Koh Chang vs. Koh Samet?
 

Can anyone compare these two? Is Koh Chang as rustic as Samet? I know Chang has the Panivan Resort and Samet just has bungalows. Also are there flights to Koh Chang or only to TRat? What airline and how much? How long is the boat ride from Trat and what kind of boats? Thanks-I did a search for Koh Chang,but still have questions.

Koh Samet 'is' more rustic, more for weekenders from Bangkok. Koh Chang is more developed and has more resort and overall more choice of decent accommodation. There are no flights onto Koh Chang Island, you fly to Trat ( 40 mins 2 x daily with Bangkok Airways only - bit expensive ) and either use local or hotel arrnaged transfer to the pier, it's only a short crossing. Smallish boats.
Koh Chang appeals to those who want an island but looking for somewhere a lot more relaxed than either Samui or Phuket yet still having decent accommodation.
To get to Koh Chang many still use the road option and many also choose to do 2 short hops by stopping somewhere on the way like pattaya/Jomtien or Rayong so see a little more of the coastline.
Take a look at the Barali on Koh Chang.

When I say weekenders from Bangkok that usually means students as they like it there for lots of cheap places to stay together. Wealthier people 'tend' to head to either Pattaya/Jomtien or to Hua in/Khao Takiab/Cha Am area

using james' advice we have booked 4 nites at the barali....travelduo also spent part of their honeymoon there and rave about the place...i looked at several places and thought this was best....we are arriving by auto from pattaya (quite a long ride)...making our own way to the hotel i guess....boat ride is 45 minutes...it is very cheap, like 150 B...i have a one way bkk air flt from trat to bkk for $50 using the bkk air coupon system---you have to fly 3 segments to qualify....in my case round trip to laos and o.w. from trat...the hotel will transport you to trat for a fee--maybe 500B or maybe more??
there are several quality resorts...read about them very carefully...there is not a great deal of info about KC....you need malaria pills by the way...

I had no idea that we were supposed to take malaria pills!!!! Dont tell my wife becs she asked about that a lot before we left, and I kept telling her no! BTW Bob, we are back from South Africa nad it was great! I will e mail you and tell you all about it!

jeffrey---its our secret

travelduo- would you take kids to Koh Chang? The malaria risk and boat ride concern me. I'm debating between Koh Chang and Samui. Also did you look at the Panivan resort at all?

I did look at the resort a little bit and its the only one on the island that we would of stayed at besides barali! Youe kids will love the boat ride! it was even kind of cool for us becs we live in the middle of farm town usa and had never been on a ferry! but when you get to the island i am not sure how much your kids would like it! besides elephant trekking and going to the monkey school there is not much for kids to do unless they like to swim in the ocean and in that case it would be right up their alley! the water was right outside our door on barali! you could also go snorkeling for the day but dont know how old your kids are??????? oh, they might also like riding around on the motor scooters with you! KC is VERY safe but it is also the most remote place we have ever been! let me know if you have any other questions!

jeffrey...dow did you get from the ferry on KC to the hotel....or were you picked up at the airport??

bob

At the airport, which is all outside, there is a little desk with a sign that says hotel transportation, we paid the B500 each there and that took care of the round trip ride! the woman printed us off a little ticket with our hotel name, and told us which driver to go see, gave him our ticket, he drove us onto the ferry, we got out and had a snack, when we were almost to KC they blew the whistle and everyone got back into teir vans, and he drove us straight to Barali. it was really easy!

Ko Samet - rustic? Are you serious? Well you probably are, I guess.

But if that overdeveloped, soulless place is "rustic" we can't be talking the same language.

What is your definition of "rustic" - I would love to know and think we should be told!

Are you referring to me?

Perhaps Alice you can assist the OP with their question as to differences between Koh Samet and Koh Chang as I am certain they would find it of great assistance.

James- I think Alice was referring to me. I haven't been to Koh Samet since 1988 and it was very rustic-simple, no huge resorts, only bungalows, few motor vehicles. Maybe its changed since then, or maybe Alice is confusing it with Samui.

No - Alice is not confusing it with Samui. Geez - you are pretty patronising aren't you? You must be an expert. I've never been to Samui - and wouldn't have chosen Samet either except that it fitted a restricted itinerary and I was curious.

It's about as far from rustic as I can imagine - but then it's all relative isn't it?

Just out of curiousity, tnnc, what other places would you now call rustic?
And do you think it relevant to post an opinion based on a visit in 1988?

alice---after this rather terse response i looked back at your prior contributions just to see where you are coming from....why do you hate americans so much?

Thank you for the supportive response rhkkmk! I was really just looking for a comparison between the 2 islands when I posted my question.

i thought it was a perfect question...alice was just on the attack that day i guess....oz people can be as difficult as some americans i guess

I had to 'hold myself back' seeing such an unecessary agressive post. Obviously someone had a bad trip to Samet but is unable to compare with anywhere else similar. Forum discussions are not English language lessons and people can use whatever words they feel put their question across in as few words as possible. Rustic obviously means in this context as less developed than Koh Chang and in that respect it 'is'.

james...some people from oz are ok, even good

Thanks again rhkkmk and JamesA!!

I am an expat who has been living on Ko Samet for 3 years. In reply to

Author: alice13
Date: 04/07/2005, 09:04 am
Ko Samet - rustic? Are you serious? Well you probably are, I guess.

But if that overdeveloped, soulless place is "rustic" we can't be talking the same language.

What is your definition of "rustic" - I would love to know and think we should be told!


Yes it is very rustic here. Probably not very rustic in the backpacker, pierced-nosed hell hole of a room Alice13 spent her daily allowance of 100 Baht.

In response to overdeveloped soulless place slander, Are you sure you came to Samet and not one of the other islands? Currently we have no hospital on the island (there is a health centre but go there at your peril), no optician, dentist, petrol station, McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut etc. Many of the rooms and resorts on the island are operated by locals who have been here for years and are only now finding uses for their inherited land. That said most are building small Thai style rooms which could be classed as rustic.
I do not think there are many places that Alice13 has travelled to that did not possess one of the establishments mentioned above. I could go on about the other things lacking here but rustic sure isn't one of them.
I think Alice13 probably had a number done on her by one of the Thai bar boy gigolos and has been bitter about the island ever since. Have you tried Cambodia? Hardly any development and extremely rustic.

PS. I am not an American