Ko Samui is a diver's haven. The warm, tropical waters and beautiful coral reefs off the island make it perfect for scuba diving, therefore, finding lesson and rental places on the island is no difficult feat. Here are a few options:
- Silent Divers are a great dive shop have a lot of knowledge about diving and snorkeling also about the Island Koh Samui.
Do you need some advise for a restaurant or tour, friendly staff will help you, fell free to visit the shop in North chaweng.
Big Blue Diving at Chaweng Beach offers more than just rental gear and diving lessons. It also provides elephant treks, an expedition to swim in a waterfall deep in the jungle, and all-night beach parties. - Easy Divers has several locations on the island and leads numerous diving expeditions.
- Searobin Padi Dive Center offers a full range of PADI scuba diving courses providing personal attention and dive in small groups on a good selection of boats and . The dive center is located at the white and sandy beach of Choeng Mon beach hotel & dive resort. Searobin scuba rental equipment is brand new from aqualung & mares and include open heel fins and boots.
Samui International Diving School is a part of Planet-Scuba and is a great place to get lessons. - Discovery Divers is also a quality school with limited number of divers on the boat (no crowd!!). Located at the Amari Palm Beach Resort
- Blue Planet is one of the smaller dive centres on Samui. Group size is 3 or less.
- Bophut Diving School - have English and French speaking instructors. They are based in Fishermans Village, Bophut and offer a comprehensive range of PADI courses and diving day trips.
Walking, biking, and swimming are all popular outdoor activities whether it be beachside or in the jungle. Paths may change depending on the season, check with your hotel or tour group for the best open paths during your stay.
Koh Samui has currently one 18 hole golf course, Santiburi Samui Country Club which is a part of the Santiburi Resort & Spa and Bohput Resort & Spa. located in Maenam and Bohput respectively. Wonderfully challenging with panoramic views from at least 16 of it's fairways. It should go without saying that its landscape is gorgeous. A second 9 hole golf course has been constructed The Royal Samui Golf & Country Club, very challenging short par 4 "s and par 3 "s with a length of 2,200 yards. The views on Hole 2 and Hole 8 are absolutely breathtaking of Chaweng beach and Lamai beach. Seaviews you will find on every hole this course is definetly worth a visit. You can find all the golf information and golf course images on www.samuigolf.com. A beautifully designed 9 hole Pitch & Putt course in Bohput called The Bohput Hills Country Club. A truly professional little bit of fun for even a great golfer to practice on ones short game, with only a length of 1,000 yards.. All these courses are easy to get to and clubs, equipment and certain attire can be purchases or rented on site.For another kind of golf, try the football golf. It's great fun and can be enjoyed by everyone in the family and not just the sportsmen as you don't really need any skills in football or golf to play. It's in Choeng Mon near to the Imperial boathouse hotel. http://www.samuifootballgolf.com.
Angthong Marine National Park gets you the chance to see marine and bird life up-close and personal but also provides kayaks, canoes, snorkeling, and great beaches for swimming.
Here are some (hopefully) good tips for things to do:
- Rent a private sail boat for a full day, it will cost you about 140 euros for the whole day ( http://www.sailing-in-samui.com/). They will pick you up from your hotel. They also organize sailing safaris for 3 to 4 days to the Marine Partk then p to Koh Tao and back to Samui. Very safe and a nice guy BTW!
- Go on the half day Island safari with Mr. Ung. It includes Crocodile show, playing with elephants, elephant trekking, waterfall swimming, 4WD climb up into the mountains, lunch in the jungle, and even more!
- Go on the full day speedboat trip to Koh Ang Thong Marine Park with a company called Petcherat. It includes snorkelling, kayaking and trekking to emerald lake (amazing!). Ang Thong was the place that inspired the film «The Beach» and is paradise on earth!
- Definitely rent a car (with Hertz at the airport you can get a small Jeep for about 20 euros per day!). It will give you the opportunity –and the motive- to drive around the beautiful island, as well as to go out at night (if you don’t stay at Chaweng). Chaweng is about a 7-10 minute drive from Bophut and a little less from Maenam. If you want to drive around the whole island it will take you about 90’ (total of about 60 kms).
- Don’t miss out on Thai boxing. It takes place regularly at Chaweng stadium and is very good fun. It’s the Thai national sport and they take it very seriously.
- If you've got an afternoon to spare and you want to immerse yourself in the local culture, why not learn to cook like the locals. The Samui Institute of Thai Culinary Arts offers excellent courses and the best thing is the feast at the end!