Koh Samui

Oral tradition holds that the island was first settled around the 6th century by fishermen from the Malay Peninsula, and some archaeological finds suggest people lived here far earlier. Later, Chinese immigrants, many of them traders from Hainan, established cotton and coconut plantations and shipped the produce to the mainland; coconuts remained the backbone of the economy for generations, and plantations still cover much of the island.

Samui stayed isolated well into the 20th century and had no roads until the early 1970s. Backpackers began arriving in growing numbers in the late 1970s, arriving by boat from Surat Thani. The turning point came in April 1989, when Bangkok Airways opened Samui Airport, which it built and still owns and operates. Since then the island has developed into one of Thailand's main beach destinations, while west-coast Nathon, where ferries from the mainland arrive, keeps a more local character.

Behind the resort strips, Samui is still an island of coconut plantations, fishing villages and Buddhist temples. Many families have roots in the Hainanese and other Chinese traders who settled here, and Chinese shrines stand alongside Thai temples. Seafood, southern Thai curries and dishes made with fresh coconut feature on local menus, and the walking-street markets are good places to try grilled seafood and sweets. Nathon, one of the ferry ports on the west coast, has a workaday feel that contrasts with the east-coast beaches.