We're considering Koh Chang for next Dec/Jan. Any recommendations for a hotel/resort for a family of 3 - daughter will be 8. We like small, friendly places, but really nice with good food and spa and pool...it's usually a challenge for us to find the perfect place It would be our 3rd trip to Thailand, first to Koh Chang.

hi Kim, we went last december and it was awesome! it was our honeymoon and we stayed at barali. i dont think very many here have been there except for jamesa and bob will be going soon so he can tell you when he gets back! there is only like 2 or 3 places on the island that are not backpacker type places. we payed abt $100 a night for the beachfront bungalow at barali. It was VERY nice! The whole island is VERY quiet. for your 8 year old, you could go elephant trekking, to the monkey school, and rent a scotter? there is also a ton of good snorkeling places but none right off the island itself. there is not much kid related stuff there so make sure they bring their own things to keep them busy!

as jeffrey says we are going in june...we are paying 3550 B/nite including taxes/service and breakfast through www.huahin.20m.com....substantially below what the hotel quoted me...ours is an oceanfront villa i think is the class...mid level....

based on jeffrey's comments and jamesA's suggestion we settled on this property...there are a few more as J says, but we though this one to be good, especially with fodorite endorsements...

you can fly from bkk to trat and arrange transfers there for 500B/person or similar through the hotel or cheaper at trat...we will arrive by car from pattaya...

Thank you!...the Barali does look good. I also found the Bhumiyama, Sea View Resort, and Koh Chang Cliff Beach...did you happen to see those iin person travelduo?

Our daughter relies on making holiday friends so we always go to somewhere there will be other families...I go so far as to actually asking whether other kids will be at a place during our stay and how old they are etc...if there aren't other kids it's not for us. Thing is, we don't like the big name resort places with kids clubs and such...so it always is such an ordeal for us to find the right place. Once we find a place, we tend to go back over and over. We're trying to get out of that habit and see some new places.

We used to go to Koh Samui and stay at Laem Set Inn...but it was sold and it just isn't the same under new ownership. We were at a lost this past year over where to go for Christmas since our old standby was no longer...looked long and hard and came up with Bali. We could do an exact repeat, which we might end up with yet, but I do want to explore some other options for this coming year before booking.

I saw the cliff and sea view, but i did not see the other one i dont think. they were ok type of places, but not sure what you are looking for in your hotel? to get to barali you have to go down this gravel road, and along that street there was always kids about 7,8,9 years old outside playing, but i didnt really see many other kids on holiday there.

kim---if you decide to return to samui, you might look at peace resort...there were several families there during our june stay....we really liked its family appeal...family owned by the way

Bangkok Airways have uped the flights from Bangkok to Tart t 3 times daily and from November direct flights Trat to Samui, so I reckon now really is the time to go before it gets any more developed.

Thank you everyone. It would be nice to get to somewhere before the masses did!

If youwant to get somewhere before the masses then KC would be the place to be! A few times we were standing on the beach, and as far as you could look in either direction you could not see another person!

There is a rather fun website at www.IamKohChange.com
That can give you a somewhat irreverant and non-commercial look at the island. The guy also makes some recommendations.
Don't know Koh Change myself - but I like the guy's website

is the spelling correct....i cannot get it to work??

Try www.IamKohChang.com Just drop the e in chang from the post above.

I tried that website and it didn't go through.

doesn't work for me

Works fine for me when I copy and paste. Here is the address as shown by their web site
http://www.iamkohchang.com/