| Tour | From | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional fishing | ฿1 300 | 4 h |
| Sunset cruise | ฿1 650 | 3 h |
| ATV & buggy | ฿1 700 | 2 h or 4 h |
| Island & temples | ฿1 700 | Full day |
| 4×4 jungle safari | ฿1 750 | 5 h |
| Pink dolphins, Khanom | ฿1 800 | 6–7 h |
| Ang Thong marine park | ฿2 000 | 7.5–8.5 h |
| Koh Madsum & Koh Tan | ฿2 350 | 5 h |
| Koh Tao & Koh Nang Yuan | ฿2 350 | Full day |
Add the Ang Thong national park entrance fee, which is charged separately at the pier and is not included in any operator's price. Two or three excursions in a week is the normal pattern; more than that and the sea starts to blur. If you are choosing between them, this comparison sorts them by duration, seasickness and who they suit.
The costs nobody warns you about
฿220 per ATM withdrawalA flat fee on every foreign card, on top of your own bank's. Six small withdrawals cost you ฿1 320 for nothing. Take out large amounts, rarely.
Dynamic currency conversionWhen a machine offers to charge you in euros, refuse and pay in baht. That "courtesy" rate quietly takes 3 to 7 %.
Travel insurance€30 to €60 for a fortnight. Private hospitals here want payment or a guarantee before treating, and an evacuation to Bangkok is five figures.
Visa extension, ฿1 900Only if you are staying beyond your visa-exempt limit — 30 days per entry from 15 September 2026. The details are on our practical page.
Sunscreen and repellent฿400–700 for what costs €8 at home, and marine parks ban the non-reef-safe kind. Pack it.
Deposits and card surchargesSome hotels and rental shops add 3 % on cards, and scooter shops ask for a deposit — never leave your passport as one.
A worked example: seven days, two people
Mid-range trip, low season, sharing a room with a pool at Maenam. Flights excluded.
| Line | Detail | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Room, 7 nights | ฿1 400 a night | ฿9 800 |
| Airport transfers | ฿550 each way, per vehicle | ฿1 100 |
| Food and drink | ฿1 600 a day for two | ฿11 200 |
| Local transport | Scooter 5 days + a few Grabs | ฿2 200 |
| Two day trips | Ang Thong + Koh Madsum, two people | ฿8 700 |
| Two massages each | ฿400 each | ฿1 600 |
| Extras and buffer | Fees, sunscreen, souvenirs | ฿2 500 |
| Total for two | ฿37 100 | |
| Roughly, in euros | ≈ €490 per person | ≈ €980 |
Move that same week to high season and the room line roughly doubles, taking the total past ฿48 000. Move it to a hostel and cook nothing, and two people can do the week under ฿15 000. Both are the same island.
Where the money actually leaks
In our experience it is never the big obvious lines. It is: taxis taken because nobody agreed a price first; cocktails on a beach at ฿280 when the same drink is ฿120 fifty metres inland; the third day trip booked out of momentum rather than desire; five separate ATM withdrawals; and the airport taxi at the end, negotiated with luggage in hand at the one moment you have no leverage.
None of those is expensive on its own. Together they add a quarter to a week.
Saving without ruining the trip
Eat one meal a day at a marketThe single biggest lever, and it makes the holiday better rather than worse.
Avoid mid-December to FebruaryMay to August on Samui is warm, quiet, drier than people think, and a third cheaper.
Stay a street back from the sandTwo hundred metres inland halves the room rate on every beach on the island.
Share the fixed costsTransfers are priced per vehicle, not per person. Four people pay the same ฿550 as one.
What we would not cut: travel insurance, and the one or two excursions you actually came for. Saving ฿2 000 by skipping Ang Thong is not a saving, it is a different holiday.
Know what your day on the water will cost
Every price on our tour pages is per person and includes hotel pick-up from anywhere on the island. No online payment, free cancellation up to 48 hours before, and an answer within 24 hours.
See tours and prices