BR Sea Beach Club, Bangrak | Recommended Koh Samui Bars and Restaurants, Bangrak

 

BR Sea Beach Club opened in January, 2015 on a beautiful stretch of Bangrak Beach, Koh Samui.

 

Formally the Dae Tong Resort, BR Sea Beach Club has been completely re-built with scenic bar, spacious wooden sun deck, 20m swimming pool, restaurant, and DJ booth with stairs leading down to the soft sands and terrific views offered by Bangrak.

 

 

Prices are comparatively cheap compared to other beachfront resorts and is a great place to relax with kids during the day or party at night.

Saturday and Sunday are pool-part days from 2pm till 2am with special guest DJs playing in the evenings.

During the week the resort is open 11am till 12 midnight.

BR Sea Beach Club is located opposite the 7-11 in Bangrak at the junction with Bon Gai Road (the ghost road). There is a dedicated parking area opposite.

Catcandoo Bar & Restaurant | Recommended Bangrak Restaurants, Koh Samui

Catcandoo Bar & Restaurant offers a menu of Thai, Western and Mexican-style dishes and is located at the Big Buddha end of Bangrak Bay, opposite the concrete Seatran pier just before Bangrak’s Seafood Market. You must try Catcandoo’s famous BBQ Ribs, which literally fall off the bone and are served with fries, BBQ beans and coleslaw. Other recommendations are the delicious Super Nachos served with beef or chicken, salads and the huge pizzas which offer great value for money.

Friendly staff, a relaxed atmosphere and great food will ensure you return to this recommended Koh Samui restaurants again and again.

The Boat Bar, Bangrak - Recommended Bars / Restaurants, Koh Samui

The Boat Bar is located next to the Seatran Ferry Pier towards the eastern end of Bangak Bay. A lively bar and restaurant with a nice beer garden at the rear with beautiful views of Bangrak Beach and Koh Phan Ngan Island.

The beach area next to the beer garden is a little messy as it's used by local fisherman to store their nets and boats but the views are wonderful.

The Boat Bar is a great place to relax with a few drinks and it also offers a menu of Thai food and Western favourites. Alternatively, grab one of Akim's Kebabs or wander along to nearby Catcandoo for some of their famous BBQ ribs.

Bangrak Street Food, Koh Samui | Akim's Kebabs

Akim's Turkish-style chicken kebabs and pork-burgers are very popular and well-known amongst long term ex-pats in Bangrak town, Koh Samui.

Chicken Kebabs are 100 THB and cheese-burgers (pork) are 80 THB. Both are absolutely delicious and well recommended. You will find Akim and his Thai assistant around 1-3pm opposite the Petcharat Marina and around 6-8pm outside the Boat Bar. Service is available every day except Sundays.

Antica Locanda Italian Restaurant, Bangrak, Koh Samui

Antica Locanda is a well established Italian restaurant in Bangrak, Koh Samui which is well-known to local ex-pats for offering fantastic Italian cuisine at good value prices. Recommended dishes are pizza, ravioli and the sensational Tiramisu. Well recommended.

Pizza take-aways are also available though there is no delivery service.

Antica Locanda is located on the Bangrak beach road just 100 meters from the 7-11 situated on junction with Bon Gai Road.

Antica Locanda is open Tuesday - Sunday mid-afternoon till late and closed on Mondays.

**UPDATE July, 2013*** The front of the restaurant was recently renovated giving the restaurant a more open feeling with more tables including some outside tables to the front of the property. Best of all a wood-burning stone pizza oven has replaced the gas-burning pizza oven making Samui’s best pizzas even better. See pic of new restaurant front below;

Da Ped Restaurant, Bangrak, Koh Samui

Da Ped’s is a small, family run restaurant which is very busy with both Thais and Westerners, especially during the lunch-time rush. This recommended restaurant offers a small menu of rice dishes and noodle soup dishes (Gra-teow). On the menu of rice dishes are Thai favorites such as Pad Thai (stir-friend noodles), Fried Rice (Kaow Pat), Stir-fried Spicy Basil (Pad Gra Prow) and stir-fried Chilies (Pad Pik Yuok) which are served on a bed of rice with the option of a fried egg on top. Rice dishes are cooked up with your choice of chicken, prawn, pork or squid for the fantastic price of only 40-50 THB or with a fried egg, 10 THB extra.

If you want to sample good, simple Thai food in Bangrak then Da Ped’s is the place to go,

Da Ped’s restaurant is located in Bangrak town next to Café Uno and opposite Saboey Villa Resort and is open Monday – Saturday from 8am to around 4pm. Park your car/motorbike in front of the restaurant or in the small car-park behind.

***UPDATE JAN 2014*** In late 2013, the restaurant moved next door into the now closed down Café Uno. The owners are building a new restaurant on the site of the old restaurant (now demolished) and will be moving back to the original site with brand new building towards the end of 2014.

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Plae Leam Temple, Koh Samui

Plai Laem Temple is without a doubt Koh Samui island's most beautiful temple with several brightly coloured Thai-style temple buildings and several impressive Chinese-style Buddha statues built amongst a large pond within beautiful landscaped gardens.

A spectacular Chinese style Buddha image in Plai Laem Temple, Koh Samui

Visitors are free to stroll around the temple grounds, taking photographs and admiring the tropical landcape and you can also take a look inside the temples where you can view wall paintings depicting the life and enlightment of the Buddha.

The temple's impressive statues, which depict characters from Thai mythology and Chinese-style  Buddha images, are a great backdrop for postcard- perfect souvenir shots.

The pagoda buildings in Plai Laem Temple show truly intricate detail

Several years ago, the temples large pond was packed full with large catfish and visitors could buy food to feed the fish, however over-feeding caused many of the fish to die and so visitors are no longer encouraged to do so.

