Choosing a beach destination in August
 

Yup its smack in the monsoon season. My choices are Phuket, Krabi, Khao Lak or Pattaya. Looking at rainfall it seems like Pattaya has the lowest rainfall for that season but I'm wondering if it really matters ? Ideally I'd like to go to Koh Samui but airfare is about USD$250 from singapore. Any advise ?

Cheers !

Sunil

With your choices I can only speak to Phuket and Krabi and regardless of the season I would highly recommend either. Depending on what you want to do, both places can be fantasitc. The rain, when it comes, is impressive and can flood roads quickly. That said, the rain generally comes and goes and does not ruin entire days. If you get to Bangkok you can catch an Air Asia flight to Surat Thani then take the ferry to Koh Samui. May take a little while but is another option. So, plan away and have a great time.

OP,you are correct regarding the amount of rainfalls. That being said, I would not make the selection based on that alone. I would rather go to Southern Thailand over Pattaya any day and I have a house near BKK airport which is about 1 hr from Pattaya.

Of all four choices without taking cost into consideration, I would choose Samui - the amount of rain is similar to Krabi or Phuket but the water is clearer at this time. What airlines have you look at for the flights? I would have thought that PG or FD should be cheaper than that.

regards,
drew

have been to krabi & phuket in august....while i didn't find too many sunny days, i didn't come across any days that were completely ruined by rain....

My wife and I went in '09 to Phuket for a few nights and like the previous poster indicated - none of our activities were ruined by rain. The one day we got rain for the whole day, my wife and I got full body massages.

Thanks everyone. I'm going to try to find some more reasonable fares to Samui and if that fails try for Phuket / Krabi.

I have been to Koh Samui about 4 times now in either July or August and the rain tends to be late afternoon and into early evening. It didnt impact on our holiday. I have always steered away from Phuket and krabi at that time. I was led to believe that the rain for those places made it more of a gamble. Perhaps thats not as true as I thought though?

The only problem with Samui is that Bangkok Airways has a monopoly into Koh Samui. There are only two ways around Bangkok Airways price gouging into that airport - one way is to fly to Surat Thani and take a ferry into Samui, and the other way (which I've done twice) is to purchase a Bangkok Airways discovery Airpass, which is good for 3 to 6 segments, but must be bought well in advance, from outside of Thailand. In essence, with the Discovery Airpass, you can get 2 or 3 round trips on Bangkok Airways at prices that are competitive with other discount airlines. On one trip, I used it for travel between Bangkok and Siem Reap, and between Bangkok and Koh Samui, and the Air pass cost me about the same as either one of those round trips would have cost me individually.

http://www.bangkokair.com/discovery-...ex.php?lang=en

I've been to Samui, Krabi, and Phuket in various Augusts and any of them are workable. Khao Lak is essentially same weather as Phuket. Samui is generally drier this time of year but it's a small island and has less to do/see in your non-beach time. Boat trips to nearby places (Ko Tao, Angthong Ntl Marine Park, etc.) run pretty reliably. Phuket and Krabi will almost certainly be cloudier and have rain, though usually it pours down only for a bit in the afternoons, not the whole day. So you can still get some decent beach time in...unless very unlucky. Be advised that the August water at the Andaman side beaches can be rough, with rips and undertows to the point of being unsafe to enter and swim. Sometimes low tide is OK if you're a decent swimmer. Swimming pool may be your friend during this time of year on Andaman side. And boat service--especially longtails and smaller craft--will often have to be curtailed due to heavy waves. Larger boat craft such as to/from Phi Phi will be more uncomfortable trip if you're seasick prone, but still running. However, Phuket and Krabi each have more in the area to see and do. Many places in Khao Lak will be shut in August, so it will be very quiet up there--maybe too much so. In August, prices will be low on the Andaman side and not so low on the Samui side.

I've also been to Pattaya in August, and I wouldn't recommend going there in August--or any other time of year. I'd rather sit in Phuket in the rain than Pattaya in the sun.

BTW, Thai flies into Ko Samui now, but from Singapore, you'd have to connect in Bangkok. If you must come from Singapore, you could also check if any flights go direct SIN to Had Yai, then train or bus up to Surat Thani and get ferry to Samui.

Surely, you didn't go to Pattaya for sun and beaches, did you?

Listen to Dman. I agree with almost everything he's said. IMO it's gonna rain, rain harder and rain hard sideways virtually anywhere in SE Asia then. I was in Bali & Lombok in Feb and got mostly the sideways version so we cut it short after 9 days & went back to Thailand & Koh Chang. The rain didn't bother me at 1st, because it's still warm, but it got old after awhile. See, the normal monsoon pattern is reversed in Bali & it's dry in the Summer. Cheap flights on Air Asia too. We paid less to fly to Bali than we would have to KS on BKK Air. It's a thought. wj

Actually, no, but I didn't go there for the working girls either. As a female, I am not oriented that way. And as a non-male, not having a tallywhacker between the legs means I'm not forever condemned to think using same. :)