Cost Of Living In Koh Samui

[exoticguy]

We (my girlfriend and me) are living in Malaysia, and consider moving to either Chiang Mai or Koh Samui.

What's the cost of living like in Koh SamuI?

Is it possible to get a solid internet connection?

Are there any international schools?

We need a fully furnished 3 bedroom apartment and solid WIFI and broadband.

We eat out at least once a day, preferably at local places. Maybe once a week I'd go to bars for a ouple drinks.

Thanks,

Gerald

[BookMan]

PM the Mods and ask them to move this the local Koh Samui forum, where you will get the best answers

[FunFon]

There are a few schools that claim to be "international", but AFAIK no school I'd be willing to send a child of mine to after say 7 or 8 years old.

There are some decent international boarding schools, but total cost is not much below a million baht per year.

A high price to pay to live in paradise IMO either way.

[exoticguy]

There are a few schools that claim to be "international", but AFAIK no school I'd be willing to send a child of mine to after say 7 or 8 years old.

There are some decent international boarding schools, but total cost is not much below a million baht per year.

A high price to pay to live in paradise IMO either way.

What's the annual school fee for a non Thai born kid?

It doesn't need to be an international school.

[DiamondKing]

Chiang Mai will be CONSIDERABLY cheaper and more choices for schools post a message in the Chiang Mai forum you will get a lot of info.

[PoorSucker]

Moved to Samui forum.

[FunFon]

What's the annual school fee for a non Thai born kid?

It doesn't need to be an international school.

-

Government schools are free and worth every penny, but I believe not available at any price for non-Thais.

If your child doesn't speak any Thai and is older than say 7, they should be enrolled in a private school's English-language programme, properly labelled "EP" or "IP" - the fees will be completely up to the school, at the low end maybe THB 200-300K per year.

I believe there was a sort-of-reasonable at-least-trying-to-be-decent small startup school run by farang (that is critical to quality BTW) in the Krabi area, maybe Koh Lanta? and there was a group on Koh Samui trying to persuade them to start up a branch there, but didn't quite have enouhg numbers together?

To be honest if you have time and the inclination, you'd probably get a better result by home-schooling, perhaps find another couple of like-minded families to pool resources.

I've heard of support resources for home schooling in Thailand, but you'd find a lot more from your home country.

[exoticguy]

Is it mandatory that he attends any official school in Thailand?

We could hire a private tutor for us.

Edited April 20, 2013 by exoticguy

[FunFon]

I'm worked with several families home-schooling, both Thai and foreign and never heard of any official issues, and suspect if they exist in theory certainly wouldn't in practice.

As I said, you should be able to pool resources to cut down on the expense.

Qualified full-time NES teachers can be had for well under B1,000 per hour, B40K per month full-time would be a reasonable rate given the few openings in that island paradise, especially if you chipped in a decent meal now and again.

Many here will tell you about all the legal hoops you need to jump through, but note the risk is much more so on the tutor than the customer.

You'll most likely find that people come and go more often than you'd like, so make sure to take control of the curriculum design, materials selection yourself, ideally consulting with well-qualified educators familiar with your back-home nationality's requirements.

If starting from scratch and especially if looking forward to possible futures on either side of the Atlantic, I can highly recommend the IB curriculum. . .

[Tropicalevo]

These are the accredited schools on Koh Samui.

I am not sure when FunFon last visited a school on Samui, but a number of them are very professional and the parents that I meet are more than happy with them. The preferred schools seem to be ISS, Panyadee, and SCL. ISS has approx 250 children - no boarders yet.

The ISS has a very good reputation and from the next academic year will teach to 'A' level standard (18 years old).

The only way to find out is to visit them yourself as personal views differ greatly. I have heard good reports of all of the above three schools. Some of the other schoools only take young'uns

http://iss.ac.th/

http://www.panyadee.ac.th/

http://www.sclinternationalschool.com/

http://www.oonraksamui.com/Eng_index.php

http://www.ciss-samui.com/CISS/Home.html

You might want to think about a short fact-finding trip to each location (Samui v Chiang Mai) to scope things out.

Sorry - I should have added - Chiang Mai is definitely cheaper than Samui - but the beaches in Chiang Mai are rubbish . They also get burn-off/haze every year. Not good for the health

(If there was an icon for 'tongue in cheek', I would have used it )

Edited April 20, 2013 by Tropicalevo

[Rooo]

You also have a current topic here :

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/633848-international-school-of-samui/

[krisb]

These are the accredited schools on Koh Samui.

