Places
Temples & shrines of Koh Samui
🛕Big Buddha — Wat Phra Yai
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.
The twelve-metre golden Buddha on the islet of Ko Fan is the first thing most visitors see of Buddhist Samui, and the easiest to reach — a causeway joins it to the north coast, five minutes from the airport. It is a working temple, not a monument, and the difference shows in the mornings.
Good to know · Shoulders and knees covered, shoes off on the platform. Free.
Open →From Chaweng ≈ 5.3 km
🛕Wat Plai Laem
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.
Wat Plai Laem is the most photogenic site on Samui and, unlike the Big Buddha, it is barely five years older than the resorts around it. An eighteen-arm Guanyin stands in the middle of an artificial lake, with a white temple hall and a laughing Budai on the far bank.
Good to know · Buy a bag of fish food at the entrance; the carp do the rest. Free.
Open →From Chaweng ≈ 5.4 km
🛕Wat Khunaram — the mummified monk
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.
Luang Pho Daeng died in meditation in 1973 and asked to be left as he was, as a reminder that the body is temporary. He sits in a glass case at Wat Khunaram, saffron robe on, sunglasses over the eye sockets, and he has been Samui's strangest and most serious sight ever since.
Good to know · It is a place of worship, not a curiosity: no flash, no posing. Free.
Open →From Chaweng ≈ 10 km
🛕Wat Sila Ngu (the Red Temple)
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.
Wat Sila Ngu — Wat Ratchathammaram on the sign — is built entirely in unglazed terracotta, every surface carved, and it stands on the shore north of Hua Thanon. Red against a turquoise sea is unlike anything else on the island, and the temple is still unfinished.
Good to know · Ten minutes from Hin Ta & Hin Yai — do the two together.
Open →From Chaweng ≈ 8.6 km
🛕Wat Laem Sor & its golden chedi
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.
Wat Laem Sor is the best temple on Samui that almost nobody visits: a chedi covered in golden-yellow tiles standing directly on the sand of the far south coast, with the strait and the mainland behind it. Half an hour from Lamai, and usually empty.
Good to know · A second, smaller chedi sits on the hill above, with a view over the strait.
Open →From Chaweng ≈ 16 km
🛕Khao Hua Jook Pagoda
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.
A golden chedi on a hill behind the airport, and the cheapest panorama on Samui: Chaweng lake on one side, the runway, the north coast and Koh Phangan on the other. Free, and five minutes off the ring road.
Good to know · Best at the end of the day, when planes come in low over the water. Free.
Open →From Chaweng ≈ 1.5 km
🛕Guan Yu Shrine
A sixteen-metre statue of the Chinese god of war, red-faced and holding his blade, looking out over the sea at Hua Thanon.
A sixteen-metre statue of Guan Yu, the Chinese god of war, red-faced and holding his guandao, looking out to sea at Hua Thanon. It went up in 2016 for the island's Chinese community and is still barely on the tourist circuit.
Good to know · Free, never crowded, and five minutes from the Hua Thanon fish market.
Open →From Chaweng ≈ 9.5 km
🛕Wat Samret
A quiet inland temple with a seated Buddha carved from coral stone, brought here from Sri Lanka. Almost nobody stops.
Wat Samret holds a seated Buddha carved from coral stone, brought to Samui from Sri Lanka, and almost nobody stops. It is the temple to see if you want the inland island — plantations, dogs asleep in the shade, no market at the gate.
Good to know · Worth the five-minute detour if you are already going to Wat Khunaram.
Open →From Chaweng ≈ 11 km
🛕Secret Buddha Garden (Tarnim & Magic Garden)
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.
Four hundred metres up in the middle of the island, a farmer named Nim Thongsuk began setting statues of monks, animals and deities among the boulders of his land in 1976. The jungle has been closing over them ever since, and the result is the strangest place on Samui.
Good to know · The access road is steep and broken: 4×4 or a guided trip, not a rented scooter. Small entrance fee.
Open →From Chaweng ≈ 8.5 km
🛕Phra Buddha Teepangkorn
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.
The huge white seated Buddha visible from half the island stands on a ridge in the centre, and the platform around it is one of the widest views on Samui — the east coast, the hills, and on a clear morning the mainland.
Good to know · The last stretch of road is steep. Go up in the morning, before the haze.
Open →From Chaweng ≈ 6.4 km
🛕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.
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.
Good to know · Combine it with an hour walking Nathon's three parallel old streets.
Open →From Chaweng ≈ 13 km
🛕Wat Kiri Wongkaram
The west coast's own mummified monk, in a temple most visitors never hear about, at the foot of the hills near Taling Ngam.
The west coast has its own mummified monk, in a temple most visitors never hear about, at the foot of the hills near Taling Ngam. Wat Kiri Wongkaram is quieter than Wat Khunaram and asks nothing of you.
Good to know · Pair it with the west coast sunset — it is on the way.
Open →From Chaweng ≈ 16 km