Ko Samet is nice. Good covered parking for car overnight, fast cat boat, Songtaew waiting to take you to hotels. We stayed in a 3 star joint on sai Kaew beach, had 2 large beds, no pool, reg. breakfast for a 3 star joint. Right now it's 2800baht/nt.

Motorbikes cost 400 baht /day fuel included. Nice to jet over to the 7-11 and smoothie joints. Lots of restaurants on the beach. Very enjoyable 3 nt stay.

I have thought about it all some more. Even if I were to happen to arrive on Koh Samet at a time when it isn't too busy, which seems pretty unlikely anytime during October or November, I still have my doubts that it will have that idyllic, empty, non-touristic feel I am looking for. I feel like I have been in Thailand too long to be able to enjoy a place that has a heavy tourist vibe and the type of local business operators that come with it. I also had a look at that Paradee Resort on Agoda just out of curiosity. 17,000 a night in October and 26,000 a night in November. Couldn't you stay somewhere like a Four Seasons resort somewhere else in Thailand at those prices? It just seems like a tremendous amount of money for a small resort on Koh Samet.

So I am still thinking I need to stick with my original plan of going to a coastal mainland beach in a non-touristy area to find what I am lusting for. Some of the photos people have posted are really what I am after. Unfortunately, I am not really willing to drive more than 3–4 hours though. Honestly, I am not really a big fan of driving in Thailand, and the main reason I never bought a car here of my own, even though some of the electric cars now are really good value for money. In the past, I have driven all over the country, and it is kind of stressful and exhausting because you have to really be paying attention 110% at all times.

It would be great to go down to some of those places in the south on the Andaman side, like Ranong and down into Phang Nga, or even an island like Koh Lanta, but realistically I don't want to drive that far. I think it kind of limits me to somewhere in the Prachuap Khiri Khan area. Sam Roi Yot Beach in Prachuap actually looks very nice from the video thumbnail that was posted. It sounds like Rayong beaches aren't very nice though, so that is off the list, and Chumphon is tempting, but also realistically a bit further than I would want to drive.

I have been to Cha-Am a few times, also probably two decades ago, but I didn't find it much different from Hua Hin in terms of the sea water being kind of brackish. At the time Cha-Am had less going on, but at least it was a bit closer to Bangkok than Hua Hin. Saved around 30 minutes of driving by going there, if I remember correctly, and it was less busy than Hua Hin, but also pretty limited in terms of restaurants at the time. Very few foreigners going there back then, mostly locals, if I remember correctly.

In the past, friends have also talked to me about Trang, but again, just too far. I don't mind taking sleeper car trains in Thailand, but then when you reach the destination you have no transport of your own if you want to explore a coastal area. Maybe one solution is to take a train first to cover the long distance and then rent a car locally once I reach the destination. That would limit the driving. Maybe not a bad idea, but I am not sure if that would be very realistic, or if there are any international car rental companies operating in those more remote areas in the south. Something I would have to look into.

I also need to renew my Thai car driving license before I can rent a car in Thailand. It expired earlier this year, and I was planning to renew it in October or November, assuming I can get a queue. I renewed my motorcycle driving license a year or two ago, and I remember I still had to wait 30–60 days for a queue number from the DLT online booking system, after already watching the driver safety video online. At the time I couldn't even get a queue at Chatuchak DLT at all, so I ended up going over to Taling Chan to do it, which wasn't bad, but it was kind of in the middle of nowhere. I was the only foreigner there that day, which was kind of fun though.

It sounds like Sam Roi Yot Beach in Prachuap is about a 3.5-hour drive from Bangkok. That might work out just perfectly. How are accommodations and food options in that area? I also assume it doesn't really matter if it is high or low season when you go, because it isn't really on the tourist map?

Depending how far you want to go down the Gulf, as I stated, there's long stretches of sand, between the estuaries, with little development. At Ban Krut, before the Bang Saphans, that's more than a few kms, split by an estuary itself. Weekdays see few people walking the beach.

Top of Chumphon (Pathio district), you have plenty of non touristy sand to stroll on. At the 'Royal Development Project ร้านกาแฟขี้ชะมดโครงการพัฒนาส่วนพระองค์ จ.ชุมพร', and can even sample coffee made from beans shat out of a Civet's butt, if wanting.

