We spent three nights on the tiny Thai island of Ko Tao, and it was far and away our favourite spot of the entire trip. We could easily have spent a month on this darling little spot in the Gulf of Thailand.
One of our favourite days was the one we spent on the southern tip of the island, hiking high above Freedom Beach to the John-Suwan Viewpoint and then spending the rest of the day trying to cool off from the sweaty hike at Freedom Beach. We couldn't get over the views, both from above and below.
We grabbed a taxi from where we were staying at near Sairee Beach, just up on the main road. A hand-painted sign indicated a set fee of 400 Thai baht (about €10) each way, which was fairly pricey, but that included as many people as you could squeeze into the back of their open-back trucks. The ride from Sairee to the parking lot at Freedom Beach was so beautiful.
Then, before we hung out at the beach, we figured we'd do the viewpoint hike first so we could swim and relax post-sweaty climb. To be honest, this hike ranks highly on the list of stupidest things I’ve done because you literally have to use ropes to climb up the big rocks and of course given that it was 30°, we were in sandals and bikinis and carrying heavy beach bags.
BUT these are the adventures that we tell stories about and the view was absolutely worth all of it. If you can bring better shoes in your beach bag, I highly recommend, and be prepared for a bit of a scramble.
JOHN-SUWAN VIEWPOINT HIKE DETAILS
When: year-round
Where: Ko Tao, above Freedom Beach
Difficulty: difficult
Length: the 1.5km roundtrip took us about half an hour of moving time. Check out my exact route on Strava.
Directions: from the parking lot, the road heads right down towards Freedom Beach, and a little trail leads up left with signs to John-Suwan Viewpoint. Follow the trail along the white ropes and climb/hike/scramble your way to the top.
Bathrooms: yes, at the beach
Public Transit: no, but you can take a taxi for 400 Thai baht (about €10) each way
The road from Sairee to Freedom Beach
Freedom Beach
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Hi! I’m Jana, a Dutch-German-British-Canadian with a dream of seeing every country in the world. I am a storyteller, photographer and adventurer passionate about documenting and sharing my travels.
