Ko Samet Travel Forum

Hello,
I am planning to go to Ko samet for a short two nights around Sept 19. Considering i'll probably arrive in ko samet in mid to late afternoon coming from Bangkok, stay a full day and leave the next day around late morning, (and then travel another 4-5 hours back to bangkok), do you think this is too little time?

also, where do i stay? ive done a lot of reading on this and reviews seem to be very mixed. the west coast sounds lovely but expensive, and the dirt road seems like a huge pain. the east coast sounds too developed and its hard to tell which is the nicest, not too touristy beach on the east. i prefer somewhere that is not in the thick of it all, but accessible if i feel like going out for a drink. i'd like to spend 500-900 on the room. most importantly i want a CLEAN room-- no mice, ants, and most importantly, MOSQUITOES. i get bad reactions to mosquito bites. i'm wondering what the mosquito situation is at any of the places you can recommend, and if i should go with fan or a/c.

p.s. where do you get those mosquito coils i read about? do they really work?

I do not think any hotel could ensure no mosquitoes in your room! The coils are, imho, a waste of money. I take the precaution of buy a fly killer spray locally and giving the room a good spray before I go out and that way the room does seem to stay mossie free for the night. I always take piriton if I am bitten and that stops any reaction pretty quick - I too am prone to bad reactions.

Regards

John

Ko Samet is a dengue prone area, it might even have some malaria. Get DEET based repellant and wear arm and leg covering at night. DEET should last 2-5 hours so you have to reapply regularly.

Mosquito nets are good value and can be improved with a spray of aribone repellent.

AC rooms are closed in so there will be less insects but they cannot be guaranteed.

September is at the end of the bad mosquito season but you will still get them even during the day.

Do guesthouses offer mosquito nets?

some guest houses do offer mosquito nets but not many on this island. I spent 11 days here in august and heard all this crap about malaria bla bla bla. They are not even that bad there at all. I mean u should still use the spray and with that you will not get bit hardly ever. I never had problems with it anyway and neither did the people around me. I even used the cheap mosquito stuff that i bought on the island at a 7/11.