Just wondering why there is not more toursists on the mainland in donsak. the roads are nicer.there is a hudge river with restrants on the side of it. has nice beaches. plus u don't need a ferry should u wish to drive any where whick means that udo not have to hurry back to catch a boat. also u are only a ferry away from koh phangyn samui and tao.

so what is missing apart from the tourists. also u have khanom down the road which is even nicer.

Just wondering why there is not more toursists on the mainland in donsak. the roads are nicer.there is a hudge river with restrants on the side of it. has nice beaches. plus u don't need a ferry should u wish to drive any where whick means that udo not have to hurry back to catch a boat. also u are only a ferry away from koh phangyn samui and tao.

so what is missing apart from the tourists. also u have khanom down the road which is even nicer.

Common, Donsak and Suratthani is extremly boring and there is nothing for tourists to do there. No proper pubs/bars, ugly and boring city center and no proper hotels. No Donsak has a lot of work to do if they want tourists staying there longer than the the time it takes for the boat or bus to leave. If you want to drive anywhere and Donsak is so great, why do you have to hurry back to catch the boat?

Go a little bit further to the south... Nakorn Sri Thammarat province... Kanom and Sichon for example are becoming great destinations for Bangkokian weekenders. Especially regarding the fact that they are located between two airports receiving no frill airline compagnies.

And hopefully, still not too many farang in sight

Donsak is nice. Missed the boat the other day and had to spend a night there. Stayed in some funky bungalows in the mountains two minutes from the Raja Pier and had a great seafood meal in Don Sak town. One night was definitely enough though.

Since moving to the sticks, I actually relish a holiday with other farangs around!

Honestly is donsak under devoloped yes, but how many foreigners are going to go there most are coming straight from surat thani to koh samui or else where. As far as surat thani goes, it has some charm but its more or less a place for thai people mostly. I've been in surat thani a few times. the Hotels are nothing spectular but they do the job. If your fine with the thai atmosphere you should do fine. I would recommend though knowing the thai language as your not going to meet many foreigners there. or find many thai people knowing english, I could be wrong but if you rarely deal with foreigner on a day to day basis no reason to learn english, plus most staff I've talked to who came from there said wages on samui are better, housing is more expensive but the money they make here better than working in surat thani. Surat Thani could be a good destination but it would take time, lack of a really good hotel is one thing that prevents it to.

Just wondering why there is not more toursists on the mainland in donsak. the roads are nicer.there is a hudge river with restrants on the side of it. has nice beaches. plus u don't need a ferry should u wish to drive any where whick means that udo not have to hurry back to catch a boat. also u are only a ferry away from koh phangyn samui and tao.

so what is missing apart from the tourists. also u have khanom down the road which is even nicer.

Common, Donsak and Suratthani is extremly boring and there is nothing for tourists to do there. No proper pubs/bars, ugly and boring city center and no proper hotels. No Donsak has a lot of work to do if they want tourists staying there longer than the the time it takes for the boat or bus to leave. If you want to drive anywhere and Donsak is so great, why do you have to hurry back to catch the boat?

i used to think that about Surat but if you get to know the place there's quite a lot of good Thai live music clubs. ok, not for tourists but i always have a great night out there on a stopover on my way home.

Donsak seems a lot more fun than Surat, although Steve is right that there are some good places to go out. Any particular recommendations?

We all get stuck there at some point.

Well I am on a teachers budget...but usually in Surat we stay at BJ's hotel on Donnak. I have stayed there for years. The rooms are all air con and very clean, the staff are lovely, it has wifi (terrible TV though), it also has parking and security..all for 450 baht a night. There are nice bars to go to in Surat - Thai style music bars. Thenight market next to the Chinese temple is great and I love the pizzas at the night boat pier. You can even travelon to O2 for the premier Surat night out!

At Donsak we stayed in a room that was about 500 baht. Digital TV, Air con, open air showers and great views...but dam_n I can't remember the name. You get to it from the Raja pier - straight up the hill. Think it is Phu something (sign is in Thai). Also there is a new resort at the Seatran pier called Nice View or something. It was out of our price range at 800 baht a night, but really did have amazing views. In Don Sak town as you face the sea, in the last buildings on the right hand side overs the sea is a really good fish restaurant. Loads of freshly caught fish.

I know is in Nakhon ST district, but so close to Donsak. I've been a couple of times in Khanom, a 20 kms SW (?) of Donsak. When you get out from the ferry pier, arriving on the highway, turn left.

Still an almost undiscovered location, (farang talking, because many thai hve a second house there and during the week end in the good season is crowded with thai tourists.

Some nice hotel, many beautiful beaches, some caves, day trips to the outlying islands with fair snorkelling, dolphin-watching, beautiful tropical-style beaches.

Still some bargain for who is interested to buy land