Koh Tao in Thailand: A Travellers Area Guide

We had the pleasure of spending 10 nights on Koh Tao and honestly, we still didn’t want to leave! We originally planned to stay for 4 nights, but we were just so in awe of the island that we decided to stay longer. Koh Tao is arguably most known for its other notorious name, Murder Island. And yes, we have heard all about the tourists who were killed or ‘supposedly’ committed suicide, but honestly this name did not reflect what we experienced. The people on Koh Tao were the friendliest of all locations we had visited. We felt very safe walking around and just had the best time. And although we don’t want to play down the experience that others and their families have clearly had with this island, please don’t let that name scare you off.

First impressions

We could immediately see the beauty of the island as we were mooring up, however our first impressions of the island were tainted slightly by our accommodation location. We jumped off at the pier and immediately got a tuk tuk to our rather remote sea view bungalow where we were staying, meaning we missed the main part of the island. It took us around 15 minutes to walk down steep roads with no pathways to get to the beach. We immediately knew we were going to have to get a tuk tuk up every time we wanted to go back because it was just that steep and dark.

However, once we got amongst the hustle and bustle (I mean this in the most relaxed island vibes kind of way) we could see the amazingness of Koh Tao. For us, it was the best mix of jungle, beach and built up vibes. It was of course touristy, however it seemed to be less party party than the other islands, however there were still some really fun places to go out when you wanted to.

One other thing we observed the moment we arrived on Koh Tao pier was the extent of diving boats, shops, and centres on the island. Koh Tao is the dive capital of Thailand, which was perfect for us as we were wanting to do our open water diving course here and boy are we glad we did! More on that below!

Where to stay

Learn from our mistakes. If you want to be in walking distance of the main town, which also includes where about 90% of the restaurants, bars and shops were, then you want to be situated on or near Sairee Beach. As mentioned above we booked a Seaview bungalow slightly north of the beach and it did cut us off quite a bit. Tuk Tuks on the island cost 150 baht per journey per person, so if you need to constantly get these it can increase your spend quite a bit. However, there were plenty of bike hire shops dotted around where you can pick up a moped for around 200 baht a day and then of course you can make as many journeys as you like.

We moved accommodation halfway through our stay at Koh Tao to a place called Living Chilled which we really liked and was probably one of the best, if not the best accommodation we have stayed at since being in South Thailand. However, we slightly stretched our budget for this one so we could be close to our dive school, so we ended up spending£20 a night instead of our usual £15.

What to do

Scuba Diving

Well, we definitely have to start with Scuba Diving. Whether you are looking to complete a course, like your open water padi, or whether you just want to do a fun dive, Koh Tao has you covered. Not only is the water warm and the conditions clear most of the year, there is also an abundance of marine life there to see.

There are more than 70 dive centres on Koh Tao to choose from which does make it quite overwhelming to pick. We looked up some around where we were staying and had actually walked past one of two before we booked to get a feel of what we wanted. After narrowing it down by reviews and also going into speak to a few centres, we decided to go with Roctupus Diving. Although there were others on the island that were a bit cheaper, after speaking to them we knew they had a very good understanding of not only the course but the marine life in the area too. We are so glad we made the decision to do our open water padi with Roctupus, as our instructors made the course so much fun and everything took place seamlessly! We highly recommend going with Roctopus Diving if you are on Koh Tao!

Mini Golf

Yes, that’s right you can beat your partner or mates at mini golf at Koh Tao leisure centre at their 18 hole course. The course itself was actually better than we expected and is the perfect spot if you are looking for some evening entertainment. I say evening because we would melt if we played it in the sun. Each to their own though!

Nang Yaun Island

Nang Yaun Island is situated just off the coast of Koh Tao. We had heard a lot about it and decided to head over on our last day at Koh Tao. You can catch taxi boat for 300 baht return per person. We also saw people Kayak over to the island, but to fully enjoy it, you would need to hire the kayak for the whole day, which we are unsure of what would have costed.

To get onto the island there is an admission fee of 250 baht each, which we were unaware of before heading over. The island also doesn’t allow any plastic bottles, so if you bought any water over in them with you, you will have to leave it all at the end of the pier. This means you do have another expense of buying glass water bottles from the beach bar once you are there. Smoking, drones and of course littering are all also not allowed on the island.

All these expenses and rules might seem a bit much, however the island was hit by a cyclone a while back that battered the island for 14 hours and destroyed almost all of its coral and marine life. They have managed to restore the island and some of the coral now, however more work still needs to be done. We assume that some of the admission fee goes towards doing that and this is obviously why they must be so careful about plastic etc.

On Nang Yaun Island there is an amazing view point, which is just a short hike up some very steep steps. Compared to the hikes we did on Railay, this was nothing! The beach on Nang Yaun was also very quiet when we visited, and the water was so clear. We saw a lot of divers learning their skills here and saw quite a few different fish whilst we were snorkelling.

All in all, I would say it was worth what we paid. If you are going to visit, try and get there early in the day so you can get your money’s worth and stay a good few hours. 

View Points

Koh Tao has a few different viewpoints, all with completely stunning views. Now we won’t lie to you here, you will need a moped to get to almost all of them. We hired a moped for the first time in our life and decided to head for Mango Bay viewpoint. This was a mistake. The road to mango bay is more like a bridal way or hiking path in the UK so there was no way we were going to be able to ride a bike on it. We decided to cut that trip short and head to Small Viewpoint instead which is at the start of the rocky road. This gave us incredible views anyway and meant we weren’t ending the day all scratched up!

Other viewpoints that are good to visit are…

• Mango Bay Viewpoint (Maybe take a taxi boat or tuk tuk, see above)
• Love Koh Tao Viewpoint
• John-Suwan Viewpoint
• Moondance Magic View

Beaches

Sairee Beach

There are some absolutely beautiful beaches on Koh Tao, and they are spread around all over the island. The most well-known of course is Sairee beach. Although stunning, in June it seems to be spoilt a bit by the tides. Whilst we were in Koh Tao the tide seemed to be out for most of the day at Sairee beach, which meant there was no real opportunity to swim due to the shallow coral beds. That combined with there not being many shady parts on the beach, we didn’t find it plausible to hang out here for very long.

Tanote Beach

However, it is a completely different story on the other sides of the island. Tanote Bay is very easily accessible by moped or tuk tuk if you aren’t willing to hire a bike. Here the beach is very stunning with huge rocks seemingly placed around the beach, white sands (although mainly coral fragments so quite sharp in places) and places to take a dip.

Tanote beach is also a fantastic place to go Snorkelling with coral lined waters and a ‘Big Rock’ (its actual name) set just off the shore, which attracts some amazing marine life. Whilst snorkelling here we saw a baby shark, a turtle and loads of other cool fish.

Mango Bay

As mentioned above we didn’t get the opportunity to get to Mango Bay, due to our moped skills, however their other ways to get there if you are like us, not very stable on a bike. You can either take a tuk tuk or catch a taxi boat around to it. We heard great things about the beach and wish we had got a chance to get there. Next time maybe!

Shark Bay

Another amazing beach that we didn’t get to visit is Shark Bay. We have heard that the beach here is stunning. Now I know what you are thinking, surely you wouldn’t want to swim at shark bay right? Well, the sharks that are seen there are Blacktip Reef Sharks and although they are dangerous and can bite, they are not actually seen as a threat to humans and more often than not leave us two legged folk alone.

Overview of the island

If you are looking for a more chilled island that still has some nightlife, but also some great activities to get involved with and some great views to marvel at, Koh Tao is for you. Koh Tao was our favourite island in the South and we would go back in a heartbeat.