Conrad Koh Samui Review: Is It Worth It?

A private infinity pool and deck with two loungers and an umbrella, looking out over the sea to a distant island. — The private infinity pool and deck of our villa (2023, video still).

We spent three nights at Conrad Koh Samui in 2023, at the end of a 12-day trip around Thailand, in an infinity pool villa we were upgraded to on arrival. This review is meant to help you decide whether to book it: how remote it really is, how steep, what the food costs you compared with the rest of Thailand, which villa to choose, and who it is and isn’t for.

We paid for our stay, with Hilton points, a free-night reward we had earned and a small amount of cash. Because we stayed in 2023, I’ve dated anything that can change and checked the current facts against current sources instead of repeating what we saw. I have not quoted prices anywhere, because every price we paid is out of date.

This site may contain affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links, at no cost to you

The short answer

Worth it if you want a quiet, private villa with your own infinity pool and a view over the sea, you are happy to stay put and let the resort come to you, and you like the idea of doing very little. The service was a highlight for us.
Skip it if you want a proper beach, want to walk to restaurants and shops in the evening, have trouble with hills, or are bothered when hotel food costs a lot more than what you have been paying for local Thai food.
The biggest trade-off: the setting that gives you the view and the privacy is a steep hillside a long way from anywhere else. Everything is a buggy ride away, and everything outside the gates needs a plan.
The biggest surprise: after a week or two of eating in local places, the jump in prices at the resort was a shock, even though the room itself cost us very little in cash.

What our stay looked like

When	Three nights in 2023, the last stop of a 12-day Thailand trip. It was the rainy season, and Kelly said on camera that we’d only had a couple of wet days in two weeks
Room	Villa 311, an infinity pool villa. We had booked a sunset pool villa and were upgraded, which put us high up on the hill
How we paid	Hilton Honors points, a free-night reward from Hilton-branded credit card spending, and a small amount of cash
Status	We had Hilton Diamond status, which included breakfast and a discount on food and drink at the resort at the time
Not covered	Our videos don’t cover the fine-dining restaurant, spa treatments, the kids club, the resort’s boat trips or the other villa types, so I don’t review them

A woman standing beside a blue-tiled private infinity pool with loungers and a view over the sea. — Beside our villa’s private pool (2023, video still).

What the stay really costs

Price this trip in four pieces, in this order, before you decide:

The room. Cash or points. Every villa here has its own pool, so you are paying for the whole package, not for a standard room with a view.
Getting there. The resort is at the southern end of the island, so you need a transfer from the airport, and you will want a plan for getting out and about.
Food and drink. This is where it caught us out. In our videos we said that the resort was a lot more expensive than the local Thai dishes we had been eating, and that we had sticker shock after two weeks in a more local Thailand. Breakfast is expensive if you pay for it separately, which is why our status mattered.
Extras. The spa was about ten times what we had been paying for local massages, by our own comparison on camera. Some activities are free (see below), and some are not.

Get the current room rate and a breakfast price at the same time, and decide whether the whole package still makes sense.

A breakfast buffet counter with cast-iron pans of fried food, sausages and stir-fried dishes with small wooden labels. — Part of the breakfast buffet, which our status covered (2023, video still).

Getting there

We came from Railay Beach in Krabi. It was a longtail boat and a minibus to the Krabi airport, then a short flight to Koh Samui of about 45 minutes, on which we were still served food. We had arranged a pick-up with the hotel, and we went to find our driver. In the car we were given a cold towel and some cookies, and at check-in a drink made from coconut juice and butterfly pea flower.

A view from an airplane window over blue sea and a coastline with small islands. — The view from the plane window on the short flight from Krabi (2023, video still).

The resort is at the south end of the island, and how long the drive from the airport takes depends on who you ask: Head for Points, in its February 2026 review, puts it at about 29 km, roughly an hour, while online route planners suggest closer to 40 minutes. Allow the longer figure to be safe.

The location is the point of the place and also the catch. In our resort tour we said the property is pretty remote and up on top of a hill. The local restaurants we found were about ten minutes away by scooter.

