Updated: May 2026
French · 7 years on Samui
French motorcycle tour guide living on Koh Samui for 7 years. Marc leads group rides across southern Thailand and knows every road on the island.
Koh Samui is 228 square kilometres and sixty kilometres around by ring road. At first glance, running out of fuel sounds impossible. I have seen it happen to three people in the last month. Two were on motorbikes with smaller tanks who assumed they could reach the next station. One was on a rental scooter with a fuel gauge that read a quarter-full when the tank was actually empty - a stuck float sensor, common on older rental bikes. This guide exists because the island is small but the gaps between stations are real.
There are four PTT stations and two Shell stations on the ring road. The PTT in Nathon is the largest and the most reliable for tyre pressure - their air line is always working. The Shell on the Chaweng Beach Road is convenient but busy on weekend mornings. I always prefer the PTT near the Hin Lad roundabout when heading south - it sits at the top of a slight rise and gives you a clean exit onto the quieter coastal road. For motorbike riders on the Honda CB500X or CB300R, these stations also have basic tool kits you can borrow.
Between the full-service stations you will see small shops with rows of one-litre bottles filled with yellow petrol standing on a shelf outside. These roadside vendors charge about 50 baht per litre - roughly twice the pump price - but they exist precisely where full stations do not. The south coast between Hua Thanon and Thong Krut has two of these shops. The west coast between Thong Krut and Nathon has none. That 18 km stretch is where I have seen the most abandoned bikes and the most grateful faces when a truck stops to help.
Riding south from Nathon toward Thong Krut, the last petrol station is the PTT in Nathon town. After that there is nothing for 18 km until you reach the bottle shop at Ban Taling Ngam - and that shop closes by 19:00. I fill to the top at the Nathon PTT without exception, regardless of what the gauge reads. On the XMAX 300 with its 13.2-litre tank this is comfortable. On a Honda CB300R with a modest tank size, the calculation is still fine if you fill properly. Running on a quarter-tank into the west coast dead zone is the mistake.
Most rental scooters have inaccurate fuel gauges - the float sensors age and stick. I use odometer readings instead. After seven years riding Samui, I know roughly how many kilometres I get from a tank of each model. NMAX 155: approximately 230 km per tank at mixed speed. PCX 150: 200 km. XMAX 300: 300 km plus. Honda CB500X: 250 km. When I hit 150 km since my last fill, I start looking for a station regardless of what the gauge says. This approach has left me stranded zero times in seven years.
Riding after dark on Koh Samui is manageable on the main ring road but the secondary roads and beach access tracks are poorly lit. Fuel planning at night means one additional rule beyond my daytime habits: I never let the tank drop below a third when the sun is down. The PTT in Chaweng is open 24 hours. The Shell in Lamai closes at 22:00. Everything else on the south and west coasts closes before 20:00. If you are planning an evening coastal run, fuel up before leaving Chaweng or Lamai.
Push to the left, turn on hazard lights if your bike has them, and call the rental shop before you try anything else. Every reputable rental shop on Samui will bring fuel to a stranded customer - it is in their interest. Most will arrive within thirty minutes if you can give a landmark. Alternatively, wave down any pickup truck: helping a stranded rider is a common act of courtesy on this island and I have been helped three times in my first two years before I learned to manage fuel properly. It is not embarrassing. It is how you learn.
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