Choeng Mon Beach

Much more upmarket that its neighbour Big Buddha, Choeng Mon is made up of a series of bays on the northeastern tip of the island, which are dominated by a handful of three to five star resorts.

Most of the activity of places like the White House, SALA Samui and Imperial Boat House is kept in-house, meaning that apart from a few tailors and local restaurants there's not a lot going on outside the hotels. Still, when guests can have their own private beach as offered by Tong Sai and the Peninsula, there's not a great deal of incentive to leave either.

Most of the resorts attract an older, package tour crowd, predominantly from Germany and France. This is reflected in the food and entertainment on offer in many of the resorts' restaurants. So don't expect the Thai cuisine served to be too spicy and do expect traditional Thai dancing and numerous Filipino bands expertly playing covers of Western pop standards.