Koh Phangan Nightlife Advice?

[CG1 Blue]

Hi, I holiday in Samui a couple of times a year (from the UK). I enjoy the nightlife around Chaweng, but sometimes I feel like a break for a night or two - but I'm never really sure where to go.

I've been over to Lamai a couple of times, but don't know the area at all, so I end up heading back to Chaweng after an hour (Lamai recommendations are welcome too - any good bars / clubs / pubs!). I sometimes head to Reggae to break the cycle, but I've noticed it's fairly empty in recent years, and there never seem to be reggae bands playing live anymore when I go.

 

I was thinking of spending a night or two over on Phangan (not during full moon time).  I'd appreciate any feedback, tips, ideas etc.

I like going to bars with a bit of music, a mix of people (locals and farangs), with a friendly atmosphere. 

 

Is Phangan any good for this sort of thing outside of the full moon period?

 

Thanks in advance!

[PoorSucker]

If you like live reggae, go to Rasta bar in Chaweng.
In a soi from the beach road between Centara and the night market.

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

[khunPer]

18 hours ago, CG1 Blue said:

I've been over to Lamai a couple of times, but don't know the area at all, so I end up heading back to Chaweng after an hour...

Believe night-life in Lamai has died partly out and only left the bars – before it was famous for outstanding after-party House-music "Fuzion Club", and the more Thai dance-band place "Super Sub"; and in really old days "Bauhaus" – seem like all is a nothing but a Saga now. However there may still be a band most of the week-day nights in the Irish "Shamrock Pub" – once the "home venue" for the amazing Ovada Show Band, which unfortunately changed some of their members the later years – and another band use to be at the Australian corner restaurant opposite the boxing square. It's a while since I've been there, so not perfectly up-to-date, but the band in the Australian restaurant used to be quite good.

 

Apart from PoorSucker's excellent Chaweng-advise I can only think of The Beach Bar in Chaweng Noi; I've never been there, but it's much talked about after Sound Club temporary closed...

[steelerian]

Temporary closed? Sound has been closed over 6 months now. Any info on possible reopening Khun Per ?

[khunPer]

34 minutes ago, steelerian said:

Temporary closed? Sound has been closed over 6 months now. Any info on possible reopening Khun Per ?

Is it really 6 month now, since we were all hold back in a raid for Thai only peeing-test...

No, it was still closed last night, and the usual suspects – i.e. known night-birds – havn't unsolicited mentioned anything. I will check if anybody know anything, next time I'm around the area, and post if I hear something new...

[CG1 Blue]

Thanks khunPer and PoorSucker.  I'll try Rasta and Beach Bar. 

 

The last time I came over in September there was a 2am compulsory closing time in Chaweng, with the police making sure all the bars closed each night.  Is that still the case?

And also I guess there is still a period of mourning the King.

[khunPer]

7 hours ago, CG1 Blue said:

Thanks khunPer and PoorSucker.  I'll try Rasta and Beach Bar. 

 

The last time I came over in September there was a 2am compulsory closing time in Chaweng, with the police making sure all the bars closed each night.  Is that still the case?

And also I guess there is still a period of mourning the King.

No it's still 2 am closing time, however in week-ends and around a Full Moon Party at least Green Mango Club and some bars (and maybe discos I don't visit) in that area stays open till 3 am. 2 am has "always" been official closing time, but some places seem to have had an "extended agreement", which the military unfortunately was not aware off...

[Johnnyy]

Believe night-life in Lamai has died partly out and only left the bars – before it was famous for outstanding after-party House-music "Fuzion Club", and the more Thai dance-band place "Super Sub"; and in really old days "Bauhaus" – seem like all is a nothing but a Saga now. However there may still be a band most of the week-day nights in the Irish "Shamrock Pub" – once the "home venue" for the amazing 

, which unfortunately changed some of their members the later years – and another band use to be at the Australian corner restaurant opposite the boxing square. It's a while since I've been there, so not perfectly up-to-date, but the band in the Australian restaurant used to be quite good.
 

They still play a number of nights every week at The Shamrock.
Still pretty decent

[elgenon]

In the 80s Lamai had a much better night life than Chaweng. Sad it is gone.

[hobobo]

10 hours ago, Johnnyy said:

 

They still play a number of nights every week at The Shamrock.
Still pretty decent

 

Some would call this music... All I know for sure is that it's noise, a lot of ugly loud noise! I may be somewhat 50 plus VAT, but on every trip back to Europe I still find decent gigs, from the Stones, the Who, what's left of the Floyd, etc etc

[SiSePuede419]

Who goes to tropical islands for the nightlife?

