Beautiful Koh Mak is located in the Gulf of Thailand towards the border
with Cambodia. This lesser known island is one hour by speedboat from mainland
and is surrounded by a marine National Park.
Koh Mak is a relatively new destination and a bit of a secret travel spot. The island has many
deserted white-sandy beaches. The waterfront here is very quiet even in high season.
There are not many resorts on Koh Mak, and never many tourists around.
The island is gorgeous, covered with coconut groves and rubber tree plantations.
The coastline has volcanic rocks and mangrove vegetation.
Let’s go discover Koh Mak together. I’d love to show you the most beautiful spots on the island.
Koh Mak is a small island and you can easily explore the entire place
by bicycle. In fact, cycling is big on the island.
The roads are very quiet. There are only a few cars and a handful of motorcycles.
It’s very easy to get around as Koh Mak is mostly flat and the main roads are paved.
The multitude of shady trails through the rubber plantations
and coconut groves make Koh Mak a great cycling destination.
Not many people know that Koh Mak is a private island, owned by 5 families.
It’s a very small and tight community built around the coconut and rubber plantations, which are
island’s main export. The majority of the local people work in the plantations or as fishermen.
There’s not much to do on the island besides enjoying being here.
You can relax and unwind. The visibility of the water is extremely clear
and the nearby marine park offers fantastic snorkeling opportunities.
I was dazzled.
The island offers a simple, quiet way of life, near nature.
There’s fresh fish, tall coconut trees, long beaches and crystal clear water.
Ko Mak has no pubs, no crowds, no noisy bars. There is virtually no nightlife. There are no
supermarkets either, and not even an ATM. Actually, there’s one, but it never works.
The biggest excitement on the island is the market every Tuesday. This is the
day fresh food supplies arrive from mainland, so everyone gathers around in this tiny spot.
Koh Mak is surrounded by 21 lovely little islands.
Only 9 are inhabited, the rest are overgrown with thick jungle and claimed by the birds.
It’s such a lovely feeling, sitting on the beach,
looking at those green islets floating in the ocean.
Talking about the beach, Let’s go tour the shoreline! There are two main beaches on Koh Mak,
let me show you on this tiny map. There’s Ao Saun Yai and Ao Kao,
which are home to the majority of resorts on the island.
Ao Suan Yai is a long curving swathe of sand.
There are only a few resorts along this shore and they share 3 km (about 2 miles) of sandy beach.
There’s a beautiful pier here used by Panan Speedboat.
If you take Panan speedboat from mainland, this is where you will arrive.
The beach is very long and well groomed around the resorts. At high tide, most
of the sand disappears. On the east side of Ao Suan Yai, the beach looks more wild and deserted.
Late afternoon, you can watch the sun disappear behind the hills.
Ao Kao Beach is the other very long stretch of a beach.
There’s a pier here too used by the Leelawadee Speedboat.
Along with the beach resorts you will also find small restaurants and shops on the main road.
As you walk along from end-to-end, the beach changes. This is my favorite beach, in this
lower section here near Lazy Day resort. There are tall coconut trees leaning over the water.
From here you can enjoy a beautiful vista of the islands Koh Rayang Nok and Koh Rayang Nai.
These are the two main beach areas on the island. The rest of Koh Mak has really
tiny smaller beaches. Some are so remote, there are no resorts or signs of life anywhere around.
All this area here does not have much of a beach but there’s beautiful mangrove vegetation.
The Leam Chan cove here has a little restaurant called Banana Sunset. It’s right on the water
and is one of my favorite sunset spots. From Banana Sunset, the sun disappears behind the
islands Koh Rayang Nok and Koh Rayang Nai. You see, Koh Mak is shaped like a starfish, so you
can watch the sunset each evening in a different location along island’s arms.
On this side of the island, is where the Ao Nid pier is located here.
This is the main commercial pier, where provisions arrive from the mainland. You
can travel to Koh Kood and Koh Kradat from here with Boonsiri Catamaran.
This is also where the only temple on the island is located.
