North West Samui / Bang po nightlife

[khunUK]

Hey! 

I know this is completely the wrong area for nightlife in samui. But it's nice, peaceful and away from the tourist hot spots. 

Is there any sort of nightlife around this area ? bars, beach bars, small clubs ? 

Cheers!

khunUK

[samuijimmy]

It's generally quiet in Ban Por.   which is why those of us who live in the  area like it here! ...

 

However if a bar has enough customers to keep serving, they will generally stay open... several along the beach area... but I think most pack it in around 10 pm!

[khunPer]

I think closest nightlife to Bang Por will be at the edge of Maenam Bay, by the Lomprayah entrance at the Ring Road; there are a few beer/lady bars just inside, and one or two at the Ring Road, plus a few Thai Karaokes, if you into that kind of nightlife...

[LivinLOS]

Nearest club I can think of is the Gecko bar / Club back in Bophut area.. 

[Tidybeard]

Hi Op

 

Head into Nathon and on the sea front there are very good Thai / Japanese / Italian and European restaurants. Also Max Murphy's Irish Bar.

 

At the South end of the sea front take a turn up some of the small side streets for massage shop entertainment if that is your thing.

 

Heading towards Menam the closest bar is Mays bar just past the turning to Lompraya ferry turning. It is on the main road so you can't miss it. Pool table and a few girls hanging around. 

[khunUK]

I'll be spending a good bit of time here, a month or so. 

So after being in Bangkok it'll be great to have somewhere quiet to chill out. 

I either don't know what to search for or there just isn't a lot of information about this area online. I think it's ticking all the boxes for me though ! 

 

[samuijimmy]

All the areas Ban Por, Ban Tai, and Maenam beaches are nice (well when weather cooperates! ...a lot of rain this morning!!  ) Ban Po and Maenam beaches are several kilometers long, Ban Tai is smaller but a lovely smaller beach... Easy to check out all areas!

 

Night life as suggested would be better in Maenam and Nathon, neither not too far away.... certainly quieter in Ban Tai and Baan Por / Po.... Lots of choices to stay too from 300 baht a night to sky is the limit! so fits all budgets.

 

Ban Por Beach, lots of restaurants and bars easy walk along the beach (More so on west end)

 

 

Maenam beach facing west... Venues vary to area of beach! Near Maenam Resort road; also around Soi 4 in Maenam.

 

 

Ban Tai is in between Maenam and Ban Po.

 

 

All good for chilling out!

[khunUK]

You've made my mind up samuijimmy ! 

I'd be more than happy to spend the last month of my visa chilling out around here. It looks great :) 

I'm not massively into nightlife / partying. Small bars where I can chill out in the evenings are fine by me. 

 

[khunUK]

Do you recommend any websites where I can get information on this area ?

I'm going to spend sometime and read through the samui section on here also 

 

[khunPer]

khunUK, Google Street View is actually a quite good instrument to search an area, together with "Earth view" – Bang Por is quite detailed, and there are also some 360 degree photos from the beaches. "Bang" means place, "Po" or "Por" means father, so it's "Father's place", there is no village (ban).

[samuijimmy]

A classic thing around Thailand is same places can have place names misspelled  & same place with two or more names !  That is why one sees Baan or Ban Por or Po... or Bang Por or Po,  or Ban Bang Por ... it depends which sign one reads!  Maenam only seems to have one spelling!

Then google makes it harder by using "Ko" rather than "Koh" for "island" one even sees Kho !!!

 

Look at the usual booking websites for bookings using the various spellings of "Ban" on Ko Samui !

You'll see hotels/ resorts in all price ranges, some right on the beach some are across the main road, and some on side roads... Also try the three different areas mentioned...  Some resorts do not use these booking sites, one could always book for a couple of nights to start and look around...to find what suits location and price wise ! Not that difficult!

 

 

[khunUK]

I always use airbnb for my bookings. Always get a good monthly rate if you look around there. 

The information on these areas for bars, places to see etc. is pretty limited I think. From what I gather the area looks really good though. 

By looking at a map Maenam and Nathon are pretty close to the area I want to live in. 

Is Bang Por to Maenam or Nathon that far? everything looks small on the map haha. 

I don't want to be at bars every night. Having a few a cheap taxi trip away is always good though 

[samuijimmy]

It is small ! Maenam to Nathon is about 12 /14 kms....You could drive around the whole island in about an hour and a half!  Nathon area does not have beaches that are quite so nice, but can be great for sunsets... and bars / restaurants  looking west,  as can other areas mentioned depending on time of year....!

