65 places we actually send people to, pinned where they really are — and a written list underneath, because a map is no use on a phone with no signal.
The island is a circle thirty-five kilometres around, and the ring road (route 4169) links almost everything on this map. From Chaweng, nothing on Samui is more than forty-five minutes away — the hills in the middle are the exception, and they need a driver rather than a scooter.
Pins are grouped by what they are: swim here, climb there, eat at six. Tap a category to show only that. Every pin links to the page that explains it, and to driving directions.
No elephant riding, no tiger selfies, no monkey shows, no dolphin pools. Samui has all four and they sell well; we do not send anyone to them, and we would rather say so on the map than be asked in an email.
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The same {n} places, grouped by what they are and readable once the page has loaded — no signal required.
Where to swim, where the water is shallow, where it is not.
Six kilometres of white sand on the east coast, and the busiest strip on the island. The water stays swimmable all year at the northern end; a reef sits close in at the southern end.
Good to know · Go north of the Centara for the widest sand and the fewest jet skis.
The small cove just south of Chaweng, cut off from it by a headland. Same sand, a fraction of the crowd, and a steeper drop into the water.
Good to know · Reachable on foot from Chaweng at low tide, by road the rest of the time.
The island's second beach, four kilometres of sand with a slower pace than Chaweng and cheaper food. The southern end turns rocky, which is where the snorkelling is.
Good to know · Sunday evening is the Lamai walking street, two minutes inland.
A 200-metre pocket of sand between Chaweng and Lamai, hemmed in by granite boulders. The clearest water on the east coast and a reef you can reach by swimming.
Good to know · Tiny car park, full by 10 a.m. — come early or come by scooter.
More rock than beach: a cove of boulders where the coral starts a few metres out. Good at high tide, awkward at low tide.
Good to know · Reef shoes help. The cliff restaurants above it have the view.
A sheltered bay on the north-east corner, shallow and calm — the beach families end up on. A small island sits offshore, walkable at low tide.
Good to know · Ten minutes from the airport, which makes it a good first or last day.
A long, shallow, muddy-at-low-tide stretch under the flight path. Nobody comes here to swim; the view across to Koh Phangan and the sunrise are the reason.
Good to know · Walk it at sunrise, then breakfast at the Bang Rak fish market.
Darker, golden sand on the north coast, calm water and almost no jet skis. Fisherman's Village sits at its eastern end.
Good to know · Best beach on the island for a sunset drink with your feet in the sand.
Four kilometres of quiet north-coast sand, the cheapest place on the island to sleep by the water, and Koh Phangan on the horizon.
Good to know · The pier here is where the Haad Rin boats leave from.
The north-west coast: shallow, glassy water and a row of seafood shacks built out over it. Very few hotels, very little noise.
Good to know · Come for lunch — the whole grilled fish here is the island's best value.
The west coast's swimming beach: flat, shallow, warm water with no waves, and the sun going down in front of you rather than behind a hill.
Good to know · Sunset side of the island. Bring mosquito repellent for dusk.
The quietest coast on Samui, looking out at the Five Islands. Sand is coarser and the tide goes a long way out, but at 6 p.m. nothing beats it.
Good to know · Sunset here, dinner at Thong Krut, ten minutes further south.
The north-west headland, all rock and coconut. No swimming to speak of — this is a place you drive to for the last twenty minutes of daylight.
Good to know · The track to the old lighthouse starts near here and is rough; don't take a scooter up it in the wet.
The south coast, where the sea turns into a sand flat at low tide and the longtail boats to Koh Tan and Pig Island are moored.
Good to know · Not a swimming beach. Come for the boats and the seafood.
Buddhist and Chinese sites, all free unless noted.
A twelve-metre golden Buddha seated on the islet of Ko Fan, joined to Samui by a causeway. Steps, bells, a market underneath, and the north coast laid out behind it.
Good to know · Shoulders and knees covered, shoes off on the platform. Free.
An eighteen-arm Guanyin standing in an artificial lake, with a laughing Budai and a white temple hall around it. Chinese-Thai, and the most photogenic site on Samui.
Good to know · Buy a bag of fish food at the entrance; the carp do the rest. Free.
Luang Pho Daeng died in meditation in 1973 and sits in a glass case, sunglasses on, exactly as he asked to be left. Odd, calm, and entirely serious.
Good to know · It is a place of worship, not a curiosity: no flash, no posing. Free.
An unfinished temple in raw terracotta, every surface carved, standing on the shore north of Hua Thanon. The red against the sea is unlike anything else on the island.
Good to know · Ten minutes from Hin Ta & Hin Yai — do the two together.
The far south coast, and the least visited good temple on Samui: a chedi covered in golden-yellow tiles standing on the sand, with the sea behind it.
