Since i get asked regularly about cheap accommodations etc on koh samui i thought i would share some general tips to help plan your trip and reduce your costs where possible.
Travel to Samui-
Flying is the fastest but by far most expensive way to travel to Samui. Bangkok Air (Owners of the Koh Samui Airport) and Thai Air make regularly scheduled flights to the island. Budget Tip Ask Bangkok Air for the first or last flight of the day, typically half the price of the normal fare, a savings of around 2,000 baht!
Alternatively, take Air Asia or another air carrier to Surat Thani where you will have to arrange for transport by taxi and ferry to Koh Samui. You will save around 1,000-1,500 baht by taking this route however you will also have more connections to make, the bonus here is the ferry ride to Koh Samui from the mainland. Beautiful scenery, bar/restaurant available on the ferry as well as foot massage for around 300 baht.
Serious budget minded travellers will be taking the overnight VIP bus or train from Bangkok to Surat Thani. At a savings of nearly 4,000 baht (compared to full fare Bangkok Air flight to Koh Samui), you will end up with thousands more baht to spend on your vacation going this route. Of course you won't have as much time to spend once you arrive on Samui thanks to the 12 hour bus ride and 90 minute ferry ride but you will have a few thousand more baht in your pocket to keep you company.
Travelling around Koh Samui
You will have several travel options once you arrive on the island. Are you staying in a beach resort or in an ocean view villa? Regardless of where you stay and how much you spend, you will still need to be able to make your way around the island. Fortunately, it only takes one hour on a motorbike to travel the entire Ring Road around the island bringing you right back to your departure point.
Are you comfortable riding a small motor bike (scooter, mini bike, moped etc)? If so, this will be your least expensive option and allow you to be very mobile during your stay as the entire island seems to operate from a motorbike. Food comes to you by way of motorbike, you can take a motorbike taxi etc. Caution Motorbikes can be very dangerous wherever you choose to ride them and Koh Samui is no different. Please be aware of your surroundings at all times, traffic will come at you from every direction here so be prepared, drive slowly and never drive your motorbike when you have been drinking alcohol. Budget Tip If you will be staying on Koh Samui for one week or more, ask around for a discounted motorbike rental. While most motorbikes cost between 150-200 baht per day, if you are staying for an extended period of time you may reduce your cost to 100-125 baht per day.
Public transportation-Songthaews (pick up trucks modified to carry passengers in the back), motor bike taxis and taxi cabs are available to take you anywhere and everywhere. As the purpose of this post is to advise budget travellers, I will eliminate official taxi cabs from the list leaving motorbike taxis and songthaews.
Songthaews generally drive around the island clock-wise or counter-clockwise throughout the day. Operating like a western bus, you either arrange with the driver for a drop off location in advance or simply pull the cord near your seat indicating your desire to disembark. As you will be sharing the ride with anywhere from 0-10 other passengers, your costs on a songthaew ride will be minimal, typically ranging from 50 baht - 150 baht per person.
Motorbike taxis are easily identified by their vest indicating they have a license to operate. These motor bike taxi drivers are available to take you to any corner of the island you'd like to go to, unlike the songthaews which generally stick to a pre-determined route. Slightly more expensive than a songthaew, they are much more flexible and will generally get you to your destination much quicker than a songthaew.
To Book or Not To Book, that is the question
So, you've arranged for the first or last flight of the day (or taken the overnight bus to Surat Thani) and decided you'd like to hire a motorbike for yourself once you get here.
Where are you going to stay on a budget?
Koh Samui is rapidly becoming famous for the growing number of 5 and 6 star hotels and resorts on the beaches, does that mean i can't stay there inexpensively? No!
Budget Tip There are still several areas where you can find budget rooms on the beach on Koh Samui. Try the northern stretch of Lamai beach, the far southern part of Lamai beach and Maenam beach for starters, you can find rooms (seasonal) for as little as 150 baht per night, directly on the beach.
One of the most important things you can do to facilitate your stay is to book a room for one night prior to your arrival in order to have a place to drop off your bags, get cleaned up, eat and get your bearings straight before attempting to get on a motorbike for the first time and find a room of your own. While you may pay a slightly higher cost for the room booked in advance, you should make up for it several times over in the sense that the comfort of knowing where you need to go once you get here can save you taxi fares etc as you go from one area to the next in search of a budget room.
Eating on Koh Samui
Everyone has heard about Thai food. Not everyone has experienced real Thai food, meaning straight from a street vendor that sells food to Thai people. Budget Tip Thai restaurants in hotels and on the beaches will serve you the exact same Thai food that you can get from a street vendor, at more than twice the price. Most of us are familiar with Pad Thai (fried noodles with chicken or shrimp) and it should be a budget travellers go to dish for cost and substance. At around 35 baht for a large plate of pad thai you can save some money for souvenirs simply by eating where the Thais eat. One thing to keep in mind, Thais, like many other Asians, eat almost any part of a chicken pig or buffalo so if you find the thought of a chicken foot in your soup to be less than savory, or knowing that Thais call any meat product "Beef", you will help yourself out quite a bit by learning to say "Mai Ow, Khrap" (literally means I don't want that, thanks) while pointing to the jar of chickens feet.
Be mindful of your budget. While that watermellon shake on the beach sounds tempting and refreshing and a great deal at only 35 baht, it is very easy to have two or three of them if you are taking some sun and before you know it, your daily food budget is gone. If you have successfully managed to stick to your budget during your stay you may consider rewarding yourself with a custom made suit that Koh Samui is famous for and then you can take home a wearable reminder of your budget trip to Koh Samui.
