Get FREE email communications from Fodor's Travel, covering must-see travel destinations, expert trip planning advice, and travel inspiration to fuel your passion.
We've compiled the best of the best in The Gulf Coast Beaches - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
One of the most creative restaurants on Samui fuses culinary sophistication with a welcoming, casual atmosphere in keeping with its surroundings. Chefs perform alchemy from the venue's open-counter kitchen, providing dishes such as linguine with prawns, clams, mussels, and chilies in a white wine and tomato sauce; and king prawns with garlic, chili, and lemon.
Beachfront trattorias don't come more inviting than this one. Pizza is the specialty of the house, and pies come in various thin-crusted, wood-fired guises. Perhaps the best thing about the place, though, is its ambience. You can literally feel the sand between your toes at the beachside setting while the views of the boats sailing in and out of Mae Haad Bay are unfailingly evocative.
Lovers of Italian food are particularly well-served on the island, with several stellar options. One of the most memorable is where chef-proprietor Alessandro Paterno presides (usually with cigarette fixed to mouth) over a daily-changing selection of fish and seafood creations.
