Checked out Samet last week for an arriving mate. No fees except the ferry ticket.

When I took him there a few days later...20 βaht each to get off the wharf, then 200 β each national park fee just walking to the beach. (40 β for wife.)

Must be the start of the high season. We wouldn't have gone if I'd known. Lovely sand, but ruined by noisy, smelly boats, and ditto Chinese. Stay away. It's a ripoff!

 

 

 

 

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The question should be : Why didn't you have to pay the first time ? 

 

From https://kohsamed.net/islandinfo.html :

Quote

PARK ENTRANCE FEE
Koh Samed being a national park, all visitors must pay a "ONCE ONLY" park entrance fee on arrival of 220 Baht per adult
Thai National adults pay 60 Baht per person. Children under 3 years are free - children between 3 - 14 Thai pay 40 Baht - others pay 100 Baht
Adults over 60 years are free.

 

The question should be : Why didn't you have to pay the first time ? 
 
From https://kohsamed.net/islandinfo.html :

PARK ENTRANCE FEE
Koh Samed being a national park, all visitors must pay a "ONCE ONLY" park entrance fee on arrival of 220 Baht per adult
Thai National adults pay 60 Baht per person. Children under 3 years are free - children between 3 - 14 Thai pay 40 Baht - others pay 100 Baht
Adults over 60 years are free.

 
Wrong. 200 β for us and 40 β for Thais. Ticket lasts for 5 days. I assume the week before wasn't high season, but still v. busy on the beach.!

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6 minutes ago, crouchpeter said:

 Wrong. 200 β for us and 40 β for Thais.

Uh? Read your first post. You said you paid 20+200...

I'm only trying to be helpful, you pedantic bore. Take the advice or not! I couldn't care less. Actually, get a life!

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16 minutes ago, Pattaya46 said:

Adults over 60 years are free.

I wonder is that all adults or only Thais?

 

I might actually go if there is no fee (I would never go to any venue or park out of principle if I was expected to pay any sort of racist extra fee).

No. I'm 74 and tried to use my Thai licence. No luck!


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19 minutes ago, crouchpeter said:

No. I'm 74 and tried to use my Thai licence. No luck!

I thought as much.

 

Dual-pricing in National Parks is a national disgrace.

5 hours ago, KittenKong said:

I thought as much.

 

Dual-pricing in National Parks is a national disgrace.

Worse then dual pricing, I think, if we over-60 foreigners have to pay for something which our Thai counterparts get for free!

Went there a few times back in the 80's. If I remember correctly it was 150 β for foreigners and 20 β for locals back then.  The first time I paid the fee and I must say the other Thai's in the back of the pick-up were quite embarrassed about it. How times have changed. After that my wife would get the driver to drop us off a couple of hundred metres back from the entrance and we would walk around the back of the village. Not sure about the lay of the land there these days.

On 11/19/2018 at 11:03 AM, KittenKong said:

I thought as much.

 

Dual-pricing in National Parks is a national disgrace.

I disagree. Dual pricing for any government owned venue is ok with me as I don't pay Thai income tax. What tears me up is private companies using dual pricing policies. There is absolutely no excuse for that.

7 minutes ago, toolpush said:

I disagree. Dual pricing for any government owned venue is ok with me as I don't pay Thai income tax. What tears me up is private companies using dual pricing policies. There is absolutely no excuse for that.

I do pay tax (and have done so for 15 years), have Permanent Resident status - both of which make no bloody difference

27 minutes ago, toolpush said:

I disagree. Dual pricing for any government owned venue is ok with me as I don't pay Thai income tax.

I do pay tax here to the full extent of what the law requires. And I contribute far more to the Thai economy than the average Thai does.

On 11/19/2018 at 9:10 AM, crouchpeter said:

Checked out Samet last week for an arriving mate. No fees except the ferry ticket.

When I took him there a few days later...20 βaht each to get off the wharf, then 200 β each national park fee just walking to the beach. (40 β for wife.)

Must be the start of the high season. We wouldn't have gone if I'd known. Lovely sand, but ruined by noisy, smelly boats, and ditto Chinese. Stay away. It's a ripoff!

There has always been an entry fee to KoSamet certainly for the last 35 years, and it's always been a 2 tier charge, it's well signposted on the road to the beaches.

 

you should be crowing about how you escaped paying it the first time, rather than whining about a nonexistent ripoff.

 

now if you had been moaning about the state of the beaches and resorts I would agree.

The 200 Baht fee wouldn't be so bad if they used it for keeping the place clean. Technically it's a National Park fee, but like most of these places it's more like a Tourist Park fee, with little to none of the proceeds being used to protect the natural environment.

1 hour ago, KittenKong said:

I do pay tax here to the full extent of what the law requires. And I contribute far more to the Thai economy than the average Thai does.

X 65,000,000 Thais?  Sounds like you have the 5 Euros to get in anyways,  those pesky principles again! 

1 hour ago, dinga said:

I do pay tax (and have done so for 15 years), have Permanent Resident status - both of which make no bloody difference

Oh man here we go again boofhead ( I mean really boofhead?? You Aussies need some upgrade in the English dept) Zzzzzz. 

