I spent about 3 weeks in Koh Phangan this past June, and after that I spent 5 days in Koh Samui. In Koh Phangan I rented an airbnb bungalow and then rode my rented a scooter and went to about 5 or 6 different beaches in Koh Phangan and yes, I completely avoided Full Moon Party. I had those beaches to myself from 0700-0900 and after that it was boiling hot I had to scram back to my resort. So yeah, that full moon beach, Haad Rin, it was just me and off in the distance I saw a couple of tourists. Then, I took the ferry to Koh Samui and stayed at Pinnacle Samui Resort a old, but nice resort on Mae Nam beach. I really liked that resort it was really large and had both hotel rooms and separate bungalows. You could see the beach from the pool and the buffet breakfast was a little above average. I got lucky the rooms were only approx 1,000 baht a night, the bungalows were 1,300 a night. Like I said, I was lucky, I went in June the prices go up in July/Aug because thats a high season down there. Koh Samui was way more crowded and to me it was more fun. Overall both places are pretty nice I always made sure to rent a bike the taxi mafia down there are brutal.
