Maenam hillside bungalow, Koh Samui

Koh Samui has a reputation for being expensive, and along the Chaweng and Bophut beachfronts it certainly is. But the island is far bigger and far more varied than the resort strip suggests, and on the quieter northern coast around Maenam the numbers change completely. A modest two-bedroom bungalow set back in the hills, with a sea view over coconut palms and a five-minute scooter run to the beach, sits in a price band that would not buy a garage in most Western coastal towns.

This house is a single-storey Thai-modern bungalow of about seventy-five square metres, built in 2011 on a plot of roughly four hundred square metres on the lower slopes behind Maenam village. It has two bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms, an open-plan living and kitchen area, and — the best feature by some distance — a covered terrace running the full width of the front, looking north over the coconut plantation to the Gulf and, on clear days, the outline of Koh Phangan. There is a carport, a small fruit garden with banana, papaya and lime, and a concrete water tank with a pump, which is standard and sensible on Samui.

Construction is rendered blockwork with a pitched tiled roof and generous eaves — the correct design for a place that gets serious rain in November. The interior is simple: polished floor tiles, built-in wardrobes, a fitted kitchen with a gas hob, air conditioning in the master bedroom and fans elsewhere. It is honest, clean and liveable as it stands. A buyer wanting a rental-standard finish would budget for a kitchen refresh, an outdoor shower and perhaps a small plunge pool, which is a common and relatively inexpensive addition on Samui.

Maenam itself is the part of Samui that long-term residents quietly recommend. The beach is a gentle four-kilometre arc of soft, pale sand with shallow water, almost no waves, and a scatter of low-rise beach bars and family restaurants rather than clubs. It is a swimming and sunset beach — you can wade out fifty metres and still be waist-deep — and it faces north, which means sunset over the water and shade on the sand in the late afternoon. Fishing boats work the bay in the early morning, and there is a long-standing rule of thumb on Samui that Maenam is where you go when Chaweng stops being fun.

The village behind the beach is genuinely functional. There is a walking street market on Thursday evenings, a good fresh market daily, several small supermarkets, a 7-Eleven or three, pharmacies, ATMs, a couple of very good independent Thai restaurants, and a growing cluster of cafés and bakeries reflecting the number of foreign residents who have settled here. Bangkok Hospital Samui in Chaweng is about twenty-five minutes away, with a smaller clinic in Maenam itself for everyday matters. Two international schools operate on the island, which matters if you are moving with a family.

Getting here is easier than the island's remoteness suggests. Samui International Airport is around twenty minutes' drive and connects to Bangkok, Phuket, Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur. The cheaper alternative is a flight to Surat Thani on the mainland and a bus-and-ferry combination, or the car ferry from Donsak, which takes about ninety minutes and lands at Nathon, twenty minutes from the house. Once on the island, a scooter is the standard way to get around; the ring road is good and the northern coast has little traffic.

Ownership follows the usual Thai structure. Foreign buyers cannot hold land in their own name, so a house like this is normally taken on a registered thirty-year lease with pre-agreed renewals, or through a Thai limited company where the buyer controls the voting rights. Both structures are routine on Samui and every reputable local law firm handles them constantly; expect a purchase to complete in four to six weeks. Insist on your own independent lawyer, a full title (chanote) check, and confirmation that access to the plot is by a registered public road or a properly recorded servitude — that last point is where Samui hillside purchases occasionally go wrong.

Running costs are low. Electricity is the main expense if you air-condition heavily; water is cheap and often supplemented by a well. Rental demand on Samui runs from December to April and again in July and August, and a two-bedroom with a view and a pool in Maenam rents extremely well on the monthly market to remote workers, who now form a substantial part of the island's off-season economy.