Then there is Thung Yang Beach, has half km of nice beach ...

If in the hood, in between, you can't pass the Grand Sand Dunes without experiencing 🙄

All within 20 km of each other, with Thung Sai beach, not mentioned. We were 'sanded out'

Edited September 4Sep 4 by KhunLA

58 minutes ago, ONIB said:

Sam Roi Yot Beach in Prachuap actually looks very nice from the video thumbnail that was posted.... Chumphon is tempting, ... It sounds like Sam Roi Yot Beach in Prachuap is about a 3.5-hour drive from Bangkok. How are accommodations and food options in that area? I also assume it doesn't really matter if it is high or low season when you go, because it isn't really on the tourist map?

Cha Am is crap, and rates as one of the worse beaches in TH, IMHO Hua Hin is nice, once settled in, and avoid the weekend. Does have a nice long beach, with southern end the best.

Some food options for SRY, which are limited, as it really isn't that developed yet.

This place was decent (per wife's review) ...

... "ร้านริมหาด ซีฟู๊ด" ... put in Gmap

vid below not surfside ...

Poplular, decent food, good prices ...

The beach itself, is fine, plenty of it. This vid from north end, most of town is at the south end, As you can see, the Gulf is very tidal at times ...

Edited September 4Sep 4 by KhunLA

The "Thai Riviera" a string of beaches on the coastel road from Prachuap to Chumphon. There are some really nice spots. Biked it recently :

4 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Cha Am is crap, and rates as one of the worse beaches in TH, IMHO Hua Hin is nice, once settled in, and avoid the weekend. Does have a nice long beach, with southern end the best.

Some food options for SRY, which are limited, as it really isn't that developed yet.

This place was decent (per wife's review) ...

... "ร้านริมหาด ซีฟู๊ด" ... put in Gmap

vid below not surfside ...

Poplular, decent food, good prices ...

The beach itself, is fine, plenty of it. This vid from north end, most of town is at the south end, As you can see, the Gulf is very tidal at times ...

Thanks for the info. I guess SRY is a really long beach. From your videos, some parts look like they have large stones between the road and the sand (I assume to protect the road from the sea at high tide), while in other areas you can just walk right onto the beach from the road. It also looks like there are various parking areas along the beach.

It looks like the waves are pretty small, so I assume it must be good for swimming and just going into the sea in general to splash around?

So you're saying the southern end is better, but the video of the beach you showed at the northern end doesn't look bad either. I would imagine there are probably fewer people at the northern end since it's farther away from the town area?

You said food options are limited at SRY, but if you drive into town, there are a lot more options? And I assume the town area is relatively close to the beach?

From one of the aerial videos I saw, it looks like there are times when the tide is way out and you almost end up with these sandbars and pools of water in between. So when the tide is low, it looks like you get ocean, dark sand, pools of water, more dark sand, and then an area closest to the road that looks like white sand. It actually looks really nice.

I'm guessing the tide starts coming in by late afternoon, and then you don't have such wide gaps between the white-sand area and the ocean?

I guess Dolphin Beach Resort is probably the most popular place to stay down there, which is a bit on the higher end in terms of cost compared to some of the others. Then I see The Beach Village Resort, The Green Beach Resort, Fisherman Resort, and quite a few others there as well. Some seem to be right near the beach, while others are more in town, I guess. I haven't really looked yet to see exactly where they are on the map.

Not sure if you stayed at any of these places, but prices all seem to average around 1,500–2,000 baht a night for a 4-night midweek stay during the first week of November, and nearly all of them include breakfast. Not bad value at all, especially considering what you would pay for something pretty average on one of the islands.

If I can't get my car driving license renewed in time to go in late October or early November, I might need to push the trip out until early January, after the high season when the area quiets down again. I imagine that from around mid-November through the end of the year, it’s probably going to be pretty busy around there, both on weekdays and weekends.

About 15-20 years ago, I spent a night at a hotel in Kui Buri. Can't remember the name of the place just now, but it was right on the beach and it looked like the beach there was also nice and generally empty. I think the beach at KB is only about a 35 minute drive from SRY, but not sure how the two beach areas really compare. We were there for a work project and didn't have much time to look around the area unfortunately.

