Chaweng
Chaweng is located on the eastern side of Koh Samui, directly across the island from Nathon. Without a doubt, Chaweng Beach is the most popular place to stay on Koh Samui.
The beach has beautiful soft, white sand and is over 7 kilometres long. The water here is clear and clean, not too deep and ideal for swimming. As with any popular spot, Chaweng offers many different types of water sports; wave-runners, para-sailing, canoes and catamarans are but some of the activities offered. Chaweng has the most dive shops on Koh Samui, catering to all levels.
The main road in Chaweng runs parallel with the beach and is lined on both sides with hotels, bungalows, shops, restaurants, cafés and bars. Heading north on the Chaweng Beach road will take you directly to the airport. Despite all of the activity here, there are still many places you can turn to for peace and quiet in this neat little town.
Chaweng is also the nightlife capital of Koh Samui, with everything from beachside cafés to sophisticated cocktail bars and discos. Nightlife in Chaweng is miles ahead of anywhere else on Samui in terms of choice.
The famous Soi Green Mango forms centre of which the rest of the towns bars revolve and is packed with (mostly) young travellers every night visiting the pubs, go-go bars, girly bars and clubs. The main strip is nearly three kilometres long with lots of smaller centres sprung up alongside it. McDonalds forms a landmark in the south of town just across the road from Tropical Murphy's Irish pub.
The choice of places to eat can be equally overwhelming at first glance and a drive down the Beach Road can pass by in a blur of seafood restaurants displaying their food in ice trays out-front. Closer inspection, however, reveals a surprisingly cosmopolitan selection, including fine Japanese, Italian, Israeli, Pacific Rim and Indian restaurants. A overwhelming offer of every cuisine from fabulous Thai-style beachside food to traditional continental fare with all the trimmings and everything in between, Chaweng has it all!
Given the amount of bungalows, resorts and hotels jammed along the beach, it comes as a pleasant surprise that the beach itself isn't packed with people. Obviously, it is a lot busier than anywhere else on the island, but getting a sun-lounge and a reasonable degree of space isn't a problem.
For shopping, Chaweng is equally hard to beat. Although there is a certain similarity to the market stalls which line most of the Beach Road selling faux-designer clothes, bags, CDs and DVDs, there are some very good Thai craft, jewellery, sportswear and swimwear shops. Chaweng also has the highest density of dive shops on the island, several high quality opticians and a vast array of tailors all touting for business.
On a practical level, Chaweng now has ATMs every 100 metres or so and plenty of currency exchanges. The island's most professional hospital, Samui Bangkok International Hospital is located within 300 metres from the SuperPro Samui complex.
Just a little further south is Chaweng Noi. The beach here is smaller than Chaweng beach but just as pretty. There are not as many resorts there and the area is a peaceful option that is not too far from the activities of Chaweng.