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Koh Tao Restaurants,
Street Food and Nightlife

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"Koh Tao restaurants" was last updated on Nov 15, 2013
All information below is subject to change

Looking for a restaurant in Koh Tao?

Believe me, you won't have a problem.

Most guesthouses and resorts in Koh Tao island have their own restaurant. The main beaches also have plenty of restaurants that offer Thai, Italian, Mexican and/or Japanese food.

BBQ fish or meat is of course very popular on the menu!

Many of them are in Mae Haad village (where the boats land) - here you'll find dozens of restaurants and a few cheap options of Thai street food.

Most of our time in Koh Tao, we ate at Tropicana Resort's restaurant - that's where we stayed the first days. We were too lazy to find other and better restaurants.

The Pad Thais there were great, but not the pizzas. I wouldn't even call them a pizza, just a fat layer of cheese on top of some bread!

Street Food in Koh Tao

I'm telling you this right now, if you want authentic Thai food in Koh Tao, you have to search for a while before you get that far. The center of attention is the over-priced restaurants, catered towards foreigners.

Finding cheap Thai restaurants is a tough chore on the island - it seems like the locals generally cook at home and don't eat out.

Even if Koh Tao has become developed, you can still find some food vendors and food stalls in the corners of Mae Haad village. I call it food on wheels!

It's cheap and convenient.

Pancakes start from 25B, sandwiches from 60B, fruit salads from 80B, noodle soups and pad thais are priced between 20-50 B. For Panaeng curry, expect to pay 50 B. I also saw a local selling papaya salad, but didn't catch the price.

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Cafe del Sol

Like with many other restaurants in Thailand and Southeast Asia, the Western food is seldom as good as it is at home.

We can't expect many Thais to cook authentic pizzas, but we can expect them to make great Thai food.

Anyway, Café del Sol is the restaurant in Koh Tao that serves authentic Western food.

The chef is Italian/French, and makes great Italian dishes. My boyfriend who's picky about food, even liked the food here. So, we came in almost every evening :-P

We tried the pizzas and lasagna and it was perfect. The creme brulé was fantastic, although the portion could have been smaller.

If you're looking for a good steak, they have tender steak imported from New Zealand!

This is a good place to splurge if you want quality food! :-) We paid around 200 B for each main dish, but it was sure worth it! :-)

Where: Mae Haad village

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Nightlife and
Alcohol on Koh Tao

Beers are cheaper at pavement bars (the bars next to the roads), but at the restaurants they're pricey.

Look out for happy hours! Most bars offer happy hours, and they promote it heavily with flyers and posters almost everywhere on the island.

Sangsom is the local whiskey ;-)

If you want cheaper options, you can get small Singha beer cans at Seven-Eleven - they cost like 45B each. Chang beer is generally cheaper than Singha.

The nightlife in Koh Tao is totally vibrating. When dinner time is closing up, restaurants fill up quickly. Later on, people move on the bars.

It gets really crazy here during the Moon Parties, but not as crazy as Koh Pha Ngan.

We had a couple of drinks at Dragon Bar in Mae Haad - a stylish retro place with a relaxed atmosphere.

They basically had cocktails on the menu - which is great. I sometimes get tired of beers.

At Dragon Bar, they play indy rock and sometimes electronic music. I enjoyed the place - you should go for it! ;-)

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Further reading: Places to stay in Koh Tao How is the weather on Thai islands? Review of Nangyuan island - a boat trip away from Koh Tao

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