Koh Chang is kinda big! You won’t be seeing it all in 3 days unless you are just rushing everywhere, which surely is not the point of traveling. I’m happy with the choices I made while exploring Koh Chang because I think I really got to see the best of it. I have explored the island for 3 full days and these were the spots where I have been.
I was lucky to find a cool group of people so I didn’t spend any time alone exploring Koh Chang, which is something I’m not very used to doing anymore. But, with the right people, it is worth it. Must be the right people though haha
You can read how didi I get to Koh Chang HERE!
So we rented motorbikes because either you rent one or you pay for a songthaew- aka taxi- which would turn out to be very expensive. I thought of renting one myself, but I ended up not doing it, and instead I’ve traveled with a friend. Also, when I told the hostel owner my intention to rent a motorbike, he promptly tried to dissuade me. Well, I saw what the streets look like on my way from the pier to Lonely Beach and yeah, they look pretty scary! The street between the pier and Lonely Beach is the worst stretch of street on the whole island. It is absurdly steep and winding at times. A perfect mix for tragedy. Apparently, there are many motorbike accidents on these streets, especially among foreigners. If you are a beginner, these might not be the best streets to start. But, my friend was a beginner riding along and nothing happened, so I think it depends on how carefully you ride. Just gotta be extra careful in those steep curves. Also, be wary of monkeys! One of my friends stopped on the street and a group of monkeys attacked her. No, she didn’t stop to see them. They appeared from the forest and took over her motorbike. She was so scared, oh my. I don’t like these monkeys.
Lonely Beach
I stayed near Lonely Beach, which I found very beautiful. Lined with coconut trees, beautiful warm water, absolutely perfect! There were some small islets not far and some resorts by the beach. I didn’t think the beach was packed or whatsoever, and it is a good place to watch the sunset.
Another thing you should know about Koh Chang is that there isn’t a street all around the island. There is a small stretch in the very south of the island that has no street at all. This means that to get from the west side of the island to the east you’ll have to go all around!! Yes, you heard it, you’ll have to go all the way north just to go back to the south from the other side of the island which is so annoying. It took us more than 1h riding a motorbike to get from Lonely Beach to the very south on the other side of Koh Chang. Anyway, this ride was worth it as, for me, it ended up being the most beautiful place I saw in Koh Chang. You can read about it HERE!
So, let’s split this into the west side and the east side.
West side
On the first day of exploring, we focused on the area south of Lonely Beach. The streets here are just fine. Our first stop was the ghost ship.
Ghost ship
This abandoned hotel became a tourist attraction and now has an entrance fee of 100BH. It is a tourist attraction but that doesn’t mean it is full. The area is quite big. I was not expecting it. It is not just a ship lying there. There are many other abandoned wooden boats that look so cute in the picture. The scenery around is so beautiful! So many palm trees, a lake, and the beach is just there, a very charming place indeed. We didn’t see the beach under the sun, but it seemed to be beautiful. The only problem was the sandflies, I saw a lot of them. There are even some abandoned beach chairs to rest on.
We took quite a while to stroll around and admire the beauty of the place. My friends really wanted to go inside the Ghost ship and they did. I didn’t join them because I could think of better ways to spend my money than seeing an abandoned ship from the inside. They had to negotiate with a guy who was sitting by the ship. I think you have to be persistent because we saw other people getting a NO as a response.
So, the fee to get inside is 1000BH. This is a lot, but the thing is that this is a price per group. So they split this 1000 bh 3 ways. If I joined it would have been even cheaper. The entrance to the ship is fenced and you won’t be able to get in, but these locals have the key and will guide you inside. My friends told me it was pretty cool and that everything was still there: furniture, decoration, kitchenware, they even received a room key as a souvenir haha. I think only for 1 person that price is too high, but if you find people to join, you have that chance to get in.
But, you won’t get to see this ship the same way I did because it burned meanwhile. Yes, the ship was on fire in December 2024. You can search some news about it online.
