Escape for New Year

[jpatokal]

A friend of mine will be flying over for a visit over New Year's with Jetstar's new service to/from Pattaya, and I'm thinking this would be a good excuse to pop over to Koh Samet. Any recommendations for places to stay for 2 nights or so? We're willing to pay for quality, and both Le Vimarn and Ao Prao on the quieter west side seem pretty good. Opinions or suggestions for other places within striking range of Pattaya too.

The other option I was thinking of was flying Bangkok-Koh Samui-Pattaya on Bangkok Airways, but naturally this would cost a lot more and it's the off season in Koh Samui... is it worth going there this time of year?

And I think I need to book soon because I'm sure we won't be the only ones on the move :eek:

[Hitesh]

samui is very popular at this time of year as well. lots of people go down for the full moon parties as well as the new years party. last year there were around 300,000 people on pha ngan. either way u should book now.
there is a hotel reservation link on 2bangkok.com somewhere.