Koh Samui
Maenam Beach, Koh Samui
The longest quiet beach on Koh Samui: five kilometres of north coast, low-rise, cheap by island standards, and the pier the Koh Phangan and Koh Tao boats leave from.
Maenam is five kilometres of Koh Samui’s north coast and it is the island’s quiet answer. Low-rise, unhurried, noticeably cheaper than Chaweng or Lamai, with a small working village behind it and the longest run of empty sand on Samui.
It also has a pier in the middle of it, which is the most useful thing about it and the least obvious.
The pier changes the calculation
Maenam pier is one of Samui’s main departure points for the other Gulf islands: catamarans run from it to Koh Phangan and on to Koh Tao.
If the trip is Samui alone, that is a curiosity. If it is Samui and one or both of the others, staying at Maenam removes a transfer from each end of the journey, and on a short trip that is worth more than a livelier beach.
The tide, which defines this coast
The north coast of Samui shelves very gently, and Maenam is five kilometres of that. At low water the sea withdraws a long way and you walk out over firm sand to reach anything swimmable; at high water it is a good, calm, easy beach.
This is not a defect, it is the coast. It makes Maenam and Bophut excellent for small children and unreliable for adults who want to swim on demand. Look at a tide table before you plan the day, which is advice this site gives about almost nowhere else in Thailand.
What our sea figure can and cannot say
The marine grid is about five kilometres. Maenam shares a cell with Chaweng, Bophut, Choeng Mon and Silver Beach and is given their series, and four of those five face east while Maenam faces north. The northeast monsoon that makes this coast rough from November into January reaches those two aspects differently, so the number below is the wrong shape for this beach in exactly the months it matters.
- Rainfall, millimetres per month
- Phuket, for comparison
Driest is February at 41mm over 7 rain days, wettest is November at 313mm over 23 rain days. Against Phuket, Koh Samui is wetter in 4 months of the twelve, and the largest gap is in November.
What the island-level series does say is the thing that surprises people: the calmest month here is October, which is the second-wettest, and the roughest are December and January, which are among the driest. June is the one month where the rain and the sea are both near their best.
If the dry-season sea matters, cross the island
This is the one Samui comparison that is measured rather than assumed, because it crosses cell boundaries.
Bang Por in the northwest peaks at 0.49 metres and Taling Ngam on the west coast at 0.56, against 0.64 for the whole northeast group, Maenam included. Both sit in marine cells of their own, so unlike the differences between the five beaches in this cell, that gap is a real measurement.
In other words: if you are coming in December and flat water matters more than restaurants, the answer is the other side of the island. If it does not, Maenam in December is perfectly pleasant and much cheaper.
Who it suits
Maenam for long stays, for families, for anyone island-hopping onward, and for anyone whose ideal evening is dinner and bed. Not Maenam if you want a choice of anything: the village has a handful of restaurants and the nearest real strip is twenty-five minutes away.
All eight beaches side by side are on Koh Samui’s beaches, and where to base yourself on the island is on where to stay.
Maenam Beach, Koh Samui FAQs
Is Maenam a good place to stay on Koh Samui?+
It is the island's quiet choice and the best value on it. Five kilometres of beach, low-rise, a small unglamorous village, and prices below Chaweng and Lamai. The trade is that very little happens here and the sea is shallow, so you will drive for a night out and sometimes for a swim.
Is Maenam beach good for swimming?+
It is calm and it is shallow. On Samui's north coast the water withdraws a long way at low tide, so swimming is a question of when rather than whether. High tide is fine, low tide is a wade, and the tide tables are the most useful thing you can look at before planning a day here.
Where do ferries to Koh Phangan leave from?+
Maenam pier is one of the main departure points, and catamarans run from it to Koh Phangan and on to Koh Tao. That is a real convenience if the islands are part of the trip, and it is why a beach this quiet has a pier in the middle of it.
Is Maenam quiet?+
Yes, and it is the reason people choose it. There is a village with a handful of restaurants, a Sunday walking street, and almost nothing else. If that sounds like an absence rather than a feature, Chaweng is twenty-five minutes away.
How rough is the sea at Maenam?+
Calmer than the number on this page, and we cannot prove it. Maenam faces north and shares a five-kilometre marine cell with four east-facing beaches, so it is given their figures. The northeast monsoon that makes this coast rough in December arrives at those two aspects differently.
Which Samui beach is calmest in the dry season?+
Not this side of the island. Bang Por in the northwest measures 0.49 metres at its annual peak and Taling Ngam on the west coast 0.56, against 0.64 for the whole northeast group including Maenam. Those two sit in their own marine cells, so unlike most Samui comparisons that difference is measured rather than assumed.