I am not sure when FunFon last visited a school on Samui, but a number of them are very professional and the parents that I meet are more than happy with them. The preferred schools seem to be ISS, Panyadee, and SCL. ISS has approx 250 children - no boarders yet.

The ISS has a very good reputation and from the next academic year will teach to 'A' level standard (18 years old).

The only way to find out is to visit them yourself as personal views differ greatly. I have heard good reports of all of the above three schools. Some of the other schoools only take young'uns

http://iss.ac.th/

http://www.panyadee.ac.th/

http://www.sclinternationalschool.com/

http://www.oonraksamui.com/Eng_index.php

http://www.ciss-samui.com/CISS/Home.html

You might want to think about a short fact-finding trip to each location (Samui v Chiang Mai) to scope things out.

Sorry - I should have added - Chiang Mai is definitely cheaper than Samui - but the beaches in Chiang Mai are rubbish . They also get burn-off/haze every year. Not good for the health

(If there was an icon for 'tongue in cheek', I would have used it )

If your Australian op the beaches on Samui are pretty crappie also.

[samuijimmy]

These are the accredited schools on Koh Samui.

I am not sure when FunFon last visited a school on Samui, but a number of them are very professional and the parents that I meet are more than happy with them. The preferred schools seem to be ISS, Panyadee, and SCL. ISS has approx 250 children - no boarders yet.

The ISS has a very good reputation and from the next academic year will teach to 'A' level standard (18 years old).

The only way to find out is to visit them yourself as personal views differ greatly. I have heard good reports of all of the above three schools. Some of the other schoools only take young'uns

http://iss.ac.th/

http://www.panyadee.ac.th/

http://www.sclinternationalschool.com/

http://www.oonraksamui.com/Eng_index.php

http://www.ciss-samui.com/CISS/Home.html

You might want to think about a short fact-finding trip to each location (Samui v Chiang Mai) to scope things out.

Sorry - I should have added - Chiang Mai is definitely cheaper than Samui - but the beaches in Chiang Mai are rubbish . They also get burn-off/haze every year. Not good for the health

(If there was an icon for 'tongue in cheek', I would have used it )

If your Australian op the beaches on Samui are pretty crappie also.

Obviously posted by someone who has not explored Samui's beaches.....

[John 1]

These are the accredited schools on Koh Samui.

I am not sure when FunFon last visited a school on Samui, but a number of them are very professional and the parents that I meet are more than happy with them. The preferred schools seem to be ISS, Panyadee, and SCL. ISS has approx 250 children - no boarders yet.

The ISS has a very good reputation and from the next academic year will teach to 'A' level standard (18 years old).

The only way to find out is to visit them yourself as personal views differ greatly. I have heard good reports of all of the above three schools. Some of the other schoools only take young'uns

http://iss.ac.th/

http://www.panyadee.ac.th/

http://www.sclinternationalschool.com/

http://www.oonraksamui.com/Eng_index.php

http://www.ciss-samui.com/CISS/Home.html

You might want to think about a short fact-finding trip to each location (Samui v Chiang Mai) to scope things out.

Sorry - I should have added - Chiang Mai is definitely cheaper than Samui - but the beaches in Chiang Mai are rubbish . They also get burn-off/haze every year. Not good for the health

(If there was an icon for 'tongue in cheek', I would have used it )

If your Australian op the beaches on Samui are pretty crappie also.

Obviously posted by someone who has not explored Samui's beaches.....

Samui beaches are not all crappy but would be hard to find as good as Australian beaches

[BigC]

These are the accredited schools on Koh Samui.

I am not sure when FunFon last visited a school on Samui, but a number of them are very professional and the parents that I meet are more than happy with them. The preferred schools seem to be ISS, Panyadee, and SCL. ISS has approx 250 children - no boarders yet.

The ISS has a very good reputation and from the next academic year will teach to 'A' level standard (18 years old).

The only way to find out is to visit them yourself as personal views differ greatly. I have heard good reports of all of the above three schools. Some of the other schoools only take young'uns

http://iss.ac.th/

http://www.panyadee.ac.th/

http://www.sclinternationalschool.com/

http://www.oonraksamui.com/Eng_index.php

http://www.ciss-samui.com/CISS/Home.html

You might want to think about a short fact-finding trip to each location (Samui v Chiang Mai) to scope things out.

