Nathon old town
Samui's administrative town and its only real streetscape: three parallel streets of wooden Chinese shophouses, a morning market and the ferry pier.
Open≈ 0.3 km
The shrine of the Hainanese families who settled Samui's port town, red and gold behind the old shophouses of Nathon.
Samui's Chinese story is told in Nathon, not on the beaches: Hainanese families settled the port, traded coconuts and built this red and gold shrine behind the old shophouses. It is the counterweight to the island's Buddhist temples.
The hall is small, heavy with incense and used daily. Outside, Nathon's three parallel streets hold the oldest wooden buildings on Samui, a morning market and a handful of coffee shops that have not been renovated. An hour covers the lot.
Combine it with an hour walking Nathon's three parallel old streets.
On the map…
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The closest places on the map, straight-line distance.
Samui's administrative town and its only real streetscape: three parallel streets of wooden Chinese shophouses, a morning market and the ferry pier.
Open≈ 0.3 km
The main passenger and vehicle pier on the west coast, and the crossing to Surat Thani on the mainland.
Open≈ 0.7 km
A chain of small falls and pools twenty to thirty minutes up a jungle path that starts behind the temple, just inland from Nathon.
Open≈ 2.5 km
The island guide · Temples & shrines of Koh Samui · Koh Samui map
See it with us · Island Temples
Half of these places are easier with a driver who knows which hill road is paved. Tell us which ones you care about and we will build the day around them.