sarah

I'm planning on visiting Thailand in January and am trying to decide on an island or beach town. I want the least touristy area with the least amount of sleaze, but still has activity and things to do. I was thinking of Koh Samui. Any suggestions?

Craigy

Koh Samui is very commercial. I would suggest Cha Am or maybe Hua Hin nearby. Sleeze free places, nice beaches, good hotels.

penny

Try Rai Lei off Krabi - its quiet, beautiful, and has good climbing, snorkelling and swimming.

Pat

I agree with Penny, Railey is better than Ao Nang, both in Krabi province. You will find naturally that a nice hotel in a very quiet places will cost about 25% of those hotels on the built up islands, and when I say built up I mean it sincerely, you would be surprised at the construction in some places. What ever you do you will miss Thailand if you follow the sheep to the likes of Koh Samui and the other touristy islands.

Howard

My wife and I just got back from Thailand and spent a week on Samui. Sure it's touristy, but the beaches are great and the extra business means there are plenty of great restaurants and activities. We stayed on the south side of Chaweng beach (the most populated beach strip on Samui) at a place called First Bungalow, and it ended up being the best of all worlds--a large private beach, our own cheap bungalow, and a short motorbike ride into the main strip in Chaweng for dinners. There's also a great cooking school there, waterfalls, wats, and the usual activities (snorkeling, diving, parasailing, fishing, even a driving range).