I've never been there more than a few days, but the visits were great! Who had such experience,how do you feel about it? Comparing to other places etc

Tourist ghettos! Id choose Samui cause its exotic.

12 hours ago, ViajeroLA said:

I've never been there more than a few days, but the visits were great! Who had such experience,how do you feel about it? Comparing to other places etc

Before I settled on Samui, I checked other potential places like Chiang Mai, Hua Hin, a couple of Isaan-provinces, Pattaya and Phuket; Bangkok was out of the question as retirement residence for me.

It's all depending of life-style and expectations for place to live long term – not as tourist for a few weeks – and as we all are different, what one person sees as "paradise" be the opposite for others.

What made me chose Samui – apart from Chiang Mai and Isaan is too warm in the summer and too utterly cold during winter – compared to Phuket and Pattaya is that we can live by the sea, not behind a busy road, you need to cross to get to the beach, and that there are no tall towers along the coast line. Furthermore, you can still find beach-areas that are only very little crowded, even in high season.

With the last 20 years of progress – which some old-timers think spoiled Samui as "paradise" – it has become easy to live here. Things like shopping mall and hyper markets, super markets and convenient stores all over, home marts where you can buy fridge, tv and lots of other stuff, being able to buy a car and have it service in an authorised outlet. You can get lots of stuff that you before needed to "import" yourself from Surat Thani on the mainland; and if you need anything you cannot easily get on the island, online-shopping has become both cheap, convenient and fast. Infrastructure like electricity, roads, sewer drains and Internet has also improved a lot – before we didn't have short brown outs, we had regular longer black outs; and so-called "black holes" in many roads; and regular flooding in rainy season. Also remote access to the outside beyond "paradise" is both easy and fast, and if you are off a fixed line then 5G is available. Samui is furthermore little less typical holiday-Thailand, as here is not that many ladybars spread all over.

For me – but I shall admit that I only came first time in 2001, where old-timers already told me that Samui going down-the-drain since the airport opened – Samui is still close to "paradise", but much more convenient that the real old paradise-days seemed to be; and we still got a great party-life, presumable as great or even greater than in old time...👍

20 yrs ago, didn't care for Samui. Phuket & Patts, too congested. Hua Hin, too congested and anywhere north of, air pollution for way too many months, and or, metros, too congested.

Prefer semi rural, 5-10 minute, within everything needed, along with surfside & rolling hills & lakes.

Could live anywhere South of Hua Hin, as long as there is access to a Makro. Scratch the bottom 3 provinces, as I like my bacon & ribs.

17 hours ago, ViajeroLA said:

I've never been there more than a few days, but the visits were great! Who had such experience,how do you feel about it? Comparing to other places etc

You need 2 weeks in each to get to know them well.

Did 11 years in Phuket, the business I was in I traveled most of Southern Thailand.

Was in Phuket last, 2024, too congested for me, traffic nightmare would not live there again. My best mate there, died last year because it took an hour for an ambulance to get to him. Thai drivers, or I should say all drivers in Phuket do not pull over for emergency vehicles. Ambulance with sirens going stuck in Chalong circle traffic..........☹️

I'm with Khun LA. When I come back it will be somewhere semi rural, modern markets somewhat close as I need my Quaker oats. Lots of places in Thailand without having to settle on HKT/Patters/ Samuttle. That last one a reference to my bro, RIP member Steelpulse.