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I Chose the Worst Time to Visit KOH TAO 🇹🇭 Thailand

Paddy Doyle

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This week I spend 3 days on Koh Tao 🇹🇭 Thailand - Download Airalo free today, and use my code PADDY3 for $3 USD OFF your first data plan: https://try.airalo.com/PaddyDoyle

This week I document my three days over on Koh Tao, however it turns out, I arrived in during the perfect storm.

A national holiday brings overcrowding, a tropical storm brings terrible weather, and a religious practice bans alcohol and all nightlife shuts down....

But can we still squeeze out a good time here.... probably not....

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20 Comments

@willie011073 1 month ago (edited)

Went to Koh Tao in 95. Slept on the deck of a fishing boat overnight to get there. The wall of our bathroom was built using green and yellow glass bottles which gave an amazing light. We had a tokay gecko living in the wooden hut. We bolted out the first time we saw it, had no idea what it was. The owner laughed at us and told us we would soon make friends with it as it would eat all the mosquitoes. Fun memories.

@acanadianinlondon8586 1 month ago

I'd be so pissed if I spent $200 USD per night (in low season!) for a hotel room, and ended up with that room and that beach.
I often think its better not to go back to places you once loved - the second time rarely matches up to the golden memories, the exact circumstances that made that first trip so special aren't likely to repeat. Man never steps into the same river twice, etc.

@skinmeister1 1 month ago (edited)

Hi Paddy! For me Koh Tao is also the first Thai island I ever came to, back in 1995. Sweet memories of staying at Sairee Cottage for two weeks when it was still a bunch of basic bamboo huts! Also the friendships I made there later led to me moving from Germany to California. I met my future husbands roommate there and was invited to L.A. a couple of years afterwards which led to meeting the guy who became my husband. I ended up moving to the US and we are still happily married until this day….traveling the SE Asian region together each year. Thailand remains our favorite!

@KohThai2009 1 month ago

There was a time in Thailand when a real effort was made to offer good service and wonderful places. Today, what is offered to paying guests is, in part, an insult—thanks to mass tourism.

@TravelswithSoosh 4 weeks ago

Hi Paddy!! I kind of glad you did koh tao but your experience was a very different one to my best friend's. She went there to do her dive masters and things went terribly wrong. She trusted people that she shouldn't have and they gave her something that made her very sick. She was followed around the island by a man that would sit and watch her eat and then follow her back to her room. Her dive crew were an odd bunch and she ended up being extremely scared. So much so that she hid under her bed one night and pushed a cupboard up against her door. It got to the point that we all decided that someone needed to actually go and get her. We're in Australia so you can imagine how desperate we were to get over there. Anyway when she got back home to us she was a completely different person. That happened almost two years ago now and she's better but still not the same. It took her ages to trust anyone other than her parents and a couple of her friends. Before she came home we looked up koh tao and it's actually nicknamed DEATH ISLAND.........😐 So I just suggest people look it up and do your research before you go to that insane little trap. I'm glad Paddy had a decent time even though it rained.

@Patigoooool 1 month ago

Yes to more honest hotel reviews! I know it’s hard when Thailand (I think) have crazy deformation laws but we really appreciate them!
RIP King Kev 😢

@lecrevisse8160 1 month ago

Note first: I'm in Koh Tao right now.
200 a night are rip off summer price bro.
Never pay 200 in Thailand lol.
Rent a cheap hotel 20 to 50 with good reviews, rent a bike and go check views around, try every beach.

You are spot on on the first bad impression, when I arrived it was full packed with young western tourist and I wanted to f.. off directly, after visiting on my own and checking the water I extended my stay.

Beaches are crazy good, it s a snorkeling paradise, not too many people on the beach. It doesn't feel packed and it's august. I ll come back during the low season for SURE.

@bentee8573 1 month ago

This place looks terrible, I been coming to Thailand since 2002. I’ve lived here 3 years.
I appreciate your efforts Paddy for showing me places I don’t want to go!

@NickyDunn 1 month ago

Always love your honesty.

@mattinterweb 1 month ago (edited)

Kao Tao has been completely ruined by over tourism. First went there in 2003 and it was literally paradise. Two secret beaches next to each other that you had to walk to get to with a handful of huts, we all came together and made food in the evening and the owner went out and fished for our dinner in the day. Some of the best days of my life. Now its packed with people and littered with bad hotels. Its tragic, not to speak to the damage its done to the local coral and marine life with the over tourism. It's such a shame that a once beautiful place with such a special vibe has been destroyed.

@DavidGatward 1 month ago

Hi Paddy, thanks for the honest review. Sometimes things just dont work out as planned and the weather messes up holidays everywhere. Refreshing to hear your take and not just a polished unrealistic video that missleads viewers. Keep up the great work and love the & 7 shirt , a true footballing great and a gent to boot.

@genoeckley3442 1 month ago

Another GREAT video and another reason to leave Hua Hin too. You do a GREAT job and are a true Ambassador of Thailand. My wife, Sukanya (of 37 years) loves the way you show off her home to the world.

@Arctic_Dude 1 month ago (edited)

I chose Vietnam this summer. The rainy season hadn't arrived in Da Nang, and you can still find beautiful places with few tourists.

@JamesBell-b3w 1 month ago

Hi Paddy, was lovely to meet you.
Koh Tao did turn sunny. We have just left.
I, like you, had my reservations about returning to the island. However, I am happy to say that it is still bloody brilliant and I will be there next summer.
All the best,
Tinker, Lara and Bay❤

@senianns9522 1 month ago

I went a few times in the late '80's . I used to like Samui and Tao. It was a really nice quiet 'paradise' type of place. Looking at this vlog I'm certainly not returning!

@steger13 1 month ago

The rain in Thailand doesn't bother me.
i still go swimming when it rains sea and pool. It feels so good actually. I love it.

@Pahakyy 1 month ago (edited)

I visited when I was 22-ish yo. and the locals and "expats" told me about the island's fast demise. There were only 1/2 of fast ferries/day from Chumphon and the port wasn't busy. No 7/11, no big hotels. Got a moped and found a simple, cheap hut at a lovely location by the round rocks at Shark Bay. A nice, very affordable fan-hut to stay in ran by a local couple. Coming back to my hut from a bar one night, I caught a couple of guys breaking in. Luckily they ran away without confrontation nor getting anything. That's what I saw of the escalating crime I was told about

It's Incredible that it's still a backpacker go-to.

22 ish yo then. I'm just turning 47yo and would never visit.

@carlosmahoney 1 month ago

Koh Tao the very first island I visited and fell in love with Thailand, used to love watching the lighting in the distance along with the amazing sunsets.

@jaspervandenendert1391 1 month ago

Seeing your videos about Koh Tao, Koh Phangan and Koh Samui makes me feel as though i've never been there, even though I have. Coming from someone who tries to travel with anxiety, you even talking about being anxious while travelling, makes me feel I can do that too. Your videos are my therapy. All the best, Paddy!