If you like to party or want to shop until you drop, then Chaweng is the place for you! This is the throbbing heart of the island, with the busiest beach and plentiful nightlife offering bars, clubs and restaurants to suit all tastes and pockets.
Swish cocktail lounges and banging beach bars; gourmet restaurants with five star service and fusion cuisine vie with street vendors selling exotically fragrant Thai food; Armani knock offs compete with hand tailored silk suits and dresses ready to collect in 24 hours; pirated CDs and DVDs sit alongside genuine Ray Bans; and quality handcrafted items made by skilled artisans can be had for just a few baht more than the abundant tourist tat… It really is all here!
Nightlife is extensive and inexpensive: Soi Green Mango (soi means street) is the centre of the universe for the island’s revellers, but is not for the faint hearted! During the day it is a lifeless wasteland that transforms by night into pulsating party central. From around 10pm until 3am revellers of all ages, shapes and sizes surge through this horseshoe shaped road, dipping in and out of the numerous crowded pubs, dance clubs and lady bars, taking in the sights and marvelling at the strangeness of this exotic melting pot.
The Green Mango itself is a huge nightclub split into two separate sections, each offering different DJ’s with their own eclectic selections of music. Anyone planning to party in Samui will find themselves drawn here like a magnet. Nearby is the other main clubbers hub – Sweet Soul Cafe: often crammed with party people, with pumping sounds and free flowing booze, it is a popular, if somewhat sweaty, dance venue. From here you can enjoy watching the sights and sounds as wide eyed tourists flow past, and you’ll usually see some exotic looking ladyboys preening on the street outside – this is one of their favourite spots to parade their surgically enhanced ‘beauty’!
Although the heart of Chaweng is still the Soi Green Mango, the main street, parallel to and just a few metres from the beach, has developed into a commercial strip of around three kilometres long. This brash and bustling area is packed with shops, bars and restaurants that are strangely quiet during the heat of the day but burst into life at night!
Numerous side alleys have sprung up alongside this main road, offering plenty of entertainment options – with everything from the visually stunning cabaret and over the top ladyboy shows, to talented live bands knocking out pitch perfect western rock music, jostling with crappy karaoke bars and Elvis impersonators, all interspersed with girly bars filled with scantily clad lovelies gyrating round poles – and, of course, you’ll find yet more shopping!
Recent years have seen more Australians visiting Samui and the facilities are starting to reflect this – check out the boisterous Bondi bar or enjoy a quiet drink in trendy surroundings and watc h the world go by at The Coffee Club, an Aussie franchise with a great food selection and coffee at reasonable prices: the nearby Starbucks is tired and pricey by comparison. Find The Coffee Club on Chawengs main road opposite The Ark Bar beach club (another hopping location both day and night).
McDonalds is a useful landmark at the southern end of town, and the complex there offers bowling for the more energetic traveller. Opposite is another institution: Chaweng’s most popular bar, Tropical Murphy’s Irish pub. With live music most nights, a magical atmosphere and great grub, this popular haunt has a well deserved reputation as one of the best pubs on the island.
Across the lake that extends behind Chaweng’s beach road you’ll spot the lights of the Reggae Pub at the end of a strip of garish ladybars, maybe a kilometre from McDonalds. Don’t be put off by the name – reggae night is Wednesdays only, and each night a band plays until midnight when the DJ takes over to up the tempo. Take a tuk-tuk or jump on a motorcycle taxi if walking is too hot – or you can follow the beach road to the Walking Street and cut through to the lake, and follow the road past the seemingly endless row of bars full of ladies offering their charms.
Not far from the Reggae Pub is another landmark in Chaweng – the Bungy Jump. If you have a head for heights and need an adrenaline rush, then make your way here. The view is spectacular and the operators offering this thrilling experience have a good reputation for safety.
Is Chaweng Beach right for you?
If you are a self-confessed party animal or a shopaholic, then Chaweng is the ideal location for you! Check out our selection of Chaweng rental villas and other holiday homes in the local area – most are located a few minutes from the heart of the action but are also sufficiently distant from the noise and crowds to ensure a peaceful night when your head finally hits the pillow!
For somewhere less lively, yet still pretty close to the heart of Chaweng, then we suggest you choose your rental accommodation near Bophut’s fabulously quaint Fishermen’s Village, on Bangrak’s quiet strip overlooking the Big Buddha Beach, or choose to be near the golden stretch of sand at Maenam – all share fantastic views across the 12km stretch of sea that separates Samui island from Koh Phangan. By choosing your holiday rental in these areas you won’t lack entertainment and shopping, but the pace of life is much less frenetic – and you are only a 10 to 20 minute taxi ride from the charms of Chaweng.
View our selection of Chaweng Villas…