beach / holiday options around surat thani?

[davidst01]

We live in the north east of Thailand and want to take a week or two away along the coast somewhere.

We thought about driving south to Bangkok and then doing the Hua Hin option and drive further south. The only issue is that we have a 16month old who gets bored in the car and thus we are thinking that we could perhaps fly air asia to surat thani.

If we flew there what are the best beach options for us?

Would we be best to hire a car? Could this be dropped off in Bangkok?

Or take train up the coast?

I realise that the easiest option might be to fly to either koh samui or Phuket. Im not keen on either of these options to be honest.

Are there any small islands off either side of the mainland when heading up to Hua hin.

thanks

[bark]

Surat Thani, is a hole. Nothing there. Go to Trang. Good beaches, and right next door.

[zaZa9]

About an hour south of Surat is Kanom , and then Sichon. The area has lovely coastline and beaches and is very quiet and authentic/undertourised.

Google them.

You'd def need a car .

[phil2407]

Surat Thani is a nice place to live and travel to for visiting the islands nearby - yes many foreigners live here and on transit - very good food at Milanos (on the river) walking street not too far back - good fish etc

[buythisdashcam]

Going to the south and not going to Samui or KPG is quite ridiculous in my opinion.

If you stay on the mainland stay at Pattaya, the cost on the way to Cambodia is as nice as any coast (but not as nice as island of course) and it's closer.

[krabi local]

Fly to Krabi.

Many great beaches in Ao Nang

[mihalis]

Khanom

[Chongalulu]

About an hour south of Surat is Kanom , and then Sichon. The area has lovely coastline and beaches and is very quiet and authentic/undertourised.

Google them.

You'd def need a car .

_

Agree with all of this especially the car. It's a two day drive from Korat where I live . We did a tour stopping at many coastal towns on the way down but Kanhom by far the best. With the car you could even take the ferry from Donsak to Samui if you got bored of Kanhom .

[fiddlehead]

There are some decent beaches at CHumpon, on the way back up to Bangkok on the train.
Not sure about transport up there though.
We always take our truck and we do like that area for a change.
The train ride is OK.
We did an overnight quite a few years ago and liked it, although it is a bit slow.
Enjoy!

I second (or third) Khanom beach (which is an hour east of Surat and where the pink dolphins can be seen sometimes)
We've gone there 3 times and it's always enjoyable. (But of course, you'd need a car)

[cornishcarlos]

Khanom is the place to go. As mentioned above, just 1.5hrs from Surat airport.

Why people always feel the need to visit islands confuses me ! Khanom has a much nicer beach, which you can access all the way along. There are lots of new places opening all the time but the beach is still empty.

In town there has been lots of development too, more restaurants, coffee shops and lots of good markets.

Also, as mentioned above, you can always take a rental car by ferry over to Samui, if you need an island fix. It's just 25 min drive to Donsak ferry pier.