What's on in Ko Samui (Koh Samui), Thailand through the year

Peak crowds — Gulf dry season, Christmas and New Year peak

• Season

  Gulf dry season

  15 Jan – 31 Aug · usuallyCrowded

  Samui's good months run opposite to Phuket's: the first half of the year is the settled one, with the sea flat off Chaweng and the interior roads dry. July and August are the crowded end of it.

Still on: Christmas and New Year peak (18 Dec – 5 Jan)

Busy — Gulf dry season, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Gulf dry season (15 Jan – 31 Aug (usually))

Busy — Gulf dry season, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Gulf dry season (15 Jan – 31 Aug (usually))

Peak crowds — Gulf dry season, Songkran

• Festival

  Songkran

  13–15 AprWater-festival New YearCrowdedClosures

  Chaweng's beach road becomes a three-day water fight and the ring road crawls. Ferries and flights either side are the busiest of the season. Source ↗

Still on: Gulf dry season (15 Jan – 31 Aug (usually))

Peak crowds — Gulf dry season, Samui Regatta

• Festival

  Samui Regatta

  23–30 MayMajor festivalCrowdedBook early

  A week of keelboat racing off Chaweng at the end of May, with the fleet and its crews taking over the beachfront hotels. Book that stretch of coast early or stay elsewhere. Source ↗

Still on: Gulf dry season (15 Jan – 31 Aug (usually))

Busy — Gulf dry season, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in June.

Still on: Gulf dry season (15 Jan – 31 Aug (usually)), Samui Regatta (23–30 May)

Busy — Gulf dry season, school holidays in 5 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Gulf dry season (15 Jan – 31 Aug (usually))

Busy — Gulf dry season, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Gulf dry season (15 Jan – 31 Aug (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in September.

Busy — October semester break in Thailand, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

• Season

  Northeast monsoon

  15 Oct – 31 Dec · usuallyRisk

  The Gulf's wet season proper: days of rain, water across the ring road in places, and flights and ferries cancelled in the worst of it. The island runs at half staff and half price.

Quiet — one of its worst months for weather

• Festival

  Loy Krathong

  5–30 Nov · usuallyMajor festival

  Baskets and candles floated off the beaches at the full moon of the twelfth lunar month, in the middle of the island's wettest weeks. A wet-season evening that is worth the wet season. Source ↗

Still on: Northeast monsoon (15 Oct – 31 Dec (usually))

Busy — Christmas and New Year peak, school holidays in 5 of the markets that fill it

• Holiday

  Christmas and New Year peak

  18 Dec – 5 JanChristmas & New YearCrowdedBook early

  The dearest fortnight of the year, booked out despite being the wettest part of the calendar here. Chaweng and Bophut sell New Year dinners rather than tables. Source ↗

Still on: Northeast monsoon (15 Oct – 31 Dec (usually))