Shopping in Koh Tao

01Sairee - where we fell in love with shopping on Koh Tao

Sairee is Koh Tao's tourist hub, and the area where we most enjoyed browsing the shops.

Unlike destinations where you have to make a special trip to a shopping centre, in Sairee the shops are part of everyday life. You walk out of a café, head towards the beach, turn into a little alley and suddenly discover a boutique full of beautiful dresses.

It is not one street devoted entirely to shopping, but a whole area where clothes shops, cafés, restaurants, hotels and dive centres blend into one another.

You can spend hours here without planning a particular route.

We especially loved the fact that the shops are all different. Some are very simple, with mannequins at the entrance and rails crammed with clothes. Others are designed like small boutiques, with soft dresses, straw hats, beach bags and accessories.

And sometimes the shop that looks plainest from the outside hides the best bargains.

02Beach dresses in Thailand - the cuts we simply fell for

For us, the most beautiful thing about Thai beach fashion is the cut.

We love feminine clothes that flatter the body. Dresses that define the waist, pretty V-necks, open backs, thin straps and skirts that fall softly.

These are cuts that feel free and suit the tropical weather, yet still give a feminine, polished look.

In the photos we took on Koh Tao you can see long dresses in shades of cream and white, with layers of fabric, embroidery, ruffles and unusual textures. Alongside these we also found dresses in natural shades of sand, olive green, beige and burgundy.

There is something especially lovely about these colours paired with straw hats, a woven bag and sandals.

The dresses look as though they were designed specifically for a holiday on a tropical island.

But what we love about them is that they do not have to stay holiday clothes. A beautiful dress with a flattering cut can look wonderful back home too, at dinner, on a summer evening out or even on an ordinary day.

The fabrics, the movement and the small details

When we choose a dress, we look at the fabric too.

It is not enough for us that it looks good on the hanger. We want to see how it falls on the body, how it moves when you walk and how it feels against the skin.

In some of the shops on Koh Tao we found dresses with a soft, natural look, in light fabrics, with gathering at the waist, embroidery, lace and delicate layers.

We especially loved the white ruffled dresses and the long dresses with deep necklines.

There is something romantic, feminine and slightly bohemian about them, yet still sexy and flattering.

It is often the seemingly simple cuts that work best. A dress that looks ordinary on the hanger can fit beautifully when you try it on.

So we recommend not skipping the fitting room, even if you have already found a few dresses in a similar style.

03The choice on Koh Tao is huge, but the designs repeat themselves

One of the things we discovered while shopping in Thailand is that a lot of the designs repeat themselves.

The same cuts appear in different shops, sometimes in other colours or with a small change to the pattern.

Sometimes we saw a dress we had already come across on another island.

But to us, that is actually part of Koh Tao's advantage.

When the choice is this big, you can compare.

If we liked a particular cut but the colour did not quite suit us, we kept looking. If the fabric did not feel good enough, we tried another shop.

And sometimes we found a similar item at a better price.

For us, the difference was not necessarily that Koh Tao sells clothes you cannot find anywhere else, but that we had far more choice to pick from.

04Koh Tao vs Koh Phangan - where was shopping better value for us?

Before we came to Koh Tao we also travelled around Koh Phangan, and that is where we started falling in love with Thai beach dresses.

We found some very beautiful dresses, but in the shops we visited the choice was fairly limited and the prices felt high to us.

On Koh Tao it felt completely different.

Suddenly we could move between lots of shops, find more and more cuts, colours and styles, and discover prices that seemed really excellent to us.

It was not just one item we found on offer.

It was the overall feeling as we wandered through the shops.

We cannot say that Koh Tao is cheaper than Koh Phangan in every category and every shop, but in our own shopping experience, Koh Tao won hands down for dresses and beachwear.

If you are planning to visit both islands and love buying clothes, we would recommend not filling your suitcase on Koh Phangan.

Leave a little room for Koh Tao.

For us, Pai and Koh Tao were the two best places on the trip for buying beachwear: the biggest variety and the best prices. Koh Samui is a different story - the mall, brands and quality at a different price. If you are buying beach dresses: buy here and in Pai, do not wait for Koh Samui.

05Not just dresses - swimwear, skirts and tops

Alongside the dresses, we also found a big range of swimwear, skirts, cropped tops, tops and beach cover-ups on Koh Tao.

Some shops had young, colourful pieces, including crocheted swimwear, little tops and short skirts.

In others the style was much calmer, with clothes in natural shades and soft fabrics.

We especially love being able to mix and match.