Waterfall near the Ghost ship
Next, we went to see a waterfall.
I don’t know the name of this waterfall, but it is easy to find as it was just by the entrance to the Ghost Ship. There was a sign pointing to a waterfall and we decided to follow otherwise we had no idea that it was there.
Yeah, it is a waterfall, nothing amazing I would say, but can be refreshing.
Hidden Paradise- river view
From here we went to a place by the river with crystal clear waters, swings and benches, a place where locals seem to hang out. There was this small stall with some food and nothing else. Locals come here to swim and enjoy the natural sounds. I liked it. The water was beautiful, and the place had a chilled vibe.
Khao Salak Phet viewpoint
Just next to this river spot starts a jungle hike which I decided to do along with a friend. We were not expecting to see a sign saying that it is prohibited to hike there. Weird… why? Because, apparently, you should go with a local guide. They say it is because you can slip and get hurt, get lost, bla bla, another way to make money. As I have done quite a few jungle hikes on my own, I was confident to keep going because the path seemed to be so easy to follow! Once the path turned ugly, we decided to go back. If I were a beginner, those signs would probably have discouraged me, but I’m not just a silly tourist doing random things. If I didn’t have the experience, I probably wouldn’t have kept going. Plus, I’m “armed” with Maps.me, an app that shows forest trails, and I can tell you right now that without it, it isn’t a good idea to hike on your own here. With the GPS sign, I could make sure we were heading in the right direction because we lost our path once.
The trail starts very clearly, but later on it fades a bit into the forest. I think not many people walk here. The trail was not so obvious and there were many fallen trees and obstacles in the way. I thought this was why they don’t want foreigners hiking here on their own.
This is a very long trail! We spent 1h30 hour walking in the jungle when we decided to head back. By then, we had only done halfway!!! This means if we decided to proceed to the viewpoint, we would end up spending more than 6 hours in the jungle. We spent 3h total, but we stopped when the path started to get extremely steep. We thought that if we made it halfway in 1h30 and the path wasn’t steep, now that the steep part had begun, it would take us much longer to complete the rest of the hike. And we still had 2.2km to go until we reached the viewpoint! Crazy! This hike might as well be too long anyway, and I’m not even sure if the viewpoint is worth it. But, I think there is a shorter trail to get to this viewpoint. The problem is that it starts on the other side of Koh Chang, which is way too far.
Even though we didn’t reach the final destination, the hike was great. Absolutely zero human noise, just pure thick jungle, beautiful plants, and greenery. We ended up seeing 2 waterfalls. A big one and a small one. They were nice to find as we weren’t expecting it. We also saw an awesome spider with some sort of horns or antennae, not sure. It was a weird-looking spider, I’d never seen it before. So cool. I only saw it because it was hanging on me hahha.
The path is filled with spider webs, another sign that not many are walking here. It was a nice walk, though, even if we didn’t see any views. I think we made a wise decision to come back. This trail followed the river at the beginning. It could be a nice chill spot for a swim and to relax, even though the water flow wasn’t high.
Fishing village
Not far from this spot is a fishing village, but I’m not sure if it is a fishing village anymore, or just a tourist spot. But, it doesn’t take its charm away anyway. The village stands on water, and the views are gorgeous. The houses are surrounded by these green waters, and the colors of the place are super cute. I found it very photogenic! Loved it. What you’ll find here are lots of souvenir shops and restaurants. Pricey but very beautiful restaurants filled with plants and beautiful sea views. So idyllic. Even though it seems like a spot adapted to tourists, I didn’t see many. It was not an unpleasant experience, for sure. I liked it and the views it offered.
Rasta Bar
On the way to this village is a bar with stunning views in Koh Chang where we stopped for a cooling drink. So beautiful the view from here OH MY! It was definitely worth the stop for the stunning views!
We also went a bit into the peninsula next to the fishing village to check some views that were nice too.
I’ve explored the other side of Koh Chang either and you can check the next blog post to read about it, as it includes the most beautiful view I had during these days in Kho Chang.