 

Cheap taxi's?  well you might need to negotiate or  even "tame" a local one... by getting their phone number! Usually works better than flagging one down!

 

 

[khunUK]

How about Bang por / ban tai area to Maenam ? 

Got my heart set on this area! 

If there are cheap rooms in Maenam I have no problem driving there and just staying the night. Might work out cheaper than taxis. 

I know Tuk Tuk's are a rip off. I always got around on motorbike taxis if I had been drinking my last trips in Thailand. Never used taxis at all. 

So the bar scene in Maenam is okay for a quiet drink, yeah ? 

I appreciate you helping me here, thanks again. 

[samuijimmy]

1 minute ago, khunUK said:

How about Bang por / ban tai area to Maenam ? 

Got my heart set on this area! 

If there are cheap rooms in Maenam I have no problem driving there and just staying the night. Might work out cheaper than taxis. 

I know Tuk Tuk's are a rip off. I always got around on motorbike taxis if I had been drinking my last trips in Thailand. Never used taxis at all. 

So the bar scene in Maenam is okay for a quiet drink, yeah ? 

I appreciate you helping me here, thanks again. 

Takes me about 10 minutes on bike to Maenam, from Bang Por depending on which area, as each stretches on for a few kilometers !

 

No Tuk Tuks, but during the day there are Songteaus which will probably run about 60 baht a trip... (not used for a while so not sure current prices,) They are fairly frequent, you just wave them down.! Also motor bike Taxis, but I think also just during day time More in Maenam area around Soi 4 (traffic lights) the hub of Maenam~ not noticed around Bang Por,... but also have in Nathon...

[PoorSucker]

20 hours ago, LivinLOS said:

Nearest club I can think of is the Gecko bar / Club back in Bophut area.. 

 

Gecko has been closed for years...

[khunPer]

1 hour ago, PoorSucker said:

 

Gecko has been closed for years...

It burned some years back, but believe it's re-open – not that long ago there was a rant-tread here in this Forum about noise from a party at Gecko bar at the 100th day of the mourning period – and they still have signs on the Ring Road...

Anyway it's quite far from Bang Por, and there are many other closer alternatives – but cannot say if Gecko Bar is fun and worth the drive to visit, as I never been there...

[khunPer]

5 hours ago, samuijimmy said:

A classic thing around Thailand is same places can have place names misspelled  & same place with two or more names !  That is why one sees Baan or Ban Por or Po... or Bang Por or Po,  or Ban Bang Por ... it depends which sign one reads!  Maenam only seems to have one spelling!

Then google makes it harder by using "Ko" rather than "Koh" for "island" one even sees Kho !!!

 

Look at the usual booking websites for bookings using the various spellings of "Ban" on Ko Samui !

You'll see hotels/ resorts in all price ranges, some right on the beach some are across the main road, and some on side roads... Also try the three different areas mentioned...  Some resorts do not use these booking sites, one could always book for a couple of nights to start and look around...to find what suits location and price wise ! Not that difficult!

 

 

"Maenam", "Ban Maenam", "Baan Maenam", "Mae Nam", "Ban Mae Nam", "Baan Mae Nam".
Meaning: Village near the water, Village by the water, Village between the rivers, Village between the waters.

English sites prefer to spell Thai "island" as "ko"; official Thai-sites however translate to latin-letters as "koh".

[khunPer]

5 hours ago, khunUK said:

I always use airbnb for my bookings. Always get a good monthly rate if you look around there. 

The information on these areas for bars, places to see etc. is pretty limited I think. From what I gather the area looks really good though. 

By looking at a map Maenam and Nathon are pretty close to the area I want to live in. 

Is Bang Por to Maenam or Nathon that far? everything looks small on the map haha. 

I don't want to be at bars every night. Having a few a cheap taxi trip away is always good though 

Khun UK, listen to SamuiJimmi's advise and book only up to a week in advance. I have friends using AirBnb and they got very disappointed with the real-life ting, compared to the Internet advert; especially when they realized they could find better accommodation cheaper by just looking around, or use word-of-mouth when here. Many of the good local bargains never see AirBnb, nor the Internet at all, but a sign "For rent" or just word-of-mouth – and you can see what you get in "real-time", before renting it...

 

You asked about the Bar Scene in Maenam.

Maenam is a ca. 5 kilometer long bay, so talking walking distance it depends on where you wish to stay. As mentioned before, there are some night life in the area around the so-called "Lomprayah Pier", with many cozy restaurants and some bars/pubs – you can also meet pals and have a good talk in the beer bars with ladies; you don't need to let yourself distract by the employed females...

