Affordable Koh Samui calling

If you're anywhere near this place,bring your mom here to relax and enjoy.

Here's a story based on experience by Kay Dibben

WHEN I first visited the Thai island of Koh Samui 21 years ago, it was a lush, green backpackers' paradise with dirt-cheap bungalows beside white sandy beaches.

There were no luxury resorts or direct flights to the island. The few tourists who found their way there had to take a not-so-comfy boat ride from the mainland.

This friendly tropical island was a wonderful place for a cheap, relaxing beachside Thai holiday and my friends and I stayed for weeks.

When I recently returned to Koh Samui, knowing it had been well and truly "discovered" by both well-heeled tourists and resort developers, I was relieved to find it was still simply a beautiful island.

To uncover the true delights of Samui you need to get out and explore its attractions beyond the busy tourist centres and to meet some of the friendly locals.

Jetting in on one of Thai Airways' twice-daily 45-minute flights from Bangkok, I look down on hills still thickly covered with coconut palms. There are about two million on the island.

You can take your life into your hands and hop on rented motorbikes – we were told the fatality rate is high – or, more sensibly, hire cars to explore the island's great sandy beaches. Most have now been discovered and resorts established all around Koh Samui.

While more than 100 are five-star standard, fortunately, the budget or mid-range tourist can still choose from the cheaper deals available.

The island has some terrific restaurants, some of them genuinely upmarket, offering delicious Thai and European food, and there are also luxury massage spas.

Then there is the excellent shopping in the main resort town of Chaweng. It's best done at night when it's not so hot and more sellers are offering their bargain buys in the long, colourful shopping and dining strip.

We stayed first at the beautiful Anantara Resort and Spa at Bo Phut beach, on the quieter northeast end of the island.

The tropical garden, with a lotus pond between the stylish foyer, restaurants and beachside infinity pool, is tranquil and a great setting for evening drinks and the weekly Taste of Siam banquet.

The resort's Australian chef took a break from the kitchen to lead an early-morning 3km cycle tour to the Big Buddha, a 15m-high attraction.

It's an interesting and easy ride through a fishermen's village and past shops, homes and beaches but is best done as early as possible before it gets too hot and sticky.

It was good to see the stunning golden Buddha without hordes of tourists milling around and then ride on to nearby Wat Plai Lam to see a 14-armed Buddha and other statues and temples.

Another great excursion took us to Ang Thong National Marine Park, a group of more than 40 islands about an hour's slightly bumpy speedboat ride away.

We headed off with our Thai guide Smithy and his crew and were soon snorkelling in a spectacular area of vegetated rocky outcrops and mini islands, where sheer cliffs rise dramatically out of the water.

From there, it was a cruise through a series of islands, similar to Phi Phi on Thailand's west coast but without the hordes and stopped at a sandy, tree-shaded beach for lunch.

Afterwards, we visited an emerald green lagoon in the middle of a limestone mountain.

It was well worth the hike up so many steps to a series of platforms with terrific views down to the lagoon, which is fed by an underground stream from the sea. Climb higher and there are 180-degree views over the other islands.

Back on Koh Samui, we spent a day visiting a coconut plantation which encompassed some fascinating experiences.

Re-locating to Centara Grand Beach Resort at Chaweng, a large resort with a wide beachfront, which provided a good base for some serious shopping.

I could not leave Koh Samui without revisiting the little family-run backpackers' hideaway where I had enjoyed such a relaxing holiday all those years ago.

The simple thatched-roof bungalows and its friendly Thai owners were gone, replaced by a boutique resort. The view from the villas, a pool and open-air restaurant was still just as I remembered it: the same white sandy beach, tranquil aquamarine water and large, smooth boulders that provided an ideal spot for watching the sunset.

The writer was a guest of Thai Airways and Tourism Authority of Thailand.

The Daily Telegraph