not tourist islands in Thailand
 

We are from Italy and we are going to leave to Thailand for three weeks.
We would like to spend 10 days in the north and the rest of the vacation on the beach.
We are a little concerned about the beach or islands choice.
Our biggest important necessity is that we want to go to NOT tourist places (or as less as possible) We are thinking to go to Gulf and not to the cost of Puket or Krabi.

Could you help? We really drem simple places, beautiful quite beaches, nice local people BUT NOT too many tourists.....

Thanks

Azzurra

There are some great small islands and coastal beaches, Koh Mook in Trang Province is nice and relaxed, Charlies is a small resort place but also has air-conditioned bungalows, but this is quite remote. Koh Ngai is another option. To get to these you would fly to Trang or take the overnight train, or you can fly to Krabi and then go down from there. These have nice beaches but there is little else.
The islands in the Gulf such as Koh Chang are getting more developed but there are quieter islands.
The beaches on the Gulf Coast are not as nice as some of the islands in the south but if you want to be able to have a quiet island and coastal beaches where you can also enjoy local villages, local non tourist areas, nice coastal scenery then the area along the Sunrise Coast of the Gulf Coast around Bang Saphan, Koh Talu island might interest you. Koh Talu is a very short ( 15 minutes ) boat ride from Bang Saphan, there is accommodation, you can snorkel, there are of course some other tourists but this island is a very small island and little to do except relax, no other shopping, entertainment or places to eat away from the accommodation, but for that reason it could be nice for you ! We love this part of Thailand.
The nice thing also about that area is that you can easily visit Koh Tao for a few days also as the road and train line run along the coast. Suan Bankrut is also very relaxing coast beach place.
There are places along the coast with everything from small simple accommodation to some 4 star resorts, luxury boutique places, you can travel beach to beach in perhaps 1 hour or 1 hr 30, easy, but you can take a few steps and be in local farming villages, fishing villages.
You will find temples in the towns and villages that are open and welcoming but these are not tourist places, that is the beauty!
You can also do both these areas because of the road and train and you can get by troad from this area down to Trang area in about 6 hours by getting a car and driver from where you are staying, so you can see some nice out of the way places.
We know this coastline well and always stay in nice places, the sort of place where nightlife is a seafood barbeque on the beach with some cold beers, nice places and nice people, and of course local prices (!!)

tell us more about what sort of accommodation/budget you want. Some days along the coast and then road through to Trang and across to Koh Mook or Koh Ngai would be nice, from there you can simply boat and road to either Trang or krabi and then fly back to Bangkok.

so you should go to koh chang in ranong. check my travel thailand pictures at www.photosthailand.com

JamesA-
I would be very interested in some of your recommendations. We are also looking for a very quiet, non-touristy area to unwind after a trip that will include BKK, Siem Riep and the Golden Triangle. Key for us is a spectacular beach with good snorkeling, accomodations that are on or steps from the beach and that are spacious and super clean and great food. Don't care at all about nightlife as we would rather have that end of the world feeling for 4-5 days at the end of the trip. This would be in late June. Price is not really an issue. Looking forward to your thoughts.

Amy, based on your criteria plus the time of years, that you would be using Bangkok Airways to Siem reap, Koh Chang looks like what might suit you, and either the Amari Emerald or Panviman might suit you accommodation wise.
What sort of budget are you thinking of ?

James knows much more about the island than we do, but we really LOVED koh chang. After many travels to other parts of the world, our bungalow on koh chang is still the favorite of my wife!!!! Maybe james knows more about the good places to eat. Our best meal we have ever had in Thailand came from this little old lady who stopped us on the street and said " i cook for you, you come my house", the house was actually the back patio that came right to the sidewalk, she asked what kind of food we liked then ran down the street to buy the ingredients and cooke right in front of us!!
The best part of the island was standing on the beach and looking in both directions and not seeing another person anywhere!!!!!! Plus the whole time we were there I didnt see one other american!!
We stayed at Barali and walked right out our door to the beach. it isnt the nicest place on the island but it fit us great!!!!!

Koh Chang sounds like the ticket. We were looking at the Aleenta in Phang Nga (sp?) as some friends just returned from there and liked it very much. Would this area be a poor choice in June or July?
We prefer a smaller boutique hotel like the Aleenta although my daughter has dreams of an over the water bungalow! Our plan would be to spend to spend 3-4 nights in Siem Reap, 3-4 night at the Anantara or elsewhere in the Golden Triangle to do elephant trekking,cooking class , some walks and then 5 nights at the beach, snorkeling, boat rides, no night life needed. Thanks for any additional suggestions.