Up the slight turn just before Santibury Resort there are also affordable accommodation, restaurants and some bars/pubs.

In the area called "Soi 4" or "Maenam Walking Street" by the Chinese Temple there are numerous restaurants, and a number of pubs. Affordable accommodation both on beach side and land side of the Ring Road (running around the island, and 52-53 kilometers long).

In the area named "Soi 1" you can also find affordable accommodation and night life, mainly bars – but as said before, many comes there to meet pals, only – but the distance to the beach is little longer at that stretch of the Maenam Ring Road, leading East to Bo Phut.
Google Earth View and Street View can be very helpful in your search.

 

[samuijimmy]

4 hours ago, khunPer said:

"Maenam", "Ban Maenam", "Baan Maenam", "Mae Nam", "Ban Mae Nam", "Baan Mae Nam".
Meaning: Village near the water, Village by the water, Village between the rivers, Village between the waters.

English sites prefer to spell Thai "island" as "ko"; official Thai-sites however translate to latin-letters as "koh".

OK OK got it!! about Maenam, the one I heard years ago was "between the river"...

 

As for Ko, I think it's more the US English rather than proper English!!! .... heaven knows where Kho comes from! 

 

A birdie tells me that Khun UK has found a place in Ban Tai ... so home that works out well for him, it a nice beach, I stopped down at Ban Tai  this afternoon, water was lovely!

 

He still needs advice on Bars,  I am really not a bar person, so I can't help!

 

BanTai... It's well worth walking to the rocky area at the far end!

 

I was surprised after the recent rains, how clear the water was ...........But tide up higher than usual but still  beautiful ! ... as is Bang Por! (below)

 

Edited February 4, 2017 by samuijimmy

[PoorSucker]

It burned some years back, but believe it's re-open – not that long ago there was a rant-tread here in this Forum about noise from a party at Gecko bar at the 100th day of the mourning period – and they still have signs on the Ring Road...

Anyway it's quite far from Bang Por, and there are many other closer alternatives – but cannot say if Gecko Bar is fun and worth the drive to visit, as I never been there...

Gecko club relocated first to Bophut Hills into a residential area, an 'accidential' fire burnt that place down, now only some birthday bashes.
Think he meant the gecko beach club that closed years ago.
That was located directly on the beach between Bophut and fishermen village, maybe old people like me remember...

Sent from my Lenovo TB3-710F using Thaivisa Connect mobile app

[khunUK]

Ban tai beach looks amazing! 

If it's a cheap journey from Ban Tai to Maenam I'd love to stay there.. 

Now I'm think Maenam might be best to live there. Then I can travel to nice beaches. 

Why is this area not that popular? It looks great lol! I can't wait to spend time here. 

Thanks for the googlemaps links! I'll spend some time traveling through the different areas 

[LivinLOS]

21 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

 

Gecko has been closed for years...

 

Gecko on the hill alive and well and has been for years.. Less full on than he used to be beachside tho. 
 

Gecko on the beach Garys land lease expired, he moved up the hill and then had a huge fire losing everything.. He then made the new Gecko straight after. 

https://www.facebook.com/Gecko-Samui-39269995686/?fref=ts

[Inflatable]

Hi,

 

Nice thread! very useful.

 

As for the bars on Soi4, are they girly-bars, or just regular bars?

 

[samuijimmy]

4 hours ago, Inflatable said:

Hi,

 

Nice thread! very useful.

 

As for the bars on Soi4, are they girly-bars, or just regular bars?

 

 

Assume you mean Soi 4 in Maenam?  Well I would say most of the bars on Soi 4 are not really girlie bars, (at least I don't think so)  but if you go along the main road in Maenam.... you will hear "cat calls"... usually an indication of what you may  or may not want!  It's a long stretch of road either way from Soi 4!!!

[khunPer]

4 hours ago, Inflatable said:

Hi,

 

Nice thread! very useful.

 

As for the bars on Soi4, are they girly-bars, or just regular bars?

 

As SamuiJimmi said, no "girly-bars" at all in Soi 4, but cozy pubs. Next to 7-eleven at the Ring Road however, I've seen some that look like birds in that new (I think Russian) bar – opposite Soi 1 and a bit further East are a number of lady-bars, and there's a Thai Karaoke opposite Soi 3 that seem to be frequented by farangs also...

[Inflatable]

Thanks!