Sorry - I should have added - Chiang Mai is definitely cheaper than Samui - but the beaches in Chiang Mai are rubbish . They also get burn-off/haze every year. Not good for the health

(If there was an icon for 'tongue in cheek', I would have used it )

If your Australian op the beaches on Samui are pretty crappie also.

Obviously posted by someone who has not explored Samui's beaches.....

Samui beaches are not all crappy but would be hard to find as good as Australian beaches

well he ain't looking at Austrailia so that dont really help. pretty useless comment really

[Rooo]

These are the accredited schools on Koh Samui.

I am not sure when FunFon last visited a school on Samui, but a number of them are very professional and the parents that I meet are more than happy with them. The preferred schools seem to be ISS, Panyadee, and SCL. ISS has approx 250 children - no boarders yet.

The ISS has a very good reputation and from the next academic year will teach to 'A' level standard (18 years old).

The only way to find out is to visit them yourself as personal views differ greatly. I have heard good reports of all of the above three schools. Some of the other schoools only take young'uns

http://iss.ac.th/

http://www.panyadee.ac.th/

http://www.sclinternationalschool.com/

http://www.oonraksamui.com/Eng_index.php

http://www.ciss-samui.com/CISS/Home.html

You might want to think about a short fact-finding trip to each location (Samui v Chiang Mai) to scope things out.

Sorry - I should have added - Chiang Mai is definitely cheaper than Samui - but the beaches in Chiang Mai are rubbish . They also get burn-off/haze every year. Not good for the health

(If there was an icon for 'tongue in cheek', I would have used it )

If your Australian op the beaches on Samui are pretty crappie also.

That can be the Thaivisa comment of the day. Chris B , if you want Aussie beaches & surf, get back there.

[Birdman]

Australia coastline: 59736 km

Samui coastline: 93 km

Australian beaches: 9.747

Samui beaches: 26

[smokie36]

Aussie sharks: Many

Samui sharks: None (in the water at least)

[asdecas]

These are the accredited schools on Koh Samui.

I am not sure when FunFon last visited a school on Samui, but a number of them are very professional and the parents that I meet are more than happy with them. The preferred schools seem to be ISS, Panyadee, and SCL. ISS has approx 250 children - no boarders yet.

The ISS has a very good reputation and from the next academic year will teach to 'A' level standard (18 years old).

The only way to find out is to visit them yourself as personal views differ greatly. I have heard good reports of all of the above three schools. Some of the other schoools only take young'uns

http://iss.ac.th/

http://www.panyadee.ac.th/

http://www.sclinternationalschool.com/

http://www.oonraksamui.com/Eng_index.php

http://www.ciss-samui.com/CISS/Home.html

You might want to think about a short fact-finding trip to each location (Samui v Chiang Mai) to scope things out.

Sorry - I should have added - Chiang Mai is definitely cheaper than Samui - but the beaches in Chiang Mai are rubbish . They also get burn-off/haze every year. Not good for the health

(If there was an icon for 'tongue in cheek', I would have used it )

If your Australian op the beaches on Samui are pretty crappie also.

That can be the Thaivisa comment of the day. Chris B , if you want Aussie beaches & surf, get back there.

I love it when the brain-dead arrive.

[sscsamui]

It is Very expensive to live on Koh Samui.... Very..... Everything...

[Tropicalevo]

If your Australian op the beaches on Samui are pretty crappie also.

So which beaches on Samui did you actually visit?

The ones that I go to are great, and they do not have sharks, bluebottles or loads of tanked up tourists on them.

By the way, Australia has more than 66,000 kms of coastline. I would expect that there is a decent beach or two in that lot. Samui is less than 250 sq kms and has enough quiet, attactive beaches for me. (Try looking at http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/125263-images-of-samui-phangan-and-tao/page-11 if you have forgotten)

[khman]

I wonder why so many nonsense here. Samui beaches are wondeful. Cost of life is maybe a bit more than the cheapest places but still, you can find good thai food for 30-50 bahts easy. Samui is a true paradise.
About schools cannot answer. Also 3 bedroom appartement not easy to find.

[Tropicalevo]

Back to the OP.

WIFI and broadband are widely available across the island of Samui. However, you need to remember that Samui is a tropical ISLAND. The infrastructure lets us down at times. Of course, we only write on Thai Visa when there is a problem and we want to grumble.

We never write to say "internet is great today!"

[notmyself]

It is Very expensive to live on Koh Samui.... Very..... Everything...

