From Island to Island in the Gulf of Thailand

Koh Samui is one of the most popular travel destinations in Thailand, alongside Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, and Pattaya. The island frequently makes headlines, sometimes for water shortages, then for flooding, overtourism, waste problems, and recently, because a new cruise ship terminal is planned—something very few people truly understand: «Cruise ships bring us little,» says Nikki, a local from Bangkok working in tourism on Samui: «They hardly contribute to local value creation.»

A few months ago, Koh Samui found itself on a list of destinations to avoid in 2025, in illustrious company with Venice, Bali, Mallorca, Barcelona, and Mount Everest. Is it really that bad? I want to find out for myself, but I’m not flying there like most do. I got on a comfortable bus in Hua Hin on April 15, 2025, right after Songkran, the Buddhist New Year celebrations, and traveled the 270 km down to the provincial capital Chumphon in four hours. There, I boarded a passenger ferry from Lomprayah over an endlessly long wooden pier.

Since Samui is not the only island in the Gulf of Thailand—there are about 500 in Thailand alone; another 64 belong to Cambodia and 22 to Vietnam—I took the opportunity to do some island hopping.

Grandfather Feelings

The first stop was Koh Tao, only twenty square kilometers in size, but a coveted destination for many young travelers. As I stroll in the «Walking Street», the pedestrian zone, during the evening, I feel a grandfatherly sensation come over me: a gray-haired man among a crowd of twenty-somethings. It intensifies when I'm approached by a very young Englishman distributing flyers for a party that is supposed to go on from 10 PM until the early morning hours, featuring music styles like Electro House, Trance, or Dub-Techno, of which I have never heard before.

My hotel, the