Koh Kood island in Thailand: wild beaches, getting there from Pattaya and sandflies

Looking for an island in Thailand where you'll have the beach almost to yourself? Have a look at Koh Kood (also spelled Koh Kut). It sits in the east of the country, in Trat province, in the Gulf of Thailand. The beaches here are wild, the sand is white and the water is crystal clear, while most of the island has very little infrastructure.

Funnily enough, in three years of living in Thailand we never once made it to Koh Kood, even though we went to Koh Chang many times. Later, when we came back to Thailand as tourists, we ended up going there twice.

We took all the photos below on one of those trips, at the end of January 2019.

A wild beach on Koh Kood: palms right down to the water and big boulders along the shore

What are the beaches like on Koh Kood?

The Koh Kood beaches we visited are wild and almost empty: white sand, palm trees growing right at the water's edge and big boulders in clear turquoise water. One of them was Secret Sunset Beach.

Not all of the island is like that, though: there's a livelier part with expensive hotels and restaurants. Still, if you dream of a beach with almost nobody else on it, you'll love Koh Kood.

How do you get to Koh Kood from Pattaya?

We got from Pattaya to Koh Kood by car, boat and transfer. Here's how it went:

1. We drove from Pattaya in our own car.
2. Once there, we waited for a group to gather, and then everyone was taken to the pier together.
3. From the pier, the boat ride took about 40 minutes.
4. On the island, a transfer took us to our hotel.

On the island itself you can rent a scooter. To be honest, I don't know of any other way to get around. You might be able to call a tuk-tuk like a taxi, too.

Where did we stay on Koh Kood?

On Koh Kood we stayed in the most basic room, with no air conditioning and no frills at all. A budget option like that suits anyone happy to give up a bit of comfort. Of course, the island has hotels for every taste and budget. We simply picked the plainest one.

I don't have photos of me in a white bathtub full of flowers or of a pretty breakfast by the pool. What I do have are photos of wild beaches with hardly anyone on them.Mariia Sosnina

Here's one of them below: a white sandbar in the middle of turquoise water.

The sandbar on Koh Kood from above

How do you get to the sandbar on Koh Kood?

We reached the Yai Kee Beach sandbar on Koh Kood by boat. It lies in the middle of turquoise shallows and from above looks like a white brushstroke.

First we went to the Bann Makok The Getaway hotel, and that's where we arranged a boat transfer to the sandbar. You can see where we got on the boat in the next photos.

And this is a little corner of that riverside hotel, Bann Makok The Getaway. We stayed somewhere else and only waited here for the boat to the sandbar.

How is Koh Kood different from Koh Chang?

Koh Kood is quieter and simpler than Koh Chang, which we've visited many times. It reminded us of our very first trip to Koh Chang, before we moved to Thailand, when we happily lived on local food and Chang beer.

That's exactly how it went on Koh Kood: we didn't come across a decent grocery shop anywhere on the island. Perhaps that was just what we needed back then. If having somewhere good for dinner matters to you, look for a place to stay in the livelier part of the island, where you'll find expensive hotels and restaurants.

Choosing between islands in Asia? Have a read of our pros and cons of a holiday in Sri Lanka too.

Are there sandflies on Koh Kood?

Yes, there are sandflies on Koh Kood, and they bit us. In all the years we lived in Thailand we never ran into them, but on this trip they got us both here and in Chonburi province.

Sandflies are tiny, about the size of a biting midge, and they live right in the sand. You barely feel the bite, but your body's reaction is awful:

• a large hard lump comes up where you were bitten;
• the bite itches like mad;
• you can see a tiny hole from the bite, with clear fluid oozing out of it;
• it all takes a long time to go away, one to two months.

Locals say there are far more of these flies now because of rubbish dumps and polluted beaches.

How do you protect yourself from sandflies?

Insect repellent helps protect you from sandflies. Putting it on in the middle of the day at the beach feels a bit odd, of course, but it's your call: the bites take months to heal. If a bite gets badly inflamed and won't go away, it's best to see a doctor: at night it's easy to scratch bites in your sleep, and an infection can get into the wound. Otherwise, antihistamine creams and allergy tablets ease the itching. Hopefully you always have them in your travel first-aid kit.

And now a few more photos from Koh Kood.