Not a great place to cut your teeth I would agree but if you know what you are doing it's cheap for what you get.

[notmyself]

Back to the OP.

WIFI and broadband are widely available across the island of Samui. However, you need to remember that Samui is a tropical ISLAND. The infrastructure lets us down at times. Of course, we only write on Thai Visa when there is a problem and we want to grumble.

We never write to say "internet is great today!"

It's pretty good now (for me). Had my first power cut of the year the night before last (1 hr) and my 'net never goes down.

[Tropicalevo]

I wonder why so many nonsense here. Samui beaches are wondeful. Cost of life is maybe a bit more than the cheapest places but still, you can find good thai food for 30-50 bahts easy. Samui is a true paradise.

About schools cannot answer. Also 3 bedroom appartement not easy to find.

khman is correct.

Also - lots of good quality decent/not expensive restaurants, and lots of up market, good and not that expensensive restaurants. there are even a few 'you have to be kidding' over the top restaurants.

Not that many apartments in Samui - a few on the market now, but lots of 3 bedroom villas.

As I said earlier - spend a few weeks in both locations and scope them out. It will save you money and heartache in the long run. You should not make a decision based on what you read on the internet.

[notmyself]

lots of 3 bedroom villas.

What sort of price?

[krisb]

These are the accredited schools on Koh Samui.

I am not sure when FunFon last visited a school on Samui, but a number of them are very professional and the parents that I meet are more than happy with them. The preferred schools seem to be ISS, Panyadee, and SCL. ISS has approx 250 children - no boarders yet.

The ISS has a very good reputation and from the next academic year will teach to 'A' level standard (18 years old).

The only way to find out is to visit them yourself as personal views differ greatly. I have heard good reports of all of the above three schools. Some of the other schoools only take young'uns

http://iss.ac.th/

http://www.panyadee.ac.th/

http://www.sclinternationalschool.com/

http://www.oonraksamui.com/Eng_index.php

http://www.ciss-samui.com/CISS/Home.html

You might want to think about a short fact-finding trip to each location (Samui v Chiang Mai) to scope things out.

Sorry - I should have added - Chiang Mai is definitely cheaper than Samui - but the beaches in Chiang Mai are rubbish . They also get burn-off/haze every year. Not good for the health

(If there was an icon for 'tongue in cheek', I would have used it )

If your Australian op the beaches on Samui are pretty crappie also.

That can be the Thaivisa comment of the day. Chris B , if you want Aussie beaches & surf, get back there.

I am Rooo.

[krisb]

If your Australian op the beaches on Samui are pretty crappie also.

So which beaches on Samui did you actually visit?

The ones that I go to are great, and they do not have sharks, bluebottles or loads of tanked up tourists on them.

By the way, Australia has more than 66,000 kms of coastline. I would expect that there is a decent beach or two in that lot. Samui is less than 250 sq kms and has enough quiet, attactive beaches for me. (Try looking at http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/125263-images-of-samui-phangan-and-tao/page-11 if you have forgotten)

My point is if the op wants Samui for it's beach life and he is Australian, it's not that great. I've only been to Samui once, was ok away from chaweng not so many drunk end of year football teams on rented bikes. The op asked what's better Samui or CM, I'd say CM easily.

[Rooo]

These are the accredited schools on Koh Samui.

I am not sure when FunFon last visited a school on Samui, but a number of them are very professional and the parents that I meet are more than happy with them. The preferred schools seem to be ISS, Panyadee, and SCL. ISS has approx 250 children - no boarders yet.

The ISS has a very good reputation and from the next academic year will teach to 'A' level standard (18 years old).

The only way to find out is to visit them yourself as personal views differ greatly. I have heard good reports of all of the above three schools. Some of the other schoools only take young'uns

http://iss.ac.th/

http://www.panyadee.ac.th/

http://www.sclinternationalschool.com/

http://www.oonraksamui.com/Eng_index.php

http://www.ciss-samui.com/CISS/Home.html

You might want to think about a short fact-finding trip to each location (Samui v Chiang Mai) to scope things out.

Sorry - I should have added - Chiang Mai is definitely cheaper than Samui - but the beaches in Chiang Mai are rubbish . They also get burn-off/haze every year. Not good for the health

(If there was an icon for 'tongue in cheek', I would have used it )

If your Australian op the beaches on Samui are pretty crappie also.

That can be the Thaivisa comment of the day. Chris B , if you want Aussie beaches & surf, get back there.

I am Rooo.

I know you are, enjoy.