 

If you want nightlife and hot, NYC in the summer baby ?

[Johnnyy]

Some would call this music... All I know for sure is that it's noise, a lot of ugly loud noise! I may be somewhat 50 plus VAT, but on every trip back to Europe I still find decent gigs, from the Stones, the Who, what's left of the Floyd, etc etc

It's a pub at Lamai Beach, not the O2...
They are ok for a holiday venue having a few beers.

[elgordo38]

1 hour ago, hobobo said:

Some would call this music... All I know for sure is that it's noise, a lot of ugly loud noise! I may be somewhat 50 plus VAT, but on every trip back to Europe I still find decent gigs, from the Stones, the Who, what's left of the Floyd, etc etc

Yes I would call it noise as well. Live it up. I am 70 plus so I envy you and the "noise" Well time to take the false teeth out into the salt water and go to bed. Have a good night. Be careful out there. Raucous night life can be dangerous for your  health.

[CG1 Blue]

4 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

Who goes to tropical islands for the nightlife?

 

If you want nightlife and hot, NYC in the summer baby ?

I can get that vibe in London in the summer, thanks

City nightlife vs tropical nightlife, I'd choose the latter every time. 

[CG1 Blue]

Thanks for all the comments people!

[khunPer]

On 2/13/2017 at 8:10 AM, khunPer said:

On 2/13/2017 at 7:30 AM, steelerian said:

Temporary closed? Sound has been closed over 6 months now. Any info on possible reopening Khun Per ?

Is it really 6 month now, since we were all hold back in a raid for Thai only peeing-test...

No, it was still closed last night, and the usual suspects – i.e. known night-birds – havn't unsolicited mentioned anything. I will check if anybody know anything, next time I'm around the area, and post if I hear something new...

Just checked the place tonight, almost all inventory is gone, and speakers and all lighting removed, which could be temporary due to closure, but without that it will not be a fun place. Don't look like they'll reopen soon.
Green Mango closed 2:30 – Okay for me, I got two hours dance  – but all other places looked like that had closed at 2am this Wednesday night.

[elgordo38]

Well young fella I read most of these posts. I think it will be a race between your need for night life slowing down as you age or the night life disappearing before that happens. So young fella here is my advice "Enjoy yourself its later than you think" Sounds like a song I hard somewhere.

[khunPer]

On 2/13/2017 at 7:30 AM, steelerian said:

Temporary closed? Sound has been closed over 6 months now. Any info on possible reopening Khun Per ?

It's both Sound Club and Camp Beer – the mainly Thai frequented place with live music after Raggae Pub, opposite the new Go Cart lane at the peninsula in Chaweng Lake – that has been ordered shut down for six month, and both places are still closed; the locals say »maybe forever..?«, so I presume no one of the public really know anything right now...

[Razzler1973]

This nightlife on Pha Ngan thread seems to be full of Samui recommendations, doesn't it?

 

I like Koh Pha Ngan when it's not full moon, nowhere is mega busy, party time, depends what you're looking for.

 

Thong Sala has some pubs and there are beach bars at most places. Haad Rin has Cactus Bar on the beach which always seems the most popular place late late night. I think everywhere seems to close, which kind of forces anyone out to eventually head there.

[CG1 Blue]

On ‎18‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 6:05 AM, elgordo38 said:

Well young fella I read most of these posts. I think it will be a race between your need for night life slowing down as you age or the night life disappearing before that happens. So young fella here is my advice "Enjoy yourself its later than you think" Sounds like a song I hard somewhere.

I'm old enough to know and love that Specials song, so perhaps I should be calling it a day

[Andrew Dwyer]

I'm old enough to know and love that Specials song, so perhaps I should be calling it a day

Ghost town ?


Sent from my iPhone with the usual amount of sincerity and sarcasm [emoji4]

[elgordo38]

21 minutes ago, CG1 Blue said:

I'm old enough to know and love that Specials song, so perhaps I should be calling it a day

Wisdom beyond your years. 

[Darkkakashi]

Hey Guys,

 

i just wanted to react re Phangan and the guy who said that Cocohut was the shit.

 

this was my first trip to Phangan so here is an unbiased / uninterested point of view :

 

anything north of Thong Sala, so the west coast and north west of the island, i found to be extremely preserved and great. Not that much mass tourism or at least kept to an human scale.

 

I have not been to the top north nor to the east so can't comment.

 

tong sala and anything south until Haad Rin was pretty ok, laid back, with some gems and some more or less even place (some hookers bars too).