Good to know · A second, smaller chedi sits on the hill above, with a view over the strait.
A golden chedi on a hill behind the airport, reached by a short steep road. Chaweng lake on one side, the runway and the sea on the other.
Good to know · Best at the end of the day, when planes come in low over the water. Free.
A sixteen-metre statue of the Chinese god of war, red-faced and holding his blade, looking out over the sea at Hua Thanon.
Good to know · Free, never crowded, and five minutes from the Hua Thanon fish market.
A quiet inland temple with a seated Buddha carved from coral stone, brought here from Sri Lanka. Almost nobody stops.
Good to know · Worth the five-minute detour if you are already going to Wat Khunaram.
Statues of monks, animals and deities set in the jungle 400 metres up, laid out by a farmer in 1976 and left to the moss. A small waterfall runs through it.
Good to know · The access road is steep and broken: 4×4 or a guided trip, not a rented scooter. Small entrance fee.
The huge white seated Buddha you can see from half the island, up in the hills at the centre. The platform around it is one of the widest views on Samui.
Good to know · The last stretch of road is steep. Go up in the morning, before the haze.
The shrine of the Hainanese families who settled Samui's port town, red and gold behind the old shophouses of Nathon.
Good to know · Combine it with an hour walking Nathon's three parallel old streets.
The west coast's own mummified monk, in a temple most visitors never hear about, at the foot of the hills near Taling Ngam.
Good to know · Pair it with the west coast sunset — it is on the way.
Best from October to January, when the water actually falls.
An eighteen-metre fall over purple rock, five minutes' walk from the car park, with a pool deep enough to swim in when the river is up.
Good to know · Free. Ignore anyone at the entrance selling you a ride to reach it.
The big one: eighty metres of water down a rock face, twenty to twenty-five minutes uphill from the first fall. Dry to a trickle in March and April.
Good to know · Proper shoes. The last section is wet rock and roots.
A chain of small falls and pools twenty to thirty minutes up a jungle path that starts behind the temple, just inland from Nathon.
Good to know · The best of the four in the rainy season, and the emptiest all year.
Deep in the middle of the island, at the end of a rough track and a short scramble. You will usually have it to yourself.
Good to know · Only worth it after rain, and only with a driver who knows the track.
Panoramas, balancing rocks and the odd roadside curiosity.
The roadside terrace on the ring road between Chaweng and Lamai, hanging over the water. Two minutes of effort for the postcard of the east coast.
Good to know · Morning light. By mid-afternoon you are shooting into the sun.
Two boulders balanced on each other in the hills above Lamai, with a terrace looking down the whole south-east coast. A small fee gets you through the gate.
Good to know · The road up is steep but paved. Bring water; there is a café at the top.
A hundred metres from Overlap Stone, a rock shaped like a raised snake's head and a second, wider terrace over Lamai bay.
Good to know · Same access road; buy one ticket, see both.
The bend on the hill road where the whole of Lamai bay opens up below, coconut roofs and reef line included. No gate, no ticket.
Good to know · Park properly off the road; it is a blind corner.
A heart-shaped rock on the same hillside, put on the map by couples and kept there by the view behind it.
Good to know · Late afternoon, when the bay turns green.
Two granite formations at the south end of Lamai whose resemblance to human anatomy is not subtle, and which come with a local legend and a small market.
Good to know · Free, five minutes, and best at high tide when the waves come in.
The terrace on the ridge above Chaweng, four hundred metres up, looking down on the airport, the lake and the whole east coast.
Good to know · The access track is brutally steep — take a taxi or a 4×4, never a scooter two-up.
A low bluff on the north coast road with Koh Phangan straight ahead and almost no one else stopping.
Good to know · Ten minutes from Maenam, on the way to Bang Por for dinner.
A disused light on the north-west tip, at the end of a rough jungle track. The reward is the sunset over the mainland with nothing built in between.
Good to know · Dry season and daylight only. The track is not for a rented scooter.
Evening walking streets and the morning fish markets.
Two hundred metres of Sino-Portuguese shophouses turned into restaurants and bars, on the sand at Bophut. On Friday evening the street closes and becomes the island's best walking street.
Good to know · Friday from about 5 p.m. Come hungry and eat standing up.
Sunday evening in Lamai: grills, noodle carts, fruit shakes and a stage, cheaper and more local than its Bophut equivalent.
Good to know · Sunday from about 5 p.m.
Thursday evening on the north coast, in the old part of Maenam village. Small, almost entirely Thai, and the cheapest dinner on the island.
Good to know · Thursday evening. The morning market next door runs from 6 a.m.
