1/04

Me and my husband were on a trip to Thailand recently (August 2003) and visited Bangkok and then moved to the south to Phangan and Samui. We stayed at Chaweng beach at Samui and Haad Rin at Phangan. I must say that I was surprised at the percentage of topless sunbathers at both the places, more so at Phangan where the beach could easily be one of the topless beaches in Eupore with more than 70-80% topless females. In Samui it was less but easily 30-40%. We stayed a total of 10 days at Phangan and Samui and the whole day at the beach was spent topless without more than a casual look which is common even in topless European beaches. In fact I did spot girls topless even in local bars during the day and also walking on the beach street in Samui. It was a good experience and something I did not expect in Thailand as most of the literature regarding the country warns not to go topless or nude. This is not correct and both Samui and Phangan were very Europe-like and toplessness was not an issue at all.

--Rita, New York, New York

7/03

We visited Thailand recently (first week July 2003) and had seen your site to learn that toplessness was common on the beaches of Thailand. Actually many tourism sites about Thailand and the Government and private literature on Thailand paints a very different picture stating that toplessness is not appropriate. However, in Thailand we visited Pattaya, Samui, Phangan, and Phukhet. All these beaches had a good number of topless females. (My girl friend went topless on all these beaches!). In fact at Phangan we found that toplessness was a norm and up to 90% girls were without a top there. At Leela beach and Had Rin at Phangan we actually had to look hard to find a girl with a top on. In fact we found topless girls not only at the beach but also in the market surrounding the beach in shops and hotel lobbies!! From our experiences, we do not believe there is any need to worry about what the websites or printed literature says about Thailand and there is no need to pack those conservative swimming costumes as something more revealing will not be out of place. Thailand is as advanced as any European beach resort regarding toplessness.

--Mark, London, UK

12/02

Actually many guides would say that topless sunbathing is not liked and frowned upon, but in reality it is extremely common on beaches in Thailand, specially Samui and Pukhet and Samet. I have many many times gone topless and have not got any problems.

Topless is no problem at all and is accepted as a matter of fact. Go ahead and enjoy topfreedom in Thailand.

--Anu, Ko Samui, Thailand