"Ko Samet" a Ko Samet Travel Page by gaolei

Ko Samet is an island, 20 Km south of Rayong City, which makes it about 4 hours south of Bangkok. I spent the night in Pattaya and rented a car the next day for a day trip to the island. From Pattaya it took about 1 1/2 hours to get to the ferry docks. It can take up to 45 minutes on the slow ferry to get across to the island.

At the ferry dock, you have a choice of 2 ways to get to the island, a slow ferry boat or the speed boat. The slow ferry for 100 Baht takes 45 minutes, the speed boat for 1000 Baht takes 15. Since I was in no rush, I took the slow boat. Since there are wind driven waves in the strait, those who took the overpowered speed boat were beat to death by the waves as they went to the Island.

Typical Thai baht busses take you from the dock to the beach or your hotel on the island. Outside the small town surrounding the dock, everything is in the nature preserve. This means that once you leave the town, you will be driven to the entrance to the main road of the island where you will pay 800 Baht for the privilege of entering the preserve.

If you walk to the first beach, a 10 minute walk, you can enter the nature preserve for free. So, if you are just looking for a beach to go swim, this is a good alternative.