The stalls along Chaweng Beach Road: skewers, pad thai, tailors and copies. Louder and more touristy than the rest, but open when everything else has closed.
Good to know · Evenings. Agree the price before the fruit is cut.
A Muslim fishing village on the south-east coast, its painted longtails drawn up on the sand and its fish market busiest before 8 a.m.
Good to know · Dress a little more conservatively here than on the beach.
The morning catch sold on the beach below the Big Buddha, and a row of stalls grilling it for breakfast.
Good to know · Before 9 a.m., or there is nothing left to see.
Samui's administrative town and its only real streetscape: three parallel streets of wooden Chinese shophouses, a morning market and the ferry pier.
Good to know · An hour is enough. Best combined with the west coast sunset.
The southern jumping-off point for Koh Tan and Koh Madsum: a jetty, a fresh market and half a dozen seafood restaurants over the water.
Good to know · Boats leave in the morning; the sea in the strait gets choppy after 2 p.m.
Things that need booking, and the two stadiums.
Samui's main Muay Thai ring, behind Chaweng: five or six bouts, local fighters and a crowd that knows the scoring.
Good to know · Fight nights are Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
The second stadium, in Chaweng itself, walkable from most of the strip on nights when it has a card.
Good to know · Check the card before buying: the quality of the evening varies.
Rescued elephants living out their retirement in the hills above Bophut. Observation and feeding only — no riding, no bathing, no shows.
Good to know · Book ahead; visits are capped and morning slots go first.
Cables strung between platforms in the forest above Nathon, on the quiet side of the island. Half a morning, no experience needed.
Good to know · Closed shoes. Combine it with Hin Lad waterfall, ten minutes away.
The second zipline course, strung above the Na Muang valley — easy to bolt onto a waterfall morning.
Good to know · Same valley as Na Muang 1 and 2; do all three in one trip.
Off the island — reachable by boat, in a day.
Forty-two uninhabited limestone islands an hour and a half west of Samui, with the emerald lake of Wua Talap, snorkelling and kayaking between the cliffs.
Good to know · Boats run Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. The sea is calmest before 11 a.m.
Two hours north by catamaran, and the best snorkelling and diving water in the Gulf. Shark Bay, Mango Bay and a village that lives entirely off diving.
Good to know · Boats run Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. It is a long day — worth it.
Three islets joined by a sandbar off Koh Tao, with a short climb to the viewpoint that everyone has seen a photograph of.
Good to know · Single-use plastic is banned on the island; bring a refillable bottle.
Thirty minutes north by boat: Haad Rin and the Full Moon Party at one end, and a wild, near-empty east coast at the other.
Good to know · Full Moon nights fill every boat — book the return in advance.
Twenty minutes off the south coast: a white sandbar, clear shallow water and a small herd of pigs that come down to the beach.
Good to know · Do not feed them from your hand — the guides carry what they are allowed to eat.
Koh Madsum's larger neighbour, ringed by the healthiest reef within reach of Samui and home to a handful of families.
Good to know · Snorkelling is best on the north side, in the morning.
On the mainland coast opposite Samui, where a small resident population of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins — pink with age — feeds close to shore.
Good to know · Early morning, calm sea, and no guarantee: they are wild animals.
Airport, piers, hospital: the places you look up in a hurry.
An open-air, garden-style airport at the north-east corner of the island — thirty minutes from anywhere on Samui by road.
Good to know · We meet arrivals in the hall with a name board; transfers are per vehicle.
The main passenger and vehicle pier on the west coast, and the crossing to Surat Thani on the mainland.
Good to know · The pier is the west coast: allow 45 minutes from Chaweng.
The catamaran pier on the north coast, and the fastest way to Koh Phangan and Koh Tao.
Good to know · Ten minutes from the airport, five from Fisherman's Village.
The small north-coast pier, and the boat that goes straight to Haad Rin on Koh Phangan.
Good to know · This is the Full Moon Party pier. Expect a queue that night.
The vehicle ferry terminal on the south-west coast, for the crossing to Don Sak — this is where your rental car or minibus arrives.
Good to know · Crossings run roughly hourly through the day, weather permitting.
The island's main private hospital, English-speaking and used to travel insurance, between Chaweng and the ring road.
Good to know · Emergency number 1719. Keep your insurance details on your phone.
Nothing matches — try a shorter word.
Ready-made days that already string these pins together in the right order.
Songthaew, scooter, taxi, private driver: what things cost and what to avoid.
Roads change, places close, a pin drifts. If you find one that is off, tell us and we will fix it — the coordinates come from OpenStreetMap and we check them by hand. Contact us.
Half of this map is easier with a driver who knows which hill road is paved. Tell us what you want to see and we will build the day around it.