The villa

What our villa had

The pool and deck: a big private infinity pool with tall walls on either side, so we could not see any neighbors, and a view out over the sea and the surrounding islands. Loungers, an umbrella and a bench seating area. The pool was warm, and we guessed it was about 30 feet long.
The bedroom: a big king bed, a desk, a small couch and seating area, a TV, a Nespresso machine and a good tea selection, and complimentary water. International plugs, and the lights all controlled from the bedside.
The minibar: not stocked in advance: it is filled according to what you ask for. There was fresh milk for coffee in the fridge.
The bathroom: a huge freestanding bathtub, a TV, a separate toilet room, a very large shower with a waterfall shower head, double vanities and a wall of glass, so the mirrors are set to keep the view. Robes and slippers were there, and a full kit of toiletries.
Storage and extras: a closet and storage room with a safe, an iron and ironing board, a beach bag and umbrellas. We used the umbrellas during our time in Thailand.
Welcome gifts: fresh fruit, a postcard, raw vegetable and seaweed wraps that looked like sushi rolls, and, that first night, two teddy bears on the bed, one with Kelly’s name on it.

A villa bedroom with a king bed, wooden lattice headboard wall, bedside lamps, a bench at the foot of the bed and a folded towel on the bed. — The bedroom in our villa (2023, video still).

As far as I’m aware, floating breakfast is an option at the resort if you want the photo. Our videos don’t cover it.

A woman lying back in a large round bathtub in a bathroom with pale stone walls, with a double vanity and robes hanging on the wall. — Trying out the bathtub in our villa (2023, video still).

Which villa to choose

Every villa at Conrad Koh Samui has a private infinity pool, so the choice is about where you sit on the hill and how much space you want, not whether you get a pool. Our villa was an upgrade from the sunset pool villa we booked, and we said in our check-in video that the upgrade put us very high up, with a view over the ocean and the surrounding islands. Head for Points (February 2026) lists three main pool villa types, Ocean View, Sunset View and Tropical Island View, and larger multi-bedroom villas. The names in our videos don’t match that list exactly, so check the current list on Hilton’s rooms page and confirm the category when you book, rather than counting on an upgrade like ours.

Being high up gave us the view, and it also meant more hill. Which brings us to the hill.

The hill: buggies, steps and no cars

This is the part I’d want to know before booking. In our resort tour, we said the property is on the side of a big hill and is very, very steep. The map in the check-in packet is useful because the resort is spread out and there are lots of hills.

Buggies. The resort runs little golf-cart buggies, and on our stay they ran 24 hours a day. Our villa was fairly close to the breakfast restaurant and downhill from it, so we walked there and planned to take a buggy back up.
No private cars past the lobby. The roads are steep and narrow, and only resort vehicles go beyond the arrival lobby. If you rent a car or a scooter, that’s where you park it.
The trade-off. We said it makes the resort a little inconvenient to get around and makes for some gorgeous views. If walking up and down slopes is hard for you, or you’re traveling with people for whom it would be, this is a real reason to look elsewhere.

A man on a concrete villa terrace with a swing seat, with steep green hillside dropping away behind him. — Heading out to explore on the first afternoon, with the hillside dropping away behind (2023, video still).

Eating and drinking

The resort had a Thai restaurant that also serves the breakfast buffet, a Mediterranean bar and grill, a bar and lounge, and one fine-dining restaurant. Current listings differ slightly from what we saw: Head for Points (February 2026) describes three restaurants, Aow Thai, Jahn and Azure, and a bar. Aow Thai is the restaurant our videos call Zest (the same Tripadvisor listing appears under both names).

Breakfast (Zest, now Aow Thai). Our status included the breakfast buffet. At first glance it didn’t look like a lot of food, but everything was tucked into little shelves and servings, and there was a lot of variety: a carving station, a noodle station, cereal, eggs, mimosas and more. Kelly had eggs Florentine, and Kevin had Kai Krata, pan eggs with minced pork, Chinese sausage and chili.
Dinner at Azure. We went to Azure Bar and Grill, a Mediterranean restaurant looking out over the ocean, on our first evening. It had started to rain, and we watched a water spout out over the sea while we looked at the menu. We ended up with pizza and empanadas, because we were “all over the place”.
Ko Lounge. Mostly a bar, but it served things like pizza, sandwiches and salads until 11 pm at the time.
Jahn. The fine-dining option, open for dinner only and seating about 24 people. We said on camera that the food looked very good, but that we weren’t huge on fine dining and decided not to do it on that trip, so I can’t tell you what it is like.
The coffee shop. Botanica, the coffee shop next to the gift shop, looked to be undergoing renovations when we visited.

A woman in sunglasses and a green patterned top standing outside a wood-and-glass restaurant building with a stone wall and steps. — Outside the restaurant where breakfast is served (2023, video still).

