Fisherman's Village in Bophut

Bophut's Fisherman's Village is the corner of Koh Samui that has kept the most of its old look: a row of wooden shophouses along the beach on the north coast, a narrow street running behind them and a pier reaching out into the bay. The coast here faces north towards Koh Phangan, so the water is usually calmer than on the east-coast beaches, and the island across the strait makes a background that says Gulf rather than resort.

It is at its best in the late afternoon, when the low sun reaches the old wood, and again at dusk as the lights come on in the shopfronts. A session usually comes in two parts: half an hour on the sand in front of the village around sunset, then a slow walk back up the street. The shophouses are homes and businesses, so doorways and steps stay clear, and nobody poses inside a shop without asking.

On market evenings the street closes to traffic for a walking-street market — lively, crowded and not the night for clean frames; check which night it runs before you fix the date. The airport is close by, so drones are out here without approval. The Gulf's calendar applies: dependable from about January to August, wettest from October to December, with November the peak.