Question about beaches on Koh Chang
 

Hi
My wife and I are thinking about going to Thailand next year and since we have been to Phuket, Samui, Krabi, Hua Hin etc we would like to try something new and we have been looking at Koh Chang. But when we started reading about this island we found different opinions about the beaches. What are the beaches of Koh Chang like? What is the sand quality like? Is is great for taking a swim? Or is it to shallow? Would love to hear from someone that has been there and that have personal experience.

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

Hi Gard

We stayed at The Amari Emerald Cove a couple of years ago the beaches are OK but are not to the standard of Phuket or Koh Samui but are better than Hua Hin. I seem to recall that the beach in fron of the hotel was not great for swimming as it was quite shallow. The sand quality was ok but a bit stony and yellow rather than white sand.

The Amari is supposedly 5* is more like a 4* really. There are some other nice boutique hotels which along the main drag but we found these a little close together. We stayed at one (I think the Barali) for one night and then moved on because of noise from other rooms.
The island is itself relatively compact but is developing fast - I read some where that E&O hotels were building a couple of luxury hotels their one of which is on a small island off of KC.

we drove there from Bangkok and so had the car to drive around the island but there was not a great deal to see or do. Unfortunately we were there at the wrong time for diving as this is supposed to be good. I have emailed a couple of photos of teh Amari & beach to you.

My wife and I stayed at the Amari Emerald Cove on Koh Chang December 2005.

While we absolutely loved the hotel, the beach left a little to be desired. Only a small strip of sand before the water and it was quite rocky.

There is a huge pool at the hotel which more than compensated for the lack of beach.

I would definitely recommend Koh Chang, but go soon before it gets too developed.

You can read about our trip by doing a search on my name and calling up Thailand Diary.

My wife and I LOVE koh chang! We stayed there on our honeymoon in 2004. We thought the beach was very nice. We stayed @ Barali and loved it also. In front of our bungalow the beach was very nice! When the tide was in there was a nice beach area there and good swimming not too far out. When the tide went out, the water was actually maybe about a minute walk from where it was when it was in. The best part we thought about the beach was that we could stand right @ the waters edge and not see any people in either direction. We are also divers and have dove all over, KC has nice diving but not world class when we were there.

i would second either the barali, where i stayed (food is not good there however) or the much more upscale amari which is fantastic and has great food....

gard, i think you guys would love it there...it is very laid back...5 days would be a good amount of time i think

bkk air has the only flights there...airport is at trat and then you take a van and a ferry to the island...good connections...hotels will arrange for you...