 

Haad Rin : first the road to get there is a one way ticket to death. Imagine impatient song taew driver, mixed with dickheads tourist on shrooms or simply beers riding scooters, all of that taking place in a space mountain like hill with a lot of corkscrew turns, small roads and poor lighting. It must claims lives.

 

so once You get through this and get into "the pit" because this is what it feels like, well you get the feeling of a mix of Benindorn/Malaguf and Goa.

 

so basically instead of hordes of <deleted> from Manchester drunks on beer and looking for a fight or a nasty uncleaned pussy you get hordes of hippies wannabe from all over the world (I would say scandies, French, brits, Israelis and Spanish/italiens).

 

you do feel like that all this flower power bullshit is commercialized by the thai, with a lot of shot selling goa/shrooms/molly lovers multicolor tee shirt with skulls heads with <deleted> up eyes...right we get the picture.

 

well one would say it is always better than Patong and all these French Arab/French Copy Thugs spending their money at French Arab owned halal restaurant, the whole thing being a money laundering machine for the haschisch business down in France ( I am French).

 

a nice parabol of all this would be the Isaan girl selling her body to foreigners well here Thais are selling their culture to foreigners.

 

coming back to our friend and the cocohut. Tonight, Friday, Haad Rin was mostly empty apart from the Same Same bar where a groups

of below 30's Brits where painting their face with light reflective painting in view of a private beach <deleted> up party I guess.

 

cocohut itself: 10.15 pm the "spirituals bar" separate from the hotel and the restaurant (they like to remind you this very roughly like if you where a <deleted> for not knowing in the first place) well basically the booze bar closes at 10.15pm tonight Friday. With 3 customers : a drunk young blonde guy. My wife and I.

 

the sushi restaurant/beer only / soft drinks Bar was really empty.

 

the reception was greedy on the taxi Fare but I guess this is the price you pay for getting in the <deleted> of the island.

 

we were told that for the "thai new year" it should be more crowded.

 

now the bright side : apart from Haad Rin, where I guess the only interest is for Occidentals youngster below 30 to try and wish getting some other occidental below 30 pussy, get some shrooms, some shitty buddathai weed, all this being very risky and some party, like if they could not get that back home but I guess youth has to be experienced.

 

well apart from this Koh Phangan is a great island, not filled with pushy locals, not overdeveloped, some great preserved beaches and nature, and some great hotels and restaurants.

 

special mention to L Alcove, French Restaurant in Hin Kong and the Italien Restaurant next to it (wood coven pizza !)

 

re the hotel, I stayed in Kupu, amazing, pricey but I would rather stay 5 nights in Kupu Kupu rather than 15 in a Haad Rin joint, I do prefer quality to quantity, should it be for sleeping, partying and eating.

 

i mean shit does attract a lot of flies.

 

maybe as Murtoph would say "I am getting too old for this shit" or I am just a old fart or an old snob posh head, who knows.

 

that was just my point of

view and like a fart or a tourista's dhiarea always better out than in.

[CG1 Blue]

On ‎28‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 6:06 PM, Andrew Dwyer said:

Ghost town ?


Sent from my iPhone with the usual amount of sincerity and sarcasm

Nope

[thaibeachlovers]

On 4/1/2017 at 5:42 AM, Darkkakashi said:

Hey Guys,

 

i just wanted to react re Phangan and the guy who said that Cocohut was the shit.

 

this was my first trip to Phangan so here is an unbiased / uninterested point of view :

 

anything north of Thong Sala, so the west coast and north west of the island, i found to be extremely preserved and great. Not that much mass tourism or at least kept to an human scale.

 

I have not been to the top north nor to the east so can't comment.

 

tong sala and anything south until Haad Rin was pretty ok, laid back, with some gems and some more or less even place (some hookers bars too).

 

Haad Rin : first the road to get there is a one way ticket to death. Imagine impatient song taew driver, mixed with dickheads tourist on shrooms or simply beers riding scooters, all of that taking place in a space mountain like hill with a lot of corkscrew turns, small roads and poor lighting. It must claims lives.

 

so once You get through this and get into "the pit" because this is what it feels like, well you get the feeling of a mix of Benindorn/Malaguf and Goa.

 

so basically instead of hordes of <deleted> from Manchester drunks on beer and looking for a fight or a nasty uncleaned pussy you get hordes of hippies wannabe from all over the world (I would say scandies, French, brits, Israelis and Spanish/italiens).

 

you do feel like that all this flower power bullshit is commercialized by the thai, with a lot of shot selling goa/shrooms/molly lovers multicolor tee shirt with skulls heads with <deleted> up eyes...right we get the picture.

