Koh Phangan

The Gulf of Thailand is warm enough to swim in all year, usually around 28°C to 30°C, and the island is ringed with sandy bays of very different character. Thong Nai Pan's twin bays and Bottle Beach in the north are the classic postcard beaches, with soft sand and deep, calm water, and Bottle Beach is easiest to reach by longtail boat. Haad Yao and Haad Salad on the northwest coast are the reliable all-rounders for swimming. Mae Haad has a sandbar out to the little island of Koh Ma, with good snorkelling off it.

The long southern and southwestern shore is different. Shallow reef flats run out a long way, so the water gets too shallow to swim at low tide, and that coast is better for its sunsets than for swimming. Haad Rin's Sunrise Beach is lovely by day but belongs to the party crowd. The east coast is choppier from about October to December, when the northeast monsoon reaches it, while the sheltered west stays calmer. Beach life sets the rhythm of almost every stay here.

Eating here means good everyday Thai cooking: curries, grilled fish, som tam and noodle soups from family kitchens and beach shacks. Thong Sala, the port town, is the best place to eat. Its evening food market and the Saturday walking street are the easiest way to graze through southern Thai dishes, roti and fresh fruit shakes. Srithanu on the west coast has the opposite kind of scene, with vegan, raw and smoothie-bowl cafés serving the yoga crowd.

What the island lacks is depth. Fine dining barely exists, and in Haad Rin and the resort bays a lot of menus are flattened for visitors. Seafood is fresh, but the best southern Thai cooking is on the mainland, not here.

Heritage is modest and local. Wat Phu Khao Noi near Thong Sala is the island's oldest temple, and Wat Khao Tham is a hillside temple known for its meditation retreats. There are also a few Chinese shrines in the villages. At Than Sadet on the east coast, King Rama V and later kings carved their initials into the rocks beside the river, and the place has kept a quiet royal association. Beyond that there are no museums or historic towns. Visitors come for the sea and the pace, and an afternoon covers the sights.

This is one of the world's best-known party islands, and its calendar follows the moon. Every month the Full Moon Party fills Sunrise Beach at Haad Rin with tens of thousands of people, neon paint, buckets of spirits and several sound systems going until well after sunrise. On other nights, half-moon and jungle parties are held in clearings and quarries inland, and Haad Rin's beach bars stay loud most nights of the month.

The island also has a gentler night out. Srithanu and the west coast have sunset bars, sober ecstatic-dance gatherings and small, relaxed parties. The north and the eastern bays are quiet after dinner. The scene is narrow, mostly sand, bass and young backpackers, and the big nights bring the usual crowd-safety and drink-spiking warnings. Anyone who wants to avoid it can stay at the other end of the island.

The interior is steep, forested hill country, and most visitors never go into it. Trails climb to viewpoints such as Khao Ra, the island's highest point at about 630m, and pass waterfalls like Phaeng and Than Sadet, which are at their fullest after the rains. Kayaks and paddleboards are easy to rent in the calm western bays.

The best of the outdoors is offshore. Sail Rock, a pinnacle between this island and Koh Tao, is one of the best dive sites in the Gulf and draws whale sharks in some seasons. Full-day boat trips go to the limestone islands and lagoons of Ang Thong National Marine Park. It is a good place to be outdoors, but not a landscape anyone would cross the world for.

Day trips mean ferries to the neighbouring islands. Koh Samui is about half an hour away by boat and is the only real change of scene. It has the Big Buddha temple, the old Chinese shophouses of Fisherman's Village in Bophut, and larger towns with more shops. Koh Tao is about an hour or a little more to the north, a smaller diving island that is pleasant for a day of snorkelling around Koh Nang Yuan. There are no historic towns, heritage sites or other kinds of outing within easy reach. The mainland is a long ferry ride away, so most visitors are happy to stay put.

Families do well here when they choose their part of the island carefully. Thong Nai Pan in the northeast and Haad Yao and Haad Salad in the northwest have gently shelving sand, calm water for most of the year and resorts with pools and family rooms. Thai staff and locals are warm towards children. The sandbar walk to Koh Ma and boat trips are simple pleasures that children enjoy.

There is nothing built for children, though: no aquarium, zoo or theme park. Roads are steep and the island's traffic is mostly scooters. Haad Rin, and the days around the full moon, are best avoided with children.

There is no proper public transport. Visitors get around in shared pickup taxis, called songthaews, which wait at the pier and in the main villages, or by taxi booked through an app. Most people rent a scooter. That is easy, but the hill roads are steep, some stretches are gravel or poorly kept, and accidents among inexperienced riders are common. Some places are hard to reach by road: Bottle Beach is most easily reached by longtail boat, and the far eastern bays are at the end of winding roads.

The island is small, so distances are short. Thong Sala to Haad Rin takes around twenty minutes by road. Ferries to the neighbouring islands and the mainland leave from Thong Sala.

Shopping is casual and narrow. Thong Sala has the island's convenience shops, small clothes shops and the Saturday walking street, which is good for loose cotton clothes, cheap jewellery and Thai snacks. Haad Rin sells neon party wear and souvenir T-shirts. In Srithanu, shops sell yoga clothing, crystals and handmade festival outfits. There are no malls, no design boutiques and no traditional craft worth a special trip, so serious shopping waits for Bangkok.

It is still a cheap island for most visitors. A simple beach bungalow, Thai meals from local kitchens, fruit shakes and scooter hire all cost a fraction of what they would in Europe, and a long stay on the west coast can be lived very cheaply. Costs rise in the boutique resorts of Thong Nai Pan and Bottle Beach, in the health cafés and yoga retreats of Srithanu, and with imported food and drink. Taxis and boat transfers cost more than on the mainland. In Haad Rin, rooms around the full moon are booked out well in advance and cost several times the usual rate, often with a minimum stay.

There is little formal performance here. Around Srithanu and the west coast, live music is small and informal: acoustic sets and open-mic nights in beach bars, reggae and jam nights, and music at the ecstatic-dance and sound-healing gatherings that grew up around the yoga scene. Fire-dancers perform on the beaches at Haad Rin. There is no theatre, concert hall or regular programme of Thai classical music or dance, so anyone looking for performances has to look to the mainland.

The quiet half of the island is one of Asia's great places to slow down. Srithanu and the coast around it are built around yoga shalas, meditation and silent retreats, detox programmes, breathwork and sound healing. People come for a week's course or stay for months. Thai massage is everywhere, from simple beachfront salas to resort spas, and there are herbal steam saunas and a few bigger spa resorts. Wat Khao Tham has long offered Buddhist meditation retreats.

The pace in the northern bays is just as restful: hammocks, early nights and little traffic. The party energy of Haad Rin stays in the south, but it is worth staying well away from it around the full moon.