Phuket or Koh Samui
 

I'll be in Thailand right after Christmas past New Year's with some friends. I was thinking of taking 3 days and going to the beach. Would you suggest Phuket or Koh Samui? Or somewhere else?

What hotels would you suggest? My friend said he heard good things about the Amari Palm Reef Resort on Koh Samui. Thoughts?

It depends on what you're looking for. Both Samui and Phuket will be very crowded then. If you don't mind that, and want the party scene, Phuket is the more lively. Samui, in my opinion, is more beautiful.

I spent 3 days on Koh Jam just south of Krabi last year. It's very quiet and peaceful, but there are no real resorts if that's what you're looking for. Here's a link to a sight with info on the less touristy islands: http://andaman-island-hopping.com/overviewcentral.htm.

We stayed at an amazing place called The White House on Koh Samui last April. It only has about 40 rooms, but staff were great, nice pool & beach, we had a junior suite which ran to about US$170 a night.

Nice restaurant on site and then a number of small beach restaurants just a few steps away.

If you want something sophisticated but without the big ticket prices associated with the chain hotels, I couldn't recommend anywhere any more. I really wanted to go back in 2005, but my wife felt we really ought to try some place else...

One other note - Phuket, especially near the Patong area, is very seedy, but it's a big island so you can avoid this place....

Really? :(

I was staying in the Chedi (about 15mins by tuk tuk) from Patong Beach in summer of 2000 and it while it wasn't beautiful it was far from seedy. We went there for some food one night but as for beaches we were quite happy to avoid Patong Beach and instead opt for the hotels private beach

Don't limit your choices
 

As reported earlier, Samui and Phuket will be very crowded. You might think about going to Ko Phang An, which is 30 minutes by ferry from Samui. Another hour from Phang An is Ko Tao, the quietest of the three islands. If you dive, you can't beat Ko Tao. If you want a big beach with some nightlife and cheaper prices, try Ko Phang An.

I've never been to Phuket but I was in Samui in 2001 (just before 9/11) and I thought it was paradise. I really dislike crowded beach scenes so I was a bit skeptical about going to Samui. My travel companions and I decided to check out Chaweng despite the chatter about crowding. We were amazed. We stayed at a small and inexpensive resort at the south end of Chawang beach and it was almost as if it were our own private resort and beach. And the resort was even full. I still dream of going back to that place.

Of course, late August is apparently the off-season so that may have skewed things a bit. But I would still unhesitatingly recommend Samui to anyone looking for a bit of tranquil beach time.

The reason we were looking into the two of these is because they both have airports that are easily accessible to the resort areas. Do some of these other places have easily accessible airports?

You can fly into Krabi, take a cab to the ferry pier, and then take the ferry to your destination. The link I posted above has details on different ferry schedules to the various islands in the Andaman. There are frequent flights from BKK to Krabi (don't recall city code), and the ferry to various islands will generally take an hour or less. When you decide (whether it's Krabi or Samui or Phuket), book a flight early because they fill up fast around that time.

As to the previous post that indicated Samui was a quiet tropical paradise in August -- I bet it was! But it is very crowded the week between Christmas and New Year.

Hop an AirAsia flight down to Phuket or Krabi (not sure which route they fly) and ferry out to Koh Phi Phi...fabulous place, great beaches, cheap everything. $10 all day snorkeling adventure to Monkey Beach/Shark Alley, etc. And not too many resorts, but enough to have diversity. I stayed at Phi Phi Charlie last Christmas for $50 a night in a very nice Villa.

There are no airports, but the ferries and cheap and frequent. I took the Lomprayah Catamaran from Samui to Tao for about $12 one-way. I think the fare to Phang An should be $5 or so, and it takes about 20 minutes. The ferry dock is about 15 minutes from the Samui airport. Phang An is much less crowded and commercial than Samui during the high season.

If you decide to go to Koh Samui, see if you can get into the Santiburi Resort http://www.samui-hotels.com/santiburi/ on Maenam beach. It's a great beach, quite and no all-night shopping, partying etc. (Need to go to Chawaeng beach for that...). And the resort is superb.

I'd normally recommend Koh Samui, but nobody seems to have mentioned that over New Year's it'll be monsoon season on the east coast, meaning that you stand a fair chance of getting drenched.

Phuket -- on the west coast and in peak high season over New Year's -- is very developed and many people don't like this, so Krabi would be a pretty good option (although I can't say this from personal experience... yet!). But book early because both will be packed.

Haven't been to Phuket - but have heard it's fun with a seedy sailor aspect to it.

As for the time frame you'll be there, I wouldn't worry about Monsoons in Samui - the season ends in November. If you're into partying hard, I would recommend Samui just because you'll be able to go the New Years Eve party on Koh Phangan - and you may be there for the 12/26 full moon party. It's a little over-hyped, but it's still fun nonetheless...

http://www.kohsamui.org/party.html

Did you go? How was Amari Palm? Anyone stayed at The Princess Village?
Going in March 2005...

Bingo.

Thailand has many idyllic beach resort destinations, including both Phuket and Koh Samui, either of which would be fine choices, but seasonal weather considerations should play a big role in your ultimate choice.