Chaweng Beach

Haad Chaweng boasts marvellous powder-white sand accompanied by a tacky scene in the heavily developed tourist town that backs the beach. Covering a long stretch of the east coast, the area hosts seething nightlife along with stacks of restaurants and accommodation, including some of Samui’s largest resorts. Love it or hate it, Chaweng is the centre of the action.

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Much of the north to central stretch of this roughly six-kilometre-long beach is buttressed by a reef and stays shallow for some distance off shore. It gets better around the centre of the beach and remains excellent to the south, where it’s easy to see why Chaweng became so popular in the first place. Wide patches of soft sand strike a brilliant shade of white.

The beach goes on and on. Photo taken in or around Chaweng Beach, Ko Samui, Thailand by David Luekens.

The beach goes on and on. Photo: David Luekens

While there’s enough space to ensure that you won’t have to battle for a sunbathing spot, Chaweng has its share of jetskis and speedboats rumbling off shore. North Chaweng is directly under the flight path of noisy airliners as well. You’ll encounter quite a few beach vendors who trudge around trying to sell rafts, sarongs, trinkets and tasty snacks. They tend to not be too pushy, and a friendly "No thanks!" should suffice for them to leave you alone – just bear in mind that you may need to let every one of them ... Travelfish members only (Full text is around 800 words.)

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