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.
Last season I found five viewpoints on Koh Samui that do not appear on any tourist map. The method is simple and takes patience: whenever I see a concrete track heading uphill off a road I already know, and I have twenty minutes to spare, I follow it to see where it ends. Thai infrastructure builders use concrete on gradients that would become impassable in mud - these utility tracks serve farms and water systems, not tourism. But they often terminate at the highest accessible point in their area, and the highest accessible point is usually worth the climb.
Last November I followed a concrete track off the southwest ring road on the Honda CB300R. It climbed steeply for 600 metres and ended at a small spirit house with a 270-degree view of the west coast, the Five Islands, and on the clearest days the faint outline of the mainland. There is no name for this viewpoint on any map. There is a narrow turning area and room for two bikes parked side by side. I have brought four friends up there since and every one has asked why it is not in any guidebook.
Between Chaweng and Lamai, a network of concrete farm paths threads through the coconut plantations on the inland ridge. One of them, wide enough for the Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 but not for a car, terminates at a clearing where plantation workers sometimes eat lunch. The view east is unobstructed coast from Chaweng Noi to the north until the headland cuts it off. I rode it in April at 07:00 when the light was coming in low from the southeast. The colour of the Gulf at that hour from that height is something I have not seen matched anywhere else I have travelled.
Most riders stop at the Hin Lad waterfall car park. The trail continues above it on a jeep track that most cars cannot manage after rain. On the Himalayan 450 in dry season I rode it to the top where a concrete water tower sits on the island's highest accessible point. Looking southwest from there you see Samui's full western shore. The track is rough - roots, loose rock, and one section where the gradient exceeds 20%. The Honda CB500X manages it on a dry day but the Himalayan's 230 mm ground clearance makes it significantly easier.
A temple access road north of Mae Nam was partially built and then apparently abandoned - the concrete stops about 400 metres up and becomes a dirt track for the final 200 metres to a small pavilion. I rode it on the Yamaha MT-03 in March, which was optimistic: the rear tyre broke loose twice on the loose dirt and I walked the last 50 metres. Bring the ADV 160 or the Himalayan for this one. The pavilion itself overlooks a gap in the hills with a direct sight line north across the Gulf. On a clear morning you can see Ko Pha-ngan and Ko Tao simultaneously.
South of Thong Krut, past the last paved junction, a maintained concrete track climbs to a municipal water tank servicing the fishing village below. I rode it on the Honda CB300R on a dry December morning. The concrete is rough but intact and the CB300R's ABS gave real confidence on the damp-shaded section near the top. The view from the water tank platform looks southeast across the Five Islands toward Ko Taen and out to open ocean. No tourists. No coconut sellers. Just the tank hum and the sea.
Three rules I apply to every off-map track on this island: go in the morning when the light is better and the ground is drier from the previous evening's cooling; always be willing to turn around if the track deteriorates beyond what the bike can handle safely; and never attempt a track solo on a bike you borrowed that day. Familiarity with the bike's low-speed balance is essential when a track goes wrong. I have turned around six times for every five viewpoints I have found. The turnarounds are not failures - they are what keep the ratio in my favour.
My first week on Koh Samui I hired a car. By day seven I returned it and rented a scooter for the rest of the month. Here is the moment that changed my mind.
I ignored the low battery warning at Nathon. Forty minutes later I was pushing a 90 kg electric scooter up a hill in 35-degree heat. Here is what I should have done.
I set myself the goal of reaching every named beach on the island by bicycle in three days. Forty-one beaches, 180 km, and two punctures later - here is the full story.
