Koh Samed is close to Pattaya. I was there 7 years ago and liked it since it was so "natural" with no tall 5 star hotels. I checked on Tripadvisor and there are countless negative comments about customer service (...what else is new in LOS?) But, what reasonable priced lodging to you suggest there with a smiling, professional staff and not a bunch of nose sniffing menthol clueless hotel staff?

I was there in 2004 during the Tsunami. Stayed at Malibu place, down the quiet part of the island. I liked it a lot. Each of the small hotels had barbecue on the beach at night. No realy night life there so BYOB. Took the snorkel half day boat trip around the island. Dove in two different spots as I recall. Rooms were fine.

Was there last month, stayed at samed villa at the end of silver sands beach, price reasonable for a garden veiw bungalow, nice inside and staff ok

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Was there last month, stayed at samed villa at the end of silver sands beach, price reasonable for a garden veiw bungalow, nice inside and staff ok

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home now the url is

http://www.samedvilla.com/

Samed Villa was fine, except there was this "stream" that looked suspiciously like a drain very near the beach there.

Samed can be idyllic or quite the party Island. It can involve luxury accommodation or budget backpacker type accommodation - it really depends what you like and where you stay. The Island has developed with new decent resorts cropping up over the last few years.

Samed group - Sai Keaw Beach Resort, Paradee, Le Vimarn etc are the best places to stay, but are also more expensive and most frequently sold out (booking is definitely required: Costs are 6000, to 10000 baht per night on average).

Cheaper places such as SilverSands or Samet Cabana offer reasonable value.

Night life is most busy at SilverSands bar.

The roads on the Island remain terribly undeveloped, but that is also a good thing and keeps speeds and accidents down. ATV's are fun to get around the island on. Song Thaews also run at B150 to B200 per trip depending on distance.

Generally speaking: Sai Keaw beach is the busiest and for the best of all worlds (comfort and location) Sai Keaw Beach Resort is probably the best option. Looking for happy smiling staff in any area with a frequent turn over of tourists is a big ask.