Plai Laem temple is a beautiful Koh Samui tourist attraction, a peaceful retreat from the hustle and bustle of the island and well recommended for a 30 minute to 1 hour visit. After exploring the grounds, grab an ice-cream at the ice-cream vendors in the car park area to cool down while admiring the scenery and intricate detail of the temple buildings. 

Plai Laem Temple is located about 1km past Samui's Big Buddha statue as you are driving from Bangrak town. The large buildings and statues can be seen clearly from the main road and there are spaces for parking both cars and motorcyles within the temple grounds.

Visitors should dress politely though casually (shorts and T-shirt or vest is fine) and take care to remove shoes when entering temple buildings. Admittance to the temple is free though visitors are encouraged to make a small donation to support the termple.




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Big Buddha Statue & Temple, Bangrak, Koh Samui

Koh Samui's Big Buddha statue is one of the island's top tourist attractions and is located within Big Buddha temple ('wat pra-yai'), on a tiny island, on the far eastern side of Bangrak Bay.  Built in 1972, the impressive 12 meter high golden statue glistens in the tropical Samui sun and it is one of Koh Samui's best known landmarks as it can be seen from several kilometers away.

Koh Samui's Big Buddha statue, located in Bangrak, is one of the island's top tourist attractions

The access road to the Big Buddha Temple is located just after the fish market, next to the long established BBC restaurant and there are usually adequate spaces for parking in front of the entrance to the temple just after the first shops that you pass.

Next to the car park are several cheap Thai restaurants, several souvenir shops, ice-cream and refreshment stalls alongside a small selecton of chic boutiques and art shops which are worth a quick browse.

As you pass through the temple gates, a staircase leads up to the Big Buddha statue and at the base of the stairs are two pogodas where monks give blessing to the locals in exchange for offerings which include flowers, candles, food and water.

On the left, is a covered area where you can sign the underside of a temple roof tile (to be added to temple roofs in future building projects) in exchange for a small donation of Thai baht.

To the right are fortune telling machines. To tell your fortune, you first need to work out the day of the week that you were born on. Place a ten baht coin in the machine of the day of your birth (there are 7 in total, one for each day), read the number that is shown when the lights stop spinning and then read the fortune that corresponds to this number which are displayed on the wall in both Thai and English.

At the base of the Big Buddha statue is where locals to pay their respect to the Buddha

Up the staircase brings you to the base of the Big Buddha statue itself. In front of the statue is a small shrine where locals give offering for Buddha, and around the statue are a number of bells which can be rung for good luck using the pices of wood provided at the top of the staircase. This is also a very good spot to take some snaps of the stunning sea and island views which surround the temple.

Big Buddha is well worth a visit to soak up some local culture, take some nice photos and enjpy the views. Please note that visitors are requested to dress politely (i.e. no bikini or thongs). 


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Bangrak, Koh Samui - A Tourist Guide to Bangrak Beach and Town

Bangrak Beach and Town lies on the busy, northeastern coastline of the beautiful, tropical island of Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand.  The town is about 5 minutes' drive to popular Fisherman's Village in Bophut, 5-10 minutes' drive to idyllic Cheong Mon Beach and 10-15 minutes' drive to the bright lights of Chaweng, Koh Samui's most popular and busy beach area.

Bangrak is relatively quiet compared to it's neighbouring town of Chaweng though the area has been becoming steadily more popular in recent times. Bangrak's magnificent sea views, towards the neighbouring island of Koh Phan Ngan, and convenience of location has made it a popular area for holiday rental properties and there is a wide choice of rental properties and villas dotted around the hillsides and the beach. The town also offers several low to medium-budget hotels and several beach front, luxury Spa resorts.

Bangrak Bay and town, Koh Samui, Thailand

Bangrak Beach has fantastic sea views towards the neighbouring island of Koh han Ngan, Koh Samui, Thailand

Bangrak Town, Koh Samui, Thailand

Bangrak Beach, Koh Samui Island, Thailand

The beach itself is quiet and picturesque with the best swimming spots towards the east of the bay as the wetern end is quite rocky. Towards the eastern end of the beach is a choice of small beach front resorts, bars and restaurants. Some of the beach resorts and spas, such as Samui Pier and Saboey,  offer sunbeds on the beach.

There are a number of rickety, wooden piers along the eastern end of the beach where you can catch speedboats to Koh Phan Ngan Island. These piers are very busy during the monthly Full-Moon parties on Koh Phan Ngan when speedboat taxis run throughout the night. The far eastern end of the beach is where you will find the large, concrete pier which has ferry services to neighbouring islands.

Bangrak has a good choice of bars and restaurants offering both Thai and International cuisine. Bars stay open to 1am, but during busy periods they may stay open later as long as there are enough paying customers. The most popular bars are M & M's, Cosmic Bar and The Premiere Sports Bar. There are no nightclubs in Bangrak but if you want nighlife, Chaweng is only 10 minutes away.

Bangrak's Big Buddha statue, Koh Samui Island, Thailand

At the far eastern end of the Bay you will find Bangrak's largest landmark,  the Big Buddha statue. This  huge, golden Buddha statue is built within the grounds of a temple and toursits are more than welcome to take a look around (polite clothes should be worn). There is a plethora of shops around the base of the statue and you can climb the steps to the statue to see great views. Locals believe that walking around the staute, ringing the bells, will bring good luck.A few hundred metres east of the Big Buddha ststue you will find Plai Laem Temple, with its own impressive statues and beautiful temple buildings

Bangrak's Fresh Market is found next to the Big Buddha Statue and here you will find fresh seafood straight from the fishermen's boats as well as meat, fresh fruit and vegetables.



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