It’s a small Buddhist temple overlooking the bay.
The temple is the center point of the community and has several resident monks.
On this side of the coast around Ao Talong and Ao Tann you will find small hamlets inhabited by
fishermen and rubber farmers. The sand is darker on this side of the island.
And the shoreline has more mangroves. There are only 2 resorts here and the
longest pier on the island. There’s a small fee if you want to walk the pier.
There’s also the Leam Son point. It’s a small,
secluded beach here where you can catch a longtail boat to Koh Kradat.
This point over here is home to the most isolated beach on the island
Ao Tao Khai Beach, also known as Turtle Beach. Sea turtles come here to nest,
hence the nickname. Unfortunately, when I was here, the jungle had overgrown the trails that
lead to Turtle Beach. The rainy season made the hike even more difficult. In a nutshell, we did
not find a way to cut through the tick forest. We flew our drone over the island to see the beach.
But our signal was weak and we never quite made it. Here’s a glimpse of this secluded location.
On this side of the island the bay is shallow. There are a few hotels and little beaches.
There’s also a lonely pier at Ao Pra.
Above Ao Lom, the island is a bit more hilly and overgrown with forest.
This part of the island is made of dark volcanic rocks. There’s beautiful mangrove vegetation right
on the water and views of the islets floating in the bay. This is a very photogenic area.
Close to Koh Mak lie three private islands – Koh Kham, Koh Rayang and Koh Kradat.
You can visit those islands by catching a local longtail boat or by kayaking there by yourself.
Each island has a small entrance small fee.
Most of Koh Mak’s surrounding islands are great snorkeling destinations.
While exploring the island, you can also visit the exotic art collection of The Kingdom of Somchai.
Somchai is a local artist sculpting life-size nude art.
His sculptures are made of wood and cement. There are many sculptures of turtles, monkeys,
women and Nagas, the Thai mythical serpents. The art is overgrown with jungle around it. It’s an
interesting site. You can walk here for free and leave tips for the artist in a little tip box.
You can also visits the rubber tree plantations, where rubber is collected daily.
The white latex is mixed with chemicals, then hand-rolled into mats and hung to try.
You can also walk around the coconut groves, but beware of falling cocos!
Koh Mak has beautiful coconut plantations. The coconut tree is a primary source of
building materials for the rural houses, and mooring poles for the fishing boats.
The coconut is also an essential ingredient in Thai cooking. It’s a custom to plant a
coconut palm at the eastern corner of a house to bring happiness to the household.
Coconut juice is considered to be pure and is given as an offering
in Buddhist ceremonies. Most of the coconut plantations on Koh Mak are organic.
How to get here? You can easily travel to Koh Mak by catching the public bus number 999 from
the Ekamai bus station in Bangkok. The bus will stop at Center Point Pier. From here, it’s a
short songtew taxi drive to Laem Ngop Pier. There are several speedboats going daily to Koh Mak,
both in the high and low season. The entire trip will take you around 7+ hours. You can also fly
to Trat and catch a cab to the pier or arrange a private transfer from Bangkok to the island.
Where to stay? There are only about 25 to 30 accommodation options on the island. And there
is not a large choice of budget rooms, mostly mid-level to high-end hotels. So plan ahead of
time if you want to find a good value place. The two most popular beaches on the island
are Ao Suan Yai and Ao Kao. There were a few beautiful resorts right on the sand
like Seavana, Koh Mak resort or Prompakdee. And on this side you also have the Makathanee Resort.
Around this area there’s a new hotel being constructed called The Mak. It looked really nice.
Another secluded place is the Mira Montra resort around here.
If you are looking for a house or a long-term stay,
check out Good Time Sports resort. They have Thai style houses set in a tropical garden.
Koh Mak prides itself for being a sustainable place with low carbon emission. The community
encourages visitors to protect the environment of the island and to minimize their carbon footprint.
You will love falling asleep to the song of the crickets at night. It’s magical, just listen.
This is all the information I have for you. If you have additional tips,
please list them in the comments below, so others can read about your experience.
Thanks for watching!