Let's KO!

Maybe you've seen pictures of southern Thailand's sugar-sand beaches with grass-roof huts snuggled into the shade of coconut palms. Or you've heard of the ridiculously cheap prices: beachside bungalows for $10 a night, spicy meals for $3. Or you've dreamed of discovering some hidden lagoon that lies beyond the reach of guidebooks, just as the characters did in Alex Garland's cult novel The Beach (which, like the Leo DiCaprio film based on the book, was set here).

 The problem is that if you've seen, heard, or read about a place, chances are others have too. And, as Garland's characters learn, anywhere hailed as a paradise on earth has to fall short of expectations. The tourism industry has taken its toll on some of Thailand's islands: claptrap towns, ubiquitous 7-Elevens, longtail-boat touts haranguing passersby, and bungalow operations and hotels elbowing for room on crowded beachfronts. Phuket is the most obvious example--once the darling of Hippie Trail backpackers in the '70s, the famous beach resort has been ruined, in some travelers' eyes, with big tourist crowds and cement poured over far too much of the island.

But charm, serenity, and beauty still cling to several of southern Thailand's other isles, or ko, and we've rounded up the best of the bunch.

The Gateway Ko Samui 
 Don't let the single runway and the open-sided thatched-roof terminal at Ko Samui's airport fool you. Samui is the largest island on the Gulf of Thailand side of the Malay Peninsula. It's so big that it doesn't really feel like an island. Instead, Samui often serves as a springboard to the solitude found only on smaller isles. Still, there are loads of fabulous beaches, with dozens of hotels lining the shoreline. You probably don't want to spend a full week on Samui, but it's worth taking a day or two there to get over jet lag before heading onward.

One reason to hang around is the $45 all-day boat tour through Ang Thong Marine Park, a collection of 41 largely uninhabited islands between Samui and the mainland. While on the tour, you can kayak to shore, hike to a waterfall, and snorkel in sheltered coves. Several companies offer slightly different versions of this popular tour, but they all include a short clamber up to the top of Ko Mae Ko to see the pristine, fully enclosed lagoon hidden at its center, a spot that helped inspire the plot of The Beach (if you're unfamiliar with the book and film, don't worry--you'll hear about them plenty while you're here). Sea Safari Thailand is one of the least expensive operations and throws in a hokey 20-minute elephant ride at the end of the tour.

Chaweng Beach has both the best strip of sand on Samui--a wide swath of soft, pale yellow that extends for nearly four miles--and the most choices for lodging and dining. Somewhere between the pricey resorts on the north end of Chaweng and the $3 backpacker hovels at the beach's center lies The Island resort. Its layout is pretty typical for Samui: tidy cottages on either side of a shady cement walkway that's a short stroll from the shops and travel agents on the dusty main road. Call ahead to snag thatched cabin 801, where you can step off your front porch right onto the sand.

The food at The Island is scrumptious, and in the evening tables are moved out onto the sand so guests can dine by candlelight. Also, try Budsaba, a romantic collection of thatched wooden huts called salas on the grassy grounds of the Muang Kulaypan Hotel. Each hut is barely large enough to fit a table and four people reclining on cushions. Dinner costs only about $16 per person, and live traditional Thai music plays as cool sea breezes tickle your toes (as per local custom, shoes come off before you sit at the table).

The Scene Ko Phi Phi 
 Heralded as one of the most idyllic spots on earth, tiny Phi Phi Don consists of two mountains connected by a narrow beach that's home to a lively tourist town. It's here that happy, sun-crisped couples and crowds of backpackers throng the narrow lanes, popping into Internet cafes, bargaining for cheap silk sarongs, and arranging diving trips at travel agencies. There are a few soulless, low-rise hotels in Phi Phi, but that doesn't spoil the funky, welcoming, homegrown feel of its thriving village.

Sadly, neither of Phi Phi's main beaches is ideal for swimming. Southerly Ton Sai bustles with ferries, speedboats, and longtails hogging up the prime shoreline. Northerly Lo Dalum beach is quiet and lovely but consists mainly of mudflats, which are under water that's knee-deep several hundred feet out to sea. For great swimming and snorkeling, many tourists hire boats to take them to one of the many isolated coves around the mountainous sides of Phi Phi.

The most popular boat ride is a $7 half-day trip of sun and snorkeling at Phi Phi Don's uninhabited sister island, Phi Phi Leh. Book the outing at the front desk of your hotel or through any of the tour operators in town. One of Leh's protected coves was used to film--what else?--The Beach, but for decades its claim to fame was Viking Cave. This huge cavern is where chao ley (Muslim "sea gypsies") scramble hundreds of feet up bamboo and vine ladders to scrape sea-swallow nests off the rocks. Restaurants in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore pay upwards of $20 for each cup-size mass of bird spit and twigs, which are used to make the delicacy known as bird's nest soup. The chao ley wisely harvest only the first two nests a bird builds, then they leave the swallow alone to build a third so this gravy train can continue into the next generation.

Resorts on the mountainous sides of Phi Phi Don tend to be lavishly upscale. An affordable alternative is in a tiny cove just east of the main beach and three minutes from town by longtail boat. The quirky resort called Maprao features bungalows fashioned from sticks to resemble little boats, with each porch/prow pointing out to sea. The bungalows dot a hilly jungle area above a restaurant with tables under the shade of palm trees. If you prefer more action, stay in town at the PP Charlie Beach Resort, where the bungalows are packed in tightly, but each unit has a tidy plot of greenery in front.

Noodle shacks selling decent enough curries and pad Thai abound in town. Most restaurants that serve international cuisine are overpriced, but one exception is Le Grand Bleu, a classy restaurant with French-inflected Thai food in an old northern Thai--style wooden building, just a few steps from the ferry docks. There's a lot of low-key partying on Phi Phi. A jovial crowd knocks back Singha beers at Reggae Bar, which has a big screen playing rock videos and a kickboxing ring for nightly matches. For a more peaceful evening, drink fruity cocktails at Jungle Bar, an ersatz Tarzan-in-the-Tropics, open-air joint with a sandy floor, tiki torches, and cups made from bamboo.