150 USD and 3 days hide-away in Thailand

Last week I became an amateur tour guide for a Vietnamese family to Thailand. It was amazing to try a new position in some days!

The family, my "client", has been to Thailand for a few times and at this time, they wanted to go to a beach or island within 2 or 3 days, but not Phuket, not Pattaya! It was challenged to me and their son (the one who planed this trip) because it's hard to find a suitable place for 2-3 days. Though Thailand is famous with their beaches and islands, it's better if you can spend more times or you have to travel by plane (and it will be more expensive).

However, their son chose Koh Samet (Koh Samed) which is 200 km far away from Bangkok and they could get in by bus.

Now let me tell you how to to travel from Bangkok to Koh Samet, with the budget at 150 USD for each person. If you want a hideaway place and lazily enjoy the nature, you can think of Koh Samet.



Ao Phai beach in Koh Samet

Ingredients:
- 2 persons
- 300 USD for 2 persons
- 3 free days
- Health (must not have car-sick or something like that)
- The luggage with swim suites.

(Just scale it up if you go in larger group)

Preparation:
- Hotel booking: You should book the hotel before the trip because there are not many hotels here and if you don't want to sleep at the beach for the whole night, you should look for hotels and book it. Asiawebdirect.com or Wotif.com for international travelers and iVIVU.com for Vietnamese (they usually have the best rates for accomodation in Thailand). I have a tip here for booking hotel: If you're afraid of unreal images of hotels in booking sites, you can check with Tripadvisor, they usually have real images from travelers.

Hotels in Koh Samet are a little bit more expensive than other places in Thailand. An average room is around 1,200 - 1,500B, but we recommend you to spend more and stay in a resort at 2,000 - 2,500B/a double room.

- Bus and boat tickets: No need to pre-book.

Go!
Day 1:
- Take a taxi or BTS to Ekkamai Bus Terminal (in Bangkok) which is near by the BTS Ekkamai. They have the bus to Banphe (Rayong province) every hour from 7 AM to 6.30 PM, the ticket fare is around 306B for 2 ways. Another way is taking a minibus in Victory monument, it may be faster but you can't take the big luggages with you.

- The bus takes about 3.5 hours and it will arrive at a pier. You have to buy a ticket boat here, show them your hotel address to make sure that the boat will arrive at your beach. They may offer you the package with boat ticket (2 ways), ticket to the island (every foreigners to island must pay fee) and free one-way taxi to the hotel, accept it at about 200B for each person.



Nuanthip pier with the boats to Koh Samet

- The boat will take about 30-40 minutes. If you want to go faster, you can hire a private speed boat at 2,000B.

- Arrive the island and take a taxi to your hotel.

Day 2: Stay in island and enjoy it.
- Food in island: Nothing's different with other places in Thailand, an average meal can be around 200-250B/a person.
- Go around: They have taxi but charge very high (200B for a drive) or motorbike for rent at 200-300B/a day.



Samet Pavillion Resort, valued for money

Day 3: Go back with the same way when you get in. Remember that the last bus from Banphe to Bangkok is at 6.30 PM

With a minimal budget (2,000-2,500B, or 150-200 USD), now you can have 3 days relaxing in a hide-away island. It's just so easy, hope you enjoy it!