Quite possibly our favourite Thai Island - and to think we almost missed it (again) . . .

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On all previous visits to Thailand, Ko Tao has always been our 'nearly' island. So many times we have planned to go and at the last minute changed our minds or just ran out of time. Well this time, even though we were having such a blast on Koh Samui and the fact that we had heard that Tao itself only really catered to divers, we decided it was something we must see, even if just for a day or two. Boy are we so glad we did, so much so, that we ended up staying a full 4 days and at the time we were there could have gladly agreed to stay there for the rest of our lives!

We were up early for the fast boat from Samui to Tao and arrived just after noon. As soon as we pulled into the pier we both felt that we would love this island; the sand was some of the whitest we had ever seen in Thailand and the water was crystal clear- it looked like paradise.

Without having any accomodation booked we jumped into the back of a jeepney of one of dive resorts from Sairee Village (the area we wanted to stay) on the promise that we would check out their accomodation once we had arrived. The ride didn't take much longer than 5 minutes and although the resort was lovely, it was slightly above our budget so the backpacks went on and we began our search for accomodation along the cobbled village road. It was very quaint and with the occasional glimpse of the lush beach coming into view inbetween the resorts, we couldn't wait to find somewhere, quickly check-in and get straight into the water. We ideally wanted a little hut/bungalow on the beach, but the ones we saw were either too pricey or beyond basic, but we soon found a new complex which was 90% finished with ridiculously cheap prices so booked initially for 2 nights and were amazed at the standard of the room. At this point we didn't want to stand and admire too much as we were both starving and desperate to get onto the beach, so we quickly changed into our swimwear and headed down to the beach.

We were greeted with soft white sand under our feet, amazingly clear turquoise waters and hardly any people (as most people are diving during the day here) - bliss! We settled down just under a coconut tree and silently observed this paradise for a while, looking at each other now and again mouthing 'oh my god how amazing is this'. We knew straight away we would love this island and i'm sure both of us were thinking 'how comes we never made it here before, how could we have missed it, and we don't want to leave'! We spent the day relaxing, reading, paddling in the warm waters and only moved to the nearby beach bar for a spot of lunch. Scott considered doing a dive course but you need at least 4 days for it, so he vowed to come back one day to do it as Tao is one of the best and cheapest places to do a PADI course. We saw an awesome red/orange sunset and went back to our room to shower and change for the evening. As we rushed out of the room earlier to get to the beach, we didn't really notice how nice it was - it was a really luxurious hotel standard room, complete with flat screen tv, huge double bed and great shower - an amazing room on an amazing island, this couldn't get more perfect!

That evening when we were ready we wondered down into the 'village' to find somewhere to eat, and were surprised at how many options there were for such a small island, however they weren't on top of each other and it didn't feel crowded which was nice. We ended up down on the beach at a bar called Fizz which had big beanbags outside it on decking by the sand, a great cocktail menu and yummy sounding food, so we plotted up there for the evening and indulged in some yummy Pad Thai, fish cakes, red chicken curry and rice along with a few drinks. This place was really chilled yet busy and we loved it. Later on in the night after a few cocktails we heard about a club called The Castle, which only opened two nights a week and guess what, it was open that night 😉 So we walked up to the main road and shared a truck with a few other people, not expecting much nightlife on this quiet island. How wrong we were - on arrival to the club, which was open air and an old castle in the middle of the island, it was like stepping into Ibiza, complete with dance music and buckets of vodka! We partied the night away here and had a really fun time, until we decided to call it a night around 3am and got a truck back to town to our comfy room after one of our best days/nights on this holiday and in Thailand full stop.

The next morning we woke to brilliant sunshine and after a quick breakfast (included with our room) we were back on the beach. We had spotted some boat trips in the travel agencies in the village which went to various spots around the island for snorkelling and a gorgeous looking island a few km away called Koh Nangyuan, but instead of booking on with a tour group, we chatted to one of the local boatmen who had a longtail boat in the water near to where we were sunbathing, and arranged a private tour with him the next day for the same price! We chilled for a good few hours here, getting in the sea often to cool off and had lunch at our favourite beach bar (pizza today), before deciding we were a bit too hot and we wanted to explore more of the island, so went off to hire a moped for a couple of hours.

