My friend and I would like to spend Chinese New Year in Thailand, since our country of residence, Taiwan, will basically be shut down during that time. We will have about 9 days for travel, and would like to spend the majority of that time outside of Bangkok, preferably on an island somewhere. Ideally, we would like to find a place that is removed from the party crowds, where we can relax, hike, snorkel, and have a few beers at the end of the day. Our budget (in USD) will be $30 to $70 a day, including activities, food, and lodging.

Thanks in advance for your recommendations!

Well you really have two options. East coast or west coast.

With 9 days you can do a little hopping around.

West Coast you can do Railey and Phi Phi
super cheap to fly air asia to krabi and then boat from krabi to railei and boat from there to phi phi
Railey is probably better for doing day trips to nearby islands and some casual kayaking around the beaches. Its quite touristy, but its worth a couple days to check out and the daytrips are great.
I dunno how much they are, but if you get the cabana rooms at railei beach club, that the best
www.raileibeachclub.com inquire about cabana rooms
If you go to Phi Phi, you should stay on the east side of the island
http://www.travelfish.org/map_detail/th ... phi_phi/57
you can hike to town if you want but chill out on the beauty of the east side.

if you go to samui, it costs a bit more to fly there on bangkok air (first and last flights of the day are cheaper)
but you can take a high speed catamaran to Koh Tao, or a slow boat to Koh Phangan
If you stay at like Mango Bay, Tanote Bay, Jansom Bay on Koh Tao or Bottle Beach or somewhere more north and remote on Koh Phanngan you will definately be able to hike and chill
actually the snorkeling is better on koh tao. There are even pretty reasonable rooms on Koh Nang Yuan. Nang Yuan Resort has some fan bungalows that are reasonable.

Maybe break that up with some stuff on Samui, like the Tamarind Springs spa.
For a long list of things to do on samui, check this out: http://ultimatethailandexplorers.com/no ... koh-samui/
although you need to rent a motorbike (and helmet and drive super safely) Samui can be really fun if you stay somewhere sorta chilled out.
This resort is pretty good all around
http://www.travelfish.org/accommodation ... h/all/1437

anyway, hope you have a great trip...wherever you go

ํYep, Trevorr has covered all the great spots in his post.

If you are looking for somewhere less crowded and less known to tourists, consider Koh Phayam, it's also on the west coast and very peaceful.

Or you can try googling for Trang, the province has many great spots for snorkeling and diving. Trang also hosts the wolrd's under water wedding during Valentine's day of every year! Flights are available from Air Asia and Nok Air.

don't forget ko lanta on the west coast. It's a far more relaxed and cheaper option than phi phi.

id def reccomend Ko Tao was my favourite island. We did a cheap overnight bus from Bangkok for B850 to Chumporn and included the catamaran to Ko Tao. We stayed on Sairee Beach and found it to be just small enough to not be packed with tourists but lively enough with a couple of cool bars to chill out. By far the best beaches and water out of the other islands, and the best place to go snorkelling/diving.

Otherwise our most relaxed place was in Koh Phangan, hard to believe but we stayed in the Salad beach area up in the northwest and it was peaceful, beautiful and far removed from the crowds. The waters/beach wasnt as nice as Ko Tao and we stayed at a great hotel that was B800 for a beautiful room with air con, balcony and an amazing pool.

Mich