The honest summary is that the food at the resort was not cheap. We said it is a lot more expensive than the local Thai dishes we had been eating, and that it was fine because you pay for the location and the experience. If you want to eat cheaply for part of your stay, see the scooter day below.

The beach, the pool and the days

The beach is not the main event

We said in our resort tour that the best beachfront is right in front of the resort, where the sand is nice, and the rest of the beach is kind of rocky. There is an elevated area with a little sand and some picnic tables and lights, a beach bar, hammocks (a couple of them in the water), a small chapel by the sea and the resort’s pier. When we visited there weren’t many people, and we wondered if that was because it was the low season. Head for Points (February 2026) calls the beach small and artificial, with very little sand left at high tide. If you want a long walk on a beach, this is not the place.

A sandy beach with wooden loungers and closed umbrellas, and villas stepping up a green hillside behind. — The sandy part of the beach in the evening, with villas stepping up the hill behind (2023, video still).

The main pool and what’s free

There is one big main pool, close to the beach, with cabanas on a first-come basis and a bar. Every villa has its own pool, so it is easy to stay at your own pool. The resort offered several things for free when we visited: kayaks, paddle boards, bocce and badminton, complimentary snorkel gear for the reef just off the resort and free use of the steam room and sauna at the spa for an hour. A jet ski was available to rent. The beach attendant brought us cold water without our asking.

A woman beside a blue infinity-edge pool with red umbrellas and loungers, with the sea beyond. — By the resort’s main pool (2023, video still).

Project Iris, the farm

The resort runs its own farm, Project Iris, and we took the tour, which lasted about 30 minutes. It wasn’t super comprehensive: it showed us what they grow, with fruit and vegetables and plants used for spices, and animals including chickens, ducks and rabbits. Kevin went into the chicken pen to gather an egg, and I stayed outside because there were about 75 chickens and I don’t like being outnumbered. It’s a nice touch that the resort grows and makes some of the ingredients it uses in its restaurants.

A leafy path through a garden under a wooden sign reading Project Iris, with two visitors walking ahead. — Walking into Project Iris, the resort’s farm (2023, video still).

The spa

Conrad’s spa looked beautiful, and they gave us a look at the treatment rooms. It was priced like a resort spa, about ten times what we had been paying for local massages, and we said you’re paying for the experience. Our videos don’t show us having a treatment, so I can’t review one.

Getting off the hill: our scooter day

After two weeks in a more local Thailand, we didn’t want to stay on the property the whole time. Our concierge arranged a scooter rental for two days, and we set off to find a beach, a 7-Eleven and a local massage. About ten minutes from the resort there are lots of places to eat local food, a 7-Eleven for snacks and alcohol to take back, and cheap massages. I said on camera that I wouldn’t recommend renting a car in Thailand and that a scooter gets you around just as efficiently and a lot more easily. Whether a scooter is right for you depends on your license and your insurance, so check both before you rent one.

The resort also has a pier, and in our tour we said you can book longtail boat tours to nearby islands through the resort (one has wild pigs on it). Our videos don’t cover taking one.

What we didn’t love

The hill. Even with buggies, everything takes planning, and the uphill legs are steep.
The distance. It is a long way from the airport and from anywhere else, and you pay resort prices for almost every meal unless you make a trip out.
Resort prices for food, drink and the spa. Food and drink were well above what we had been paying locally, and the spa was about ten times the local massage price, by our own comparison.
The beach. Only part of it is sandy, and it isn’t a beach resort in the usual sense.
The rain. It rained on our first evening, with waterspouts out over the sea. We were there in the rainy season, so this was not a surprise.
Things under renovation. The coffee shop looked to be undergoing renovations when we visited.

A man in sunglasses lying on a red-towel sun lounger on a pebbly beach with rocks and green trees behind. — On a beach lounger, with rocks and pebbles behind (2023, video still).

To be fair to the resort, we had read some online reviews saying that the service was really bad and that the staff were rude. We had the opposite experience. Everyone we met was friendly and attentive, they seemed to anticipate our needs, and we gave the service ten out of ten. That’s one three-night stay, so weigh it accordingly.

Two small teddy bears in white shirts sitting on a white-sheeted bed with pillows and a lit bedside lamp. — The teddy bears waiting on our bed when we got back from dinner (2023, video still).