 

well one would say it is always better than Patong and all these French Arab/French Copy Thugs spending their money at French Arab owned halal restaurant, the whole thing being a money laundering machine for the haschisch business down in France ( I am French).

 

a nice parabol of all this would be the Isaan girl selling her body to foreigners well here Thais are selling their culture to foreigners.

 

coming back to our friend and the cocohut. Tonight, Friday, Haad Rin was mostly empty apart from the Same Same bar where a groups

of below 30's Brits where painting their face with light reflective painting in view of a private beach <deleted> up party I guess.

 

cocohut itself: 10.15 pm the "spirituals bar" separate from the hotel and the restaurant (they like to remind you this very roughly like if you where a <deleted> for not knowing in the first place) well basically the booze bar closes at 10.15pm tonight Friday. With 3 customers : a drunk young blonde guy. My wife and I.

 

the sushi restaurant/beer only / soft drinks Bar was really empty.

 

the reception was greedy on the taxi Fare but I guess this is the price you pay for getting in the <deleted> of the island.

 

we were told that for the "thai new year" it should be more crowded.

 

now the bright side : apart from Haad Rin, where I guess the only interest is for Occidentals youngster below 30 to try and wish getting some other occidental below 30 pussy, get some shrooms, some shitty buddathai weed, all this being very risky and some party, like if they could not get that back home but I guess youth has to be experienced.

 

well apart from this Koh Phangan is a great island, not filled with pushy locals, not overdeveloped, some great preserved beaches and nature, and some great hotels and restaurants.

 

special mention to L Alcove, French Restaurant in Hin Kong and the Italien Restaurant next to it (wood coven pizza !)

 

re the hotel, I stayed in Kupu, amazing, pricey but I would rather stay 5 nights in Kupu Kupu rather than 15 in a Haad Rin joint, I do prefer quality to quantity, should it be for sleeping, partying and eating.

 

i mean shit does attract a lot of flies.

 

maybe as Murtoph would say "I am getting too old for this shit" or I am just a old fart or an old snob posh head, who knows.

 

that was just my point of

view and like a fart or a tourista's dhiarea always better out than in.

Great to hear that the Had Rin disease has not spread to the rest of the island, though there was always the bar owner that PO everybody with a party bar on an otherwise peaceful beach. I had to leave TNPN beach early after 3 sleepless nights.

They should keep the noise to already ruined Had Rin, and leave the others to nature lovers- I know, I know, I'm just dreaming.

[EcigAmateur]

On 4/30/2017 at 3:21 PM, thaibeachlovers said:

Great to hear that the Had Rin disease has not spread to the rest of the island, though there was always the bar owner that PO everybody with a party bar on an otherwise peaceful beach. I had to leave TNPN beach early after 3 sleepless nights.

They should keep the noise to already ruined Had Rin, and leave the others to nature lovers- I know, I know, I'm just dreaming.

 

Noise on Tongnaipan ? when ? where did you stay ? resorts owners do not even allow jetski, let alone noisy parties...

 

 

[EcigAmateur]

Just be careful with cops road checks...

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎10‎/‎16‎/‎2017 at 8:00 PM, EcigAmateur said:

 

Noise on Tongnaipan ? when ? where did you stay ? resorts owners do not even allow jetski, let alone noisy parties...

 

 

On Yai, some years ago. Solitary party bar middle of beach. I was at one end, but the sound travelled. Well after midnight.

I went to see what was up and only a couple of customers and a dog, but they don't care about anyone else. Selfish b*****ds.

To add insult to injury, I got scammed on the bus ticket I bought from resort next door and the takeaway I brought with me turned out to be a lemon. Not my best holiday, by far.

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎3‎/‎31‎/‎2017 at 11:42 PM, Darkkakashi said:

Hey Guys,

 

i just wanted to react re Phangan and the guy who said that Cocohut was the shit.

 

 

First time I saw Cocohut it was brilliant ( didn't stay there, stayed another fantastic place that has been replaced by an expensive horrid boutique **** hole ), but when I went back some years later it had become an awful, unpleasant resort.

Shame really, as it's a brilliant beach.

Had Rin beach must have been the best beach in Thailand, till that unfortunate night when someone came up with the idea of a FMP.

 

Not many stupid tourists get killed on that road riding m'bikes; they're going too slowly. However, they do keep the hospital busy patching them up.

One time coming back from Than Sadet on the dirt road, passed a tourist family rented m'bikes for each of them; dad and the 2 kids gathered around mum that had skidded off the road and was upended in the bushes. Meanwhile, a Thai family of 4 passed by all on the one m'bike.