I am thinking of spending a few nights at Samui and then a few nights at Phangan. Please recommend hotels that are good but ideally not over $100. Many thanks.

we liked the peace resort very much at samui along bophut beach....

Thanks for your quick reply. What kind of place is the peace resort? I think we would only stay in Samui for one night and spend a few nights in Phangan, as we would rather be in a less touristy place. I would love to hear your opinion. I noticed from your many posts that you are a well seasoned Thailand traveler!

We also liked the peace resort, on Samui there is an amazing choice, from small 4 rooms places, small boutique places, right up to large resorts.

Price depends what time of year, July thru Sep is more expensive season and then again around Christmas and New year, there is so much chopice on Samui, you can be fairly specific but time of year of great importance as somewhere that might be say USD 180 in August could be USD 80 in October !


tell us more the sort of place and whether you want quiet or busy

On Koh Phangan there is quite a olot of budget accommodation so within your budget you can stay at the 'best' which is the Panviman


Panviman on Koh Phangan:
http://www.r24.org/huahin.20m.com/ko...iman/pictures/

Another little gem is the where the top accommodation beach house is max about USD 75 though other rooms cheaper:
http://www.r24.org/huahin.20m.com/ko...buri/pictures/


This gives you recent Koh Phangan reviews of places to stay, up to date and honest:

http://www.res24.com/review/posts.ht...huahin.20m.com

Just a travel tip:

You can fly direct from Bangkok to Samui, then to Island hop Lomprayah as Jet Catamarans that do the route Koh Samui-Koh Phangan-Koh Tau(diving!)-Chumphon, they operate a Catamaran/bus thru service back from those Islands to Bangkok, costs about USD 25 one way so if youu wanted after Koh Phangan you can hop to Koh Tao and then hop to Chumphon, even stay a night or 2 at the Chumphon Cabana (USD 25-40)and then back to Bangkok.

Thank you all once again! Are you guys familair with Tamarind Retreat on Samui? It is not cheap and has a 3 night minimum stay but sounds like paradise! I was wondering if it is worht it. It sounds like most of you liked the Peace Resort and it definitely is more reasonable that the Tamarind Retreat. This is our first time on a trip like this and we would rather pay a little more to have a true luxury experience.
James - In terms of Samui vs. Phangan, I was thinking of potentially splitting my time between both becuase they sound so different. Samui would be our croweded, touristy place and Phangan would be our isolated relaxing place. What do you think? Am I spreading myself too thin?
Also, I am not familair with some of the places you mentioned in your last post. Can you please eloberate? Thanks.
Another question - do you guys this we should rearrange some of our plans and go to Siam Reep? I know I sound like I might be all over the place, I just want to maximize our trip experience!

You are right, Koh Samui and Koh Phangan are totally different, Samui is a lively busy island catering to mass tourism, Koh Phangan gets busy for the famous full moon parties but for most of the time very quiet.
You need to get a map, check local library for an Atlas, you will see that Samui, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao and other small islands all in the same area, just heading north west/west of that group on the mainland you have Chumphon.
All down that coat runs a dual highway plus a rail line, so beach and island hoping is easy.
Koh Tao is popular for all forms of diving between May and October, this is really for those really wanting to do scuba and snorkeling.
North from Chumphon you have the bang Saphan area whcih is very quiet, local villages, beaches, a couple of nice 3 star resorts, also the island of Koh Talu which is popular for snorkeling and just lazing around.