This is the first bar you’ll bump into when you come to Loh Dalum from Tonsai and it’s just about as typical as you’ll get along this beach: The music is loud, a little predictable, and the lights are low. The clientele is mixed western/Thai and the atmosphere very laid back until it starts picking up past 23:00. Expect the ubiquitous fire dancers, thumping beats, late night trysts and lots of booze.

• Opening Hours: 17:00 – Late
• Location: Central Loh Dalum Beach

This is exactly what people go to chill out bar to do – chill. With the same management as Mama Residence’s excellent Cliff Bar, Chill Out Bar is the place to kick back, sprawl out on cushions and watch for shooting stars in the indigo sky.

• Opening Hours: 12:00 – Late
• Location: Eastern end of Loh Dalum Beach
• Remarks: Unfortunately, as successful as this bar has been, it has also picked up a reputation as being dangerous so, the later it gets, the more caution should be exercised.

Another chill-out location, Jammin is uncomplicated, bamboo-and-thatch, cushions-on-the-floor stuff. Occasionally there is live music here but it’s usually the easy listening flutes and Spanish guitar genre rather than the humping and thumping beats of their neighbours.

• Opening Hours: 09:00 – 02:00
• Location: Viewpoint end of Loh Dalum Beach (northern side)

Slinky has some great uninhibited beach parties with free body painting, lots of buckets and – conveniently enough – a 24-hour convenience store close by in case you desperately need provisions. Beer is relatively cheap but occasionally the music on the gi-normous sound system is set to go on a loop which means you’ll be dancing to the same tune every hour on some nights.

• Opening Hours: 16:00 – Late
• Location: Central Loh Dalum Beach

One of the biggest bars along Loh Dalum Beach, Stones Bar and Resto gets going late and when the waiter turns into a DJ playing dubstep you know that this is a party-animal-friendly place. You can get food here but it won’t be the most peaceful place on the island to dine. With its fluorescent ‘cave’ and driftwood décor, Stones Bar really does have the beach feel to it and when the talented fire dancers come on at 21:00 it’s rather impressive. This is the place that boasts of being open 24 hours a day and they’re not joking: punters come here after everywhere else has shut shop.

• Opening Hours: 12:00 – Late
• Location: Loh Dalum Beach (eastern side)

Not as frenetic as a lot of its neighbours but with the same clunky, heavy wooden furniture and bamboo-and-thatch setup, The Beach Bar is feet-in-the-sand stuff with an inner sitting area. Cool sounds up until about 22:00 then the noisy neighbours kick in with their dubstep and hip-hip played at ear-splitting levels.

• Opening Hours: 09:00 – Late
• Location: Central Loh Dalum Beach (next to Ciao Bella restaurant)