KOH SAMUI · THAILAND
Coconut island, emerald lagoons, the long way round the Gulf.
Ang Thong, Pig Island, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao and the jungle interior. Reviews of every day trip Samui runs and the islands you can reach from its piers.
Only in Koh Samui
Three days you can only book from here.
Beach holidays exist on every Thai island. These three days don’t. The marine park, the snorkel reef and the jungle interior. Each one is specific to Samui, or only reachable from Samui’s piers. Plan the rest of the trip around them.
The emerald park
Cruise Through Ang Thong's Lagoons
Forty-two limestone islands rising out of jade water, an inland saltwater lagoon hidden inside one of them, and viewpoints you climb a short rope ladder to reach. Ang Thong is a national marine park reachable in a day only from Samui's piers. You sleep on the island the night before or you take a boat from here.
- 1 Koh Samui: Mu Ko Ang Thong Park Cruise with Kayaking Option
- 2 Samui: Angthong Marine Park Boat Tour w/ Transfer and Meals
- 3 Full Day Ang Thong Islands Luxury Small Group Tour
Shallow coral
Snorkel Pig Island & The Reefs
Koh Madsum and Koh Tan sit a half-hour south of Samui. Shallow coral gardens you can stand on at low tide, a beach where the resident pigs come down to meet the boats, and Coral Island reef snorkelling on the same loop. It's the easiest snorkel day in the Gulf.
- 1 Koh Samui: Island Hopping Adventure in Coral and Pig Island
- 2 Ko Samui: Pig Island Snorkeling and Koh Tan Speedboat Tour
- 3 Pig Island Tour by Speedboat with Snorkeling
Off the beach
Drive the Jungle Interior
Samui isn't flat. The centre is a small mountain range covered in jungle, with waterfalls, viewpoints, the 12-metre Big Buddha and the Hin Ta Hin Yai rocks scattered around it. The 4x4 day-trips loop through all of them. The vehicle does the climbing so you keep your shoes on.
- 1 Koh Samui: Mr.Ung’s 4WD Wild Jungle Safari Tour with Lunch
- 2 Koh Samui: 4×4 Off Road Island Safari Tour Including Lunch
- 3 Koh Samui Jungle Safari By JEEP With MR.UNG (Including Lunch)
The Samui day
The boat day everyone books first.
If you only run one day-trip from Samui, start here. The Gulf day-out the island is built around.
The classics
Samui’s Most Popular Day Tours
Ang Thong, Pig Island, Koh Tao, the 4x4 jungle loop. The day-trips most travellers come to Samui to do.
Day trips from Samui
From Samui you can reach three islands by lunch.
Koh Phangan for the moon parties. Koh Tao for the diving. Ang Thong for the lagoons. Three islands a ferry or speedboat away. The trio Samui is uniquely positioned to reach in a single day.
Ferry · 35 min
Koh Phangan
Full Moon Party island. Day trips cover Bottle Beach, Mae Haad sandbar, and the quiet north before the night gets loud.
See Koh Phangan trips →Speedboat · ~2 hr
Koh Tao
Thailand's diving capital, plus the three-sandbar joined island of Koh Nang Yuan. Day-trippers get snorkel + viewpoint + a beach lunch.
See Koh Tao trips →Boat · ~1.5 hr
Ang Thong
The 42-island marine park with the hidden Emerald Lake inside Koh Mae Ko. Speedboat or junk-boat, full-day from Samui only.
See Ang Thong trips →By island
Pick an island, pick a day.
Ang Thong for the emerald lagoons. Koh Phangan for the parties. Koh Tao for the diving. Pig Island for the snorkelling. Samui itself for the round-the-island day. Each one is its own boat ride out of Bophut, Nathon or Maenam.
By tour type
Or pick how you want to spend the day.
Speedboat between islands. Junk-boat to Ang Thong. Mask and fins at Pig Island. 4x4 through the jungle interior. Cable car up Lamai. Cooking class in Bophut, Muay Thai at the local stadium, or sunset off Big Buddha pier.
Sea, jungle, sky
A small island that holds all three.
Samui isn’t flat. The coast is reef and longtail piers; the centre is jungle, waterfalls and the Big Buddha; and Lamai’s zipline puts you above the canopy. Three days you can stack on top of each other without leaving the island.
Sea
On the boats
Junks to Ang Thong, speedboats to Koh Tao, longtails out of Bophut. Most of Samui's headline days happen on the water.
Boat & cruise tours →Jungle
Through the interior
The 4x4 day, the ATV trails and the elephant sanctuaries cut through the mountainous centre most beach travellers never see.
Jungle & 4x4 days →Sky
Above the canopy
Lamai's zipline + cable car rises above the southern jungle. Half-day, all the viewpoints, none of the climbing.
Zipline & cable car →Off the resort strip
The Samui interior.
Past the beach hotels, Samui has a mountainous jungle interior. Waterfalls, viewpoints, the Big Buddha, and an elephant sanctuary or two. Three picks we’d send anyone with a free morning and no rental car.
Mask and fins
When the goal is the reef.
Pig Island’s shallow corals, Coral Island’s reef shelves, the lagoons of Ang Thong. Our three favourites if you’d rather spend the day under the surface than skimming over it.
Slow Samui
For a half-day off the water.
Bophut market in the morning, a cooking class in the same afternoon. Hin Ta Hin Yai sunset, a Muay Thai night at the local stadium. Three picks for a Samui day that doesn’t involve a boat.
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