18 hours ago, Cameroni said:

Yes, I know there are out of the way small pockets with less foot traffic, but on the whole, Ko Samet is overrun with tourists, it's a very small island and it is full of typical tourist traps. It's also overcrowded for the most part, even i

18 hours ago, Cameroni said:

Yes, I know there are out of the way small pockets with less foot traffic, but on the whole, Ko Samet is overrun with tourists, it's a very small island and it is full of typical tourist traps. It's also overcrowded for the most part, even if there are isolated pockets where fewer people go. Those parts have fewer people for a reason, the better beaches in Ko Samet are overun and very busy indeed.

f there are isolated pockets where fewer people go. Those parts have fewer people for a reason, the better beaches in Ko Samet are overun and very busy indeed.

18 hours ago, Cameroni said:

Yes, I know there are out of the way small pockets with less foot traffic, but on the whole, Ko Samet is overrun with tourists, it's a very small island and it is full of typical tourist traps. It's also overcrowded for the most part, even if there are isolated pockets where fewer people go. Those parts have fewer people for a reason, the better beaches in Ko Samet are overun and very busy indeed.

Both the beaches I am thinking of are big and as good as any on the island one is expensive to stay one not bad. People in general get quite lazy and dont go far from their point of entry.

Samet outside holidays both thai and European and weekends is noticeably quieter.

We Usually stay in busy place but hop off on a scooter for the day.

20 hours ago, ONIB said:

In the past, friends have also talked to me about Trang, but again, just too far. I don't mind taking sleeper car trains in Thailand, but then when you reach the destination you have no transport of your own if you want to explore a coastal area. Maybe one solution is to take a train first to cover the long distance and then rent a car locally once I reach the destination. That would limit the driving. Maybe not a bad idea, but I am not sure if that would be very realistic, or if there are any international car rental companies operating in those more remote areas in the south. Something I would have to look into.

You should be able to hire a car in Trang. I checked before and found places.
However if you want to go to Koh Lanta and area, fly to Krabi and hire a car there.
I have done it a few times, enough choice of companies for the airport.
Hire a car the first time so you can tour around Lanta and identify where you like.
Then the next time you fly down to Krabi and get the shuttle van to where you want.

Edited September 5Sep 5 by jojothai
text was missing

On the eastern Gulf side, south of Chantaburi is uncrowded and inexpensive relative to the western Gulf side and islands.

From trat all the way to the cambodian border, kms and kms of empty beach

Layan beach in Phuket, for the most part is deserted during the week

fyi , anyplace that you will find someone has made a video is NOT going to be empty, cause although they will show it empty, what thye dont tell ya , its at 7am

For me: Ban Krut Beach, Wanakorn Beach, Thung Wua Laen Beach, Mae Ramphueng Beach, Hat Lok Phae.

On 9/5/2026 at 1:31 PM, zzzzz said:

From trat all the way to the cambodian border, kms and kms of empty beach

Agreed. Not necessary to cross to Koh Chang for nice beaches. Some decent places to stay. Last year revisited Centara Trat after years of not visiting. Still a lovely place to stay.

On 9/2/2026 at 9:28 AM, ONIB said:

I’m wondering what people would consider the five best beach areas in Thailand if you’re looking for places that are wide open and generally free of tourists.

I’m particularly interested in areas that are easy to access by car and don’t require a lot of effort to reach. Islands usually involve more time and effort, so I’m thinking more about coastal beach areas that are relatively easy to get to and don’t require traveling too far south.

I realize I might be asking for a lot, but I’m assuming there are places that fit this description in areas such as Rayong, Chumphon, or Prachuap Khiri Khan. I’m just not sure how many other places like this there are.

Basically, I’m looking for long, open beaches where you can walk for a while and not feel surrounded by tourists or resort and hotel development.

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What would your top five be?

Years ago I went to a beach near Chumphon. Incredible, I was the only one there. A bit too lonely. I was bored after a day. But in the town, was the best Vietnamese restaurant I’ve experienced.( I have Vietnamese family ) . The recipes were authentic and the lady explained that when they opened with a Viet boat people cook, it was an an instant success.The place was packed. I doubt it’s still there, that was late 80 s I think. Same trip went to Krabi to a Thai friends friend. It was lovely.The beach was beautiful. Can’t remember where now.