Using Hilton points or status here

We booked most of the stay with Hilton points. We also had a free-night reward that we earned by reaching a spending threshold on a Hilton-branded business credit card, which covered one of the nights and had to be used within a year. We had to pay a small amount out of pocket for the rest. Award prices and rules change, so check the current ones before you plan around them.

Status mattered a lot for the food. At the time, with Hilton Diamond status, we got free breakfast and a discount on food and drink at the resort, and a welcome amenity. Hilton’s current status benefits may be different, so check the current rules for your tier. If you don’t have status, price your breakfasts without it.

Who should book it, and who shouldn’t

Book it if you want a quiet, private stay with your own pool and a view, you’ll be happy to stay on the property and enjoy the service, and you are not counting on a beach or on walking around at night.
Book it if you have points or a free-night reward to use and want somewhere special at the end of a trip through Thailand, the way we did.
Look elsewhere if you want a beach resort, need level ground, don’t want to plan every meal and trip, or would resent resort prices for food and drink.
Families: the resort has a kids club (we saw the Turtle Club on our tour), but our videos don’t cover how it works. Head for Points recommends the resort for couples and adults who want seclusion, and cautions families with children because of the small beach and the hills.

The entrance to the Turtle Club, the resort’s kids club (2023, video still).

How it compares with our other Conrads

We had stayed at Conrad Bora Bora and Conrad Maldives before this one. In our check-in video we said we hoped this would live up to them, and that both had been incredible, and that it was much less expensive than those two, which we described as super expensive places to begin with. Our videos don’t rank the three against each other, and I won’t invent a ranking here. If you’re weighing them, read our Conrad Maldives review and our Conrad Bora Bora review.

A woman sitting on a swing hung from a white frame on a rocky beach at dusk, looking out over calm water. — A swing over the sand at the water’s edge on the resort’s beach, near sunset (2023, video still).

Before you go

Entry: the U.S. Embassy in Thailand says all foreign passport holders entering Thailand, including tourists, must complete the Thailand Digital Arrival Card electronically three days before arrival, on the Thai Immigration Bureau’s official site. Read the U.S. Embassy page and your own government’s advice for the current rules.
Book the airport pick-up: we arranged ours with the hotel before we arrived.
Bring a rain plan: we visited in the rainy season and were glad of the umbrellas in the closet.
Bring comfortable shoes: the resort is on a steep hill.
Decide about food in advance: either budget for the resort prices or plan a trip out.

A man in sunglasses and a cap at the resort's arrival lobby, with a resort golf buggy parked behind him. — Checking in at the arrival lobby, with a resort buggy parked behind (2023, video still).

What our videos don’t cover

Our videos don’t cover Jahn, the spa treatments, the kids club, the resort’s boat trips, the floating breakfast, the other villa types, or the resort outside the rainy season, so this review can’t tell you about them.

Plan your trip

Affiliate note: this is an affiliate link. If you book through it, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. You can see Conrad Koh Samui on Booking.com to compare with other places to stay.

Affiliate note: this is an affiliate link. If you book through it, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. If you want to leave the hill for a day, you can browse tours on Ko Samui on GetYourGuide.

Frequently asked questions

Is Conrad Koh Samui worth it?

It was for us, if you want a private pool villa, a view and good service and you accept that it is remote and steep. It isn’t if you want a beach or want to walk to restaurants.

Does Conrad Koh Samui have a beach?

Yes, but it isn’t the main event. In our resort tour, we said the best sand is in front of the resort and the rest is rocky, and Head for Points (February 2026) calls it small, with little sand at high tide.

How far is Conrad Koh Samui from the airport?

About 29 km, roughly an hour by Head for Points’ account, while route planners suggest about 40 minutes. We arranged a pick-up with the hotel.

Do you need a car?

We used a scooter, arranged by the concierge for two days, instead of a car. Only resort vehicles go beyond the arrival lobby, and I said on camera that I would not recommend renting a car in Thailand.

Is it good for families?

There is a kids club, but our videos don’t cover it, and Head for Points cautions families with children because of the small beach and the hills.

Final verdict

Conrad Koh Samui gave us a private pool, a big view and very good service at the end of a busy trip, and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to be still for a few days and doesn’t mind that the price of that stillness is a steep hill, a long drive and resort prices at every meal. Look at the current facts on the official pages, and decide about food and getting around before you book.

Affiliate note: this is an affiliate link. If you sign up through it, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. A remote hillside resort and a long trip through Thailand are a good reason to get travel insurance for your Thailand trip with SafetyWing before you go.