Hai Lam Chinese Temple, Nathon
The shrine of the Hainanese families who settled Samui's port town, red and gold behind the old shophouses of Nathon.
Open≈ 0.3 km
Samui's administrative town and its only real streetscape: three parallel streets of wooden Chinese shophouses, a morning market and the ferry pier.
Nathon is Samui's administrative town and its only real streetscape: three parallel streets of wooden Chinese shophouses, a morning market, a Chinese shrine and the ferry pier. It is where the island lived before the beaches were worth anything.
An hour covers it on foot — the waterfront road, the middle street with the old coffee shops and hardware stores, and the inland street with the market. The pier is where the vehicle and passenger ferries leave for the mainland, and the west-coast sunset is fifteen minutes south.
An hour is enough. Best combined with the west coast sunset.
Most of the town closes early; come in the morning or plan it around the sunset rather than after dinner.
On the map…
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The closest places on the map, straight-line distance.
The shrine of the Hainanese families who settled Samui's port town, red and gold behind the old shophouses of Nathon.
Open≈ 0.3 km
The main passenger and vehicle pier on the west coast, and the crossing to Surat Thani on the mainland.
Open≈ 0.6 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≈ 2.8 km
The island guide · Markets & villages · Koh Samui map
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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.