After having been travelling for 3 months and a half with many sightseeing adventures, we wanted to do something more relaxed for a couple of weeks. Namely, visiting the beautiful islands of Thailand. We have also missed the water, snorkeling and diving quite a bit. Moreover, after 3 weeks in Thailand, we finally got the approval from the government to fly the drone, so it was good timing.
One question when planning the 6 months sabbatical was, which islands would we rather visit in Thailand so that there are not many tourists, it’s quiet, with beautiful waters and with life underwater to dive and snorkel. Koh Kood is basically a paradise with less tourists in Thailand.
After researching for quite some time we found out that there are some islands close to Cambodia that are usually overseen when visiting Thailand, Koh Kood, Koh Mak and Koh Chang. From these ones, Koh Kood (Ko Kut) was having everything we wanted plus a forest with some beautiful waterfalls so the choice was clear :)
After having been here and having told people who live in Bangkok and have visited many islands or to people who regularly come to Thailand, we realized that for them this beautiful little island has actually become their favorite as well.
Summary of Highlights
This video summarizes the main highlights of Koh Kood island with some drone views and some slo-mo jumps at waterfalls. Read more for a video of the underwater highlights below.
Where to stay in Koh Kood?
We would recommend staying at Paradise Beach resort since it has a long beach, an infinity pool, some swings and a tasty restaurant with breakfast included for 75€ per night. Moreover, you can use the Kayaks for free, they have motorbikes for rent and the staff is very nice.
How to move around in Koh Kood?
The best way to move around in Koh Kood is by motorbike. The island is not huge but it has lots of hills, which makes it a bit challenging if you want to ride a normal bike. Motorbikes at our hotel cost 300 THB per day but 200m away from the hotel to the main road you can rent bikes for 200 THB per day.
Is it a good idea to do a snorkeling / diving tour in Koh Kood?
Yes, definitely, but only if you do the Koh Rang tour. Koh Rang is a protected marine park where people are not allowed to fish, feed the animals, etc. Therefore, there is beautiful coral and beautiful tropical fish, including beautiful schools of fishes, murrays and rays. If you’re lucky you can even see some turtles and black tip sharks. We’ve created a video summarizing the dive sites at 3 different spots and you can get the idea on how much life there’s out there.
We would recommend diving with Koh Kood divers, which have a nice boat, a very nice crew and they respect the sea life at the marine park. If you do it with them, save the energies for the last dive, which is the best. In fact, we did snorkeling in the first two and only a dive in the 3rd one because the first two places are super shallow, so there’s almost no difference between snorkelers and divers and you can save some money ;)
What can you do in Koh Kood?
Snorkel at Koh Kood: Apart from doing a snorkel / dive tour, you can snorkel by yourself. The best place to snorkel in Koh Kood is at the bay of Haad Na Lay (on the rocks of the south of the bay). For this, you don’t need a guide, so we would not recommend taking a snorkel day around Koh Kood with a company.
Beautiful beaches: You can also explore some of the beautiful beaches of Koh Kood, especially in the south west of the island.
Visit the waterfalls of the island and the big tree: If you take a motorbike, you can do a day tour to visit most of the waterfalls of the island and a big tree that is in the middle of the island. If you visit the waterfalls and the tree, be careful with google maps because it tells you to stop between 1 and 2 km before arriving at the place but you can actually keep driving since the roads are in good condition.
Our favorite waterfall was the Khlong Chao waterfall since it’s beautiful and you can bathe there. There are also some fish that will eat the dead skin of your feet, making a tickling sensation.
We would recommend visiting the Khlong Yai Kee waterfall as well, with many more of these fish. And we would recommend skipping the other one since we’ve heard it is not so spectacular and not so easy to reach.
Where to eat in Koh Kood?
If you like fish, there is a fisherman's place at the south east of the island where you can eat fresh fish. Otherwise, one of the best restaurants of the island is supposed to be the fisherman’s hut. But there is also a nice cafè owned by the Koh Kood divers that is the mermaid cafè. The food at the hotel is also nice but a little bit more expensive (between 200 and 300 THB per person).
Summary
As you might have guessed with the nice introduction and the beautiful videos, we would recommend visiting Koh Kood if you are visiting Thailand and want to escape from the stressful cities, the overtourism and enjoy some relaxing vibes with beautiful landscapes and underwater life.
We hope you liked this post! Our next stop is Koh Lanta, which is also one of the less touristic ones from the region of Krabi. But let’s see what that means during Christmas holidays ^^