Anyone been to Koh Jum?

[Deleted]

I'm working on our Vietnam/Thailand itinerary for December.  We want to be in the islands for New Years/our anniversary, and some of the island hotels others have recommended are already booked!

I'm leaning toward one of the smaller, less developed islands Koh Jum.  There are some cool looking lodging options there, mostly beach bungalows. If you've visited Koh Jum, were the beaches ok? This will be the last 5 days of a busy 3 weeks, so we are interested mainly in relaxation and good food with some outdoor activities like kayaking. I've read that because Koh Jum is less developed, the beaches are more "natural" (rocky, etc.) which is cool as long as there are some beaches we can actually lay out on/swim/snorkel, etc. 

[mangobanana]

I went for 5 days or so as part of a longer SE Asia trip back in 2009. It was fabulous!! We stayed in one of the beach bungalow places and were the only people there for part of the time (I think it was the off season). It seemed like there was plenty of sand near where we were. I remember some rocks, but they didn't cover the entire beach and we were able to walk at least a mile down the beach.

We spent our days lounging on the beach and on the porch of the bungalow, kayaking to a nearby uninhabited island, and exploring Ko Jum. I tried snorkeling, but it wasn't so good (probably because it was the off season, though we did have better luck on Phi Phi). It was such a nice contrast to the other, much more touristed islands we visited!

[mangobanana]

Oh and regarding the good food, make sure you'll be happy with the food where you're staying, because you'll probably end up eating there often. At least when I went, it seemed like there were very few options outside of the places to stay. The food was fine for us (mostly Thai with some banana pancakes and pizza thrown in, plus delicious fruit smoothies) but if we had stayed much longer, I think I would have wanted more variety.

[Deleted]

Jan 26, 2014 23:03:05 GMT -5 mangobanana said:

Oh and regarding the good food, make sure you'll be happy with the food where you're staying, because you'll probably end up eating there often. At least when I went, it seemed like there were very few options outside of the places to stay. The food was fine for us (mostly Thai with some banana pancakes and pizza thrown in, plus delicious fruit smoothies) but if we had stayed much longer, I think I would have wanted more variety.

This actually helps me a lot.  I'm trying to decide between two places - both are beach bungalows - one looks a little nicer, but the other one is highly reviewed for food (it's owned by a couple, the husband is a chef).   I think we're going to go with the slightly more rugged place with great food.

Thanks for the endorsement!  Over the holidays it will probably be a little more crowded that when you were there in off season, but I definitely like the idea of a more low-key, less developed beach trip.