Mae Haad

Mae Haad is where you arrive. Every ferry from Chumphon, Surat Thani and the other Gulf islands docks at this pier, and the village behind it holds the banks, the clinics, the dive shops and the 7-Elevens that the rest of the island runs on.

That gives it a specific and underrated advantage. If you have an early boat, you walk to it. On an island where the alternative is arranging a pickup in the dark on a steep road, that is worth more than it sounds, and it is the same argument that makes Bangrak useful on Koh Samui.

It is a working village rather than a resort strip, which shows in the prices and in the fact that the beach is a working harbour rather than somewhere to spend the day. If you want sand, you walk or ride ten minutes north to Sairee or fifteen south to Chalok.

Our Mae Haad listing scores 9.1 on location, behind Sairee’s top score of 9.6 and Chalok’s 9.3 but level with or ahead of both east coast listings, which is the pattern you would expect: central, connected, not beachfront.

Best for a first or last night, for anyone who dislikes the Sairee volume, or for people who would rather be five minutes from both ends of the island than at one of them.