We got a bike no problem for the bargain price of £3 and set off along the one road, armed with a map, to a viewpoint high up on the island which sounded like it had good views. The road was generally good and there was hardly any other cars/bikes on it which was nice, but just before the viewpoint it got really bumpy so we parked up and walked the last 5 minutes through a resort until we reached the viewpoint. This resort was right on the edge of the island with stunning panoramic views over the bay, so after admiring the views for a while we asked if we could use the infinity pool if we bought a drink and were told yes. Vic was happy to swim in the pool but of course Scott wanted more adventure so hired some snorkelling gear (and left a £20 deposit) and climbed down the rock face into the sea! After a while he came back up and we both had a swim in the pool before going to give back the snorkel gear and get the deposit back, minus the £2 for the snorkel gear. Unfortunately the guy had misunderstood and tried to charge us over £10 just for using the pool! Obviously we weren't having this so argued our point until he gave us all our money back and we made a sharp exit! Back on the bike we rode about 5km towards the other end of the island near the pier, and found a small secret beach there which was lovely, so we relaxed for a while, found an agent to book our onward boat ticket to Koh Phangan for 2 days time, and headed back to Sairee Village.

After giving back the bike it was around 5pm and we were pretty tired but peckish, so we wondered through the village and found a small place called Barracuda which had a happy hour on its starters and drinks. We ordered some breaded tiger prawns and a couple of mojitos, and found another slice of heaven of this island - the prawns were so delicious and so were the cocktails! We then went back to our room, had a nap and took it easy before getting ready later evening. We both fancied pasta so found an Italian restaurant off the main road which seemed pretty authentic, and had a great pasta and pizza, even if it did take over an hour to come. We then walked down to Fizz bar again for a couple of cocktails before calling it a night fairly early - we had to be up for our boat trip the next day and we were also looking forward to going back to our room!

Day 3 we were up and out to meet our boatman for our snorkel trip, so we stocked up on a few supplies (water, crisps and fanta), smothered ourselves in suncream, and boarded our little wooden longtail boat for the day. Our boatman was really nice and although he couldn't speak much English he understood a fair bit so we asked him to just take us around to the best snorkel spots before ending up on Koh Nangyuan island. We set off on the open water, which got a bit choppy at times, but soon reached our first snorkel point which was Shark Bay! Luckily we didn't see any sharks here but the water was super clear and we enjoyed having a good snorkel, seeing lots of coral and different coloured fish. After about 40 mins we were back on the boat and heading to the next stops, where we snorkellled again and saw some great marine life. We saw one of the big noisy tour boats with loads of people on and were so glad we had our own private boat this day! After some more snorkelling we were hungry so stopped at a tiny bay with one hotel on it, really high up some steps. While the boat waited at the bottom we climbed the steps to the top and were greeted with amazing views across the whole bay, which we looked out on while having some noodles and mixed rice.

Afterwards we made our way down to the bottom back to our boat and headed over to our last stop of the day, Koh Nangyuan. We approached the island, paid our £2 entry fee (as it is a national park) and handed over our water (no bottles allowed on the island, except the ones you buy on there!) and made our way in. The island was surrounded by clear waters and had a sandbank running through the centre of it, but it was too hot to sunbathe so we cooled off in the shallow waters for a while before Scott decided to climb to the top of the island up a walking path. Vic didn't have the energy to go so Scott went on his own although when she saw the photo's from the top later she was gutted she missed out! It took about 45 mins to get to the top through some pretty tough terrain, and Scott was on his own with no water which didn't make it any easier in the 100 degree heat. By the time he reached the top he was exhausted, hot and dehydrated, but luckily there were a couple of people up there to give him some water, and then take some photos of him when he felt better 😊 The views were incredible, with the water such a vivid colour against the pale sand, the camera captured it well but it was even more amazing in reality. After another difficult climb down, Scott drank about 2 litres of water and showed Vic the photos which made her really jealous that she didn't do the climb, which although hard was worth it to see those views! Soon it was time to head back to the mainland so after an incredible day at sea we had fallen more in love with Koh Tao and really didn't want to leave the next day!

On our way back to the hotel we both really fancied the prawns from Barracuda again, so made a quick stop there (we also had some fish cakes, now that Vic is a lover of fish) before going back to relax and freshen up. That evening we were quite tired from the day at sea and not too hungry, so we just wondered through the village and down to the beach, had a drink and then decided to get some chocolate and banana pancakes from the pancake stall which were yummy, before going back to our room for an early night, ready for our last day on this amazing island.

On the last day we had booked the afternoon boat, so spent the morning relaxing on the beach and at a swimming pool at the dive resort next door, before getting picked up to go to the pier for our trip to Koh Phangan (KPH). We really didn't want to leave Koh Tao as we had such an awesome few days and contemplated not bothering to go to KPH, but as we enjoyed it so much last time we agreed to stick with our plans and go - probably not the best decision we would make, but we left Koh Tao both knowing that someday we would be back on this little paradise...

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Comments

[taracloud]

Incredible water!
Your first photo is amazing--fabulous colors of the water (other photos great too! Fine adventures, and I'm so glad you were open and stayed longer than planned. Happy travels!