3 minutes ago, alex8912 said:

X 65,000,000 Thais?  Sounds like you have the 5 Euros to get in anyways,  those pesky principles again! 

For goodness sake, the boofhead spectre re-appears... with absolutely nothing of worth to add to the discussion.  

2 minutes ago, dinga said:

For goodness sake, the boofhead spectre re-appears... with absolutely nothing of worth to add to the discussion.  

lol and you used the term boofhead again. What exactly are you adding that 5 Euros or 200 baht will again ruin a great weekend for you. Just stay home because you would not go to Ko Samui if it was free. 

2 hours ago, toolpush said:

I disagree. Dual pricing for any government owned venue is ok with me as I don't pay Thai income tax. What tears me up is private companies using dual pricing policies. There is absolutely no excuse for that.

This old tired debate... again. I am from US and if you are in-state, you pay a lot more tuition for a Univ than if you are an out of state resident... there are similar fees on county golf courses for out of county residents. 

 

I also never mind paying admission fees for national parks and find them very reasonable. 220 baht is not a lot of money...

 

But that's just me - "What me worry?" 

I am a Thai tax paying expat with a work permit and presenting a copy of this to park officials I can and do enter National Parks paying just the national entrance rate.   I think the key here is Thai income tax paying or not and believe the government have the right to surcharge overseas visitors at a higher fee.    National Trust in UK  who could say the equivalent of national park guardians effectively do the same charging visitors at high season 200-600 Baht entrance fees - whilst entrance is free to annual paying card-carrying members of NT.

 

In the specific case of Koh Samet, the revenue earned from visitors should, of course, be spent on clearing the island of its backlog of rubbish and then enforcing visitors in the future to not litter & pollute- with carrying what you bring off the island and take back home policies.

I am on Koh Samed now and the beaches are clean. There is a few ladies that go along the beach cleaning up litter and mostly there is not much. As well the island is becoming plastic free and it really shows. The national park came under new management last year and the corruption is almost zero now and it is being well run now.

Me and my buds and our girls were there the weekend of the Tsunami in 2004!  We had changed our reservations purely by chance and luck from Phuket to Ko Samet.  We had a package and stayed at some bungalos I think called Mallibu.  Quiet beach, really no roads.  7 or 8 hotels on this little cove.  Loved it.  Booked a half day snorkel tour around the island, stopping at three different "dive" spots.  I don't recall how the fees if any were handled.   I only recall paying one price.

23 minutes ago, gk10002000 said:

Me and my buds and our girls were there the weekend of the Tsunami in 2004!  We had changed our reservations purely by chance and luck from Phuket to Ko Samet.  We had a package and stayed at some bungalos I think called Mallibu.  Quiet beach, really no roads.  7 or 8 hotels on this little cove.  Loved it.  Booked a half day snorkel tour around the island, stopping at three different "dive" spots.  I don't recall how the fees if any were handled.   I only recall paying one price.

IIRC the National Marine Park fee in 2004 (for foreigners) was 40 baht (20 baht for Thais).

Malibu resort is on Ao Wong Deuan, which used to be my favourite place on Samet. Unfortunately, you would not recognise it now as it is over developed and nowhere near as laid back/friendly as it was.

Luckily, there are still a few quiet and under-developed beaches on Samet, but only if you are prepared to pay the price.

21 hours ago, peter267 said:

National Trust in UK  who could say the equivalent of national park guardians effectively do the same charging visitors at high season 200-600 Baht entrance fees - whilst entrance is free to annual paying card-carrying members of NT.

No, this is not the same thing at all.

 

Any resident can buy an annual ticket to those venues in the UK or USA or indeed most other countries, regardless of their nationality. I bought a year park pass myself when I was in the USA even though I was only there for a month, and I paid the same price that any US citizen would have paid and I made the same savings on park entrance fees they would. And had I entered a park without that annual pass I would have been charged exactly the same price than an American would have been charged for the day.

But in Thailand all Thais get the lower price and all foreigners pay more, regardless of residency or length of stay or how much money they actually have.

2 families stayed there for a week last year and just ignored the requests for payment. Said we paid the day before . I would have paid it as my mate would have but the Thai ldies thought it better spent on food,. Not sure that amount of baht is a deal breaker unless you are a complete drongo. (look that up aussie basher)

If you want to pay the Thai price apply for Thai citizendhip. I was awarded Thai citizenship over a year ago. I've still not been to Samet to enjoy the lower price though ????

Is this a grizzle about the entry fees which are insignificant 

or about the condition of the island once there ?

Stop being a misery gutz

On 11/21/2018 at 1:45 PM, chickenslegs said:

IIRC the National Marine Park fee in 2004 (for foreigners) was 40 baht (20 baht for Thais).

Malibu resort is on Ao Wong Deuan, which used to be my favourite place on Samet. Unfortunately, you would not recognise it now as it is over developed and nowhere near as laid back/friendly as it was.

Luckily, there are still a few quiet and under-developed beaches on Samet, but only if you are prepared to pay the price.

Yes! That was the place.  Oh the dinners at night with the barbecues set out by 4 or 5 of the hotels one could choose from.  It was December 2004 the time of the tsunami and we were there.  Beautifully perfect weather.  What a great second trip to the LOS.