A light skirt with a pretty top can become a whole outfit for lunch. A short beach dress works over a swimsuit, and a long dress can also work for the evening.

To us, part of the fun is buying pieces you can wear in several ways, and not only on the holiday itself.

06Special boutiques worth looking for in Sairee

Besides the simple beachwear shops, Sairee also has independent boutiques offering curated collections.

On Sairee's shopping strip, just past the hotel area, there is a gorgeous dress shop. High-quality, distinctive Thai-style dresses, pricier than elsewhere on the island.

We bought two special white dresses and a scarf there. The fabrics are something special.

Further along the street, and on the two inner streets, the shops are simpler, with loads of beachwear at very good prices and plenty of bargains.

07Straw hats, beach bags and accessories

One of the lovely things about Koh Tao's shops is that the clothes are almost always surrounded by accessories to match.

Wide-brimmed straw hats, woven beach bags, fabric bags, light jewellery and sandals.

Sometimes a small accessory completely changes the look of a dress.

We especially love a white beach dress with a straw bag and a big hat.

But here too, look at the quality and not just the look.

With woven bags, check the handles and the joins. With hats, make sure they are comfortable and do not pinch, and with jewellery, find out what it is made of, especially if you plan to wear it in the sea.

08Where is the best place to buy clothes on Koh Tao?

For us, the first place to start is the Sairee area, in the streets and alleys behind the beach.

The advantage is that you can do everything on foot and combine shopping with a relaxed day.

Start with breakfast facing the sea, browse the shops, go back to the beach and carry on in the evening to a restaurant or a bar.

There are small shops along the main streets and others tucked a little further in.

You will not always find them with a simple Google search, and some do not even appear under a clear name on the maps.

So it is worth going to the area and simply wandering around.

If you are looking for a particular style, do not give up if you do not find it in the first shop.

On Koh Tao we saw so many versions of dresses and beachwear that sometimes the difference between a nice buy and a really good one was simply going into one more shop.

09Are the prices really that good?

One of the reasons we enjoyed shopping on Koh Tao so much was the value for money.

We found beautiful, feminine and flattering dresses at prices that felt significantly lower than we had expected to pay.

Especially after Koh Phangan, where prices in the shops we visited were higher.

Prices vary between shops, between fabrics, between seasons and sometimes even between styles that look almost identical.

So our advice is simple: compare before you buy.

If it is a common dress, you may well find it in another shop.

If it is something special, with a great cut or a colour you have not seen before, it is sometimes better to buy it there and then rather than assume you will find it again.

10How to spot clothes that are really worth buying

A low price is an advantage, but it is not enough.

The first thing we look at is the cut.

Does the dress sit well at the bust? Is the waistline in a flattering place? Does the skirt fall nicely? And is it comfortable to move in?

Then we look at the fabric.

Some clothes look wonderful in a photo but feel less pleasant in real life. Especially in Thailand's heat and humidity, it is important to check that the fabric is suitable for wearing all day.

We also recommend checking the seams, the finish and how see-through the fabric is.

With white dresses this is especially important.

And finally, think about whether you will really wear the piece again.

We love clothes that suit a holiday but do not look like a tourist costume once you are back home.

To us, those are the best buys of all.

11What to know before you go shopping

Trying things on is an important part of buying. Sizes may differ from what you are used to, especially in local cuts.

It is worth going into the simple shops too. More than once, they are where you find the best-value pieces.

Do not assume that every natural-looking fabric is cotton or linen. Check the label if there is one, and feel the fabric before you buy.

Compare prices, but do not chase a small difference. If you have found a piece you really love, in a size and colour that suit you, that is already a good buy.

Leave room in your suitcase. Especially if you love beach dresses, because the choice may tempt you to buy more than you planned.

12The bottom line - is Koh Tao a good place to shop?

Absolutely.

Koh Tao surprised us in many ways, and the shopping was one of the most enjoyable surprises.

We loved the choice, the feminine cuts, the soft dresses, the colours and the chance to find beautiful clothes at prices that felt really excellent to us.

There is something great fun about discovering a new dress while wandering the streets of a tropical island, going in to try it on and finding that it looks even better on than on the hanger.

On Koh Phangan we had already started to fall in love with Thai beach fashion, but on Koh Tao we felt we had found the place where you can really enjoy shopping.

If you love dresses, swimwear, beachwear and accessories, we definitely recommend setting aside time for the shops of Sairee.

For us, Koh Tao is one of the best-value and most enjoyable places we went shopping in Thailand.

13FAQ: shopping for clothes on Koh Tao