In my opinion, Thailand's finest beaches can compete with the other top beaches in Southeastasia nicely. Weather You liked Bali or Lombok in Indonesia, Sumatras Westcoast or the Malaysian dreambeaches before, You can find equivalents in Siam - but You have to look further than the colorful brochures of the travelagents!
Dream beaches in my ranking score for absence of non-organic waste, cleanliness of water and total lack of annoying beach salespeople and noisy tourists. I also don't give a damn for costly beachchairs or umbrellas, seadoo rentals or icecream- and beer-vendors. I have my beach mat everywhere I go and sometimes a hammock, my own well stocked coolerbag and a good book or snorkel equipment along - that's it!
Best beaches to meet my own standards are gulfside, Songkhla province and south of it. Some decent ones between (but excluding) Khao Lak in Ranong Province and Phuket Island are to be found as well, but they are getting fewer and fewer due to developments there. So many nice beaches in Thailand have been Patonged, Chawenged or Ao Nanged, Lamai'd or White Beached.
Thousands of Tourists have other preferences than I do, so I keep being on the run from "developments", synthetic tourist attractions and mass tourism for over a decade now. I recently wrote over half of my latest novel on the beaches of Narathiwat, Koh Phayam and Pattani, where I found the tranquility to tackle such a task without sacrificing much on bathing, swimming and snorkeling. Unbeatable accommodation values often go along with virtually touristfree beaches, my weekly budget wasn't stressed and I had the privilege to meet some great people amongst the locals. To give you a better idea of what I am talking about, I will let some pictures speak for themself:
