Have stayed at Lanta recently and am now considering Koh Samet. Has anyone stayed at both and how do they compare. We loved lanta and would go back in a heartbeat but want to experience other islands. Samet seems like it could be similar thanks for help

Hi-
Sorry I can't answer your question, but I was hoping you could share a little about Ko Lanta. We are thinking of going in April. Where did you stay and what did you do while you were on the island?
Thanks!

Kristina we stayed at Lanta Casuarina which was a small botique style hotel on the beach at Long beach. it is very small nice and personal. We had a great beach front bungalow (concrete block)with ocean in front pool to right and restaurnat behind. You could order drinks from the pool which was great. Lanta does not have fabulous beaches. There was a nice one south where the pimalai resort was. Long beach is one of the nicer beaches I thought especially if you like sea swimming and body surfing. It is also about 4 km long so good for walking and running. The pool is an infinity overlooking the ocean. The sun sets over phi phi island every night which can be seen from the resort. Lanta is a quiet island and does not offer all the shopping and partying venues that the more tourisy islands do. In saying that we were shopped out from bangkok by the time we got there. We bascially relaxed and ate. We hired a scooter for the week we were there in October 2005 for 200 baht a day. We biked all the way around the island to lookouts etc. You can elephant trek, cave, walk to waterfall. We did the 5 island snorkel trip to Ngai,mok etc for a day. It was surprisinly cheap to do. We ate at some great local restaurants for amazingly low prices. Had the best panany curry I have ever tasted for 50baht. Fresh fish etc readily available. The main township is only tiny so do not expect too much. We flew into Krabi and caught a join van from airport to resort for 250 baht each and inculed the two car ferry trips. This was organised through the hotel. It was much cheaper than a taxi at 2000 baht but was about 1 hour of waiting at airport which was what we were told to expect. If you are staying there then I can recomend Lanta Casauarina as a nice small but not flash resort. It cost 2000baht a night for two of us and included a very average but edible breakfast. For a nicer more expensiver resort the Layana on the same strech of beach long beach looked very nice and the Pimalai down south was stunning. It is not problem getting around if you are down south as the road is now paved fully to the Pimalai. We went there twice for lunch and loved it. Resort was a bit out of our price range. Be careful with you accomodation if you are a beach lover because some of the resorts were on very average rocky looking beaches. Hope this helps happy to answer more questions.

Koh Lanta beats Koh Samet hands down on everything. However, I hear that Koh Chang is very nice but I haven't been there. So maybe consider Chang as an alternative.

texas slim in what way is Samet better than Lanta. Keen to hear what Samet is like in comparison to Lanta. or any other suggestions for island visits similar to Lanta. Thanks

Hello - we've been to Ko Samet and Ko Chang and Ko Lanta - I would number in order 1) Ko Lanta 2) Ko Chang 3) Ko Samet

We would go to Ko Chang if it was out of season for Ko Lanta but the downside is it is in a malarial zone.

I don't like Samet, I don't like the ripp off entrance fees for farang (last time I think it was 20Bt for Thais & 200Bt for farang) I found the island terrible to try and get around, I found it expensive compared to many other islands, I also found lots of crap in the water. I could go on and on but won't bother. Given a choice I'd far prefer to head for Lanta or PP or Koh Phangan or Tao.

I'd second what Texas says - this summer we are going to ko pha ngan and ko tao. Ko Lanta is out as it is out of season and Ko Chang is out as our toddler cannot take anti-malarials. Ko Samet is not as pretty as the others and the beaches were dirty when we went.

Maisymoo-Thanks for the info on Lanta. We're thinking of staying at the Narima resort which is south of Long Beach I think. I think the Casuarina is out of our budget for when we want to go (April).
Four years ago we went to Ko Chang in August. We stayed in a very basic concrete block bungalow on the beach for about $20 a night. We did nothing but relax but it was very nice. I know that Ko Chang was considered malarial, but I wonder if that info is really up to date now? Even then, we made the choice not to take the drugs. One thing that was an issue there was the rip tides. As soon as we arrived we were told not to go too far out in the water as people had recently drowned due to the strong currents.

My Wife and I stayed on Koh Chang for 10 days in December. We had absolutely no problems with mosquitoes, and we did two elephant trekking trips.

We absolutely loved Koh Chang.

We took advice at a Travel Clinic recently and the official advice was still that it was a malarial area. I think the risk is due to the fact it is near the border. So however remote a risk, we just didn't want to take any risk with a 2 year old. I've had malaria and whilst it can be cured fairly quickly with the right drugs, it knocks you out for months afterwards and the treatment drugs are very strong.

As I recall, the CDC warning concerned the northern border areas. Remember, untreated pools of standing water are breeding grounds for Mosquitos. I wonder if this would be a problem in the warmer, dryer Andaman Sea area.

In any case, the official CDC stance (http://www.cdc.gov/travel/regionalmalaria/seasia.htm) does suggest precautions.

This is an interesting comparison of the side-effects of the recommended antimalarials (http://www.travmed.com/trip_prep/malaria.htm).

If you have 2/3 weeks for a response, you can write the CDC directly. And get a specific recommendation for the particular region you're interested in visiting.

Just checked the CDC website - it is the proximity to the Cambodian border that is the problem with Ko Chang. Cambodia doesn't border with the northern areas of Thailand but the East.

I stand corrected. Suggest you write the CDC. Make sure you tell them exactly what you have in mind a want specific information. This is important.

Otherwise, since it is a US government agency, you'll get their form letter suggesting you talk to your local travel clinic. What we is the States refer to as "close enough for government work".

Off topic I know.

Was Ko Lanta badly hit in the Tsunami?

I stayed there (Long Beach) for a couple of months a few years ago, and can't help but wonder how the island was affected.

I sent a few e-mails to a friend on the island in the months that followed the Tsunami but never got a reply.

Have only been to Koh Samet about two years ago. Don't like it at all - bad road, terrible mosquitoes, not very kind people... even though we stayed at a high priced resort. We rented a motobike from a guy next to the resort and parked it in the hotel in late afternoon. When we wanted to get it to go nearby for dinner, it was gone! With much efforts, we found that the guy who rented it to us took it to get back to his home, thinking that we wouldn't use it anyhow at night (there was nothing to see at night). The hotel didn't apologise for having the bike "stolen" - what a lousy security policy!

On the next day, when the weather changed to quite bad, we decided to shorten our trip and went back to BKK, forfeiting 1-night charge. We thought we'd better go shopping rather than kept in the bungalow and got stung by mosquitoes all day long.

That was my only memory about Koh Samet. Really not worth the long travelling to get there.