Baan Khaolak Resort Phang-Nga

Stayed 7 nights with my wife 1st - 8th of May 2008 in a seaview bungalow.

The bungalow was spacious and well appointed, however there was little room for storage. The air conditioning is very loud, even when on lowest setting. This disturbed our sleep a couple of times. There is a nice covered terrace in front of the cottage, but the proportions of the furniture are for giants, my wife (160cm) had trouble sitting in them. The garden is so well-grown now (4 years after the Tsunami) that the seaview from our room (201) was minimal.

Minibar has basic drinks and is cheap compared to many other hotels. The room service menu is extensive and reasonably priced, since the hotel restaurant on the beach is not very pleasant we ended up using the room service often. Especially the thai foods are excellent. The hotel is only couple of hundred meters away from the end of the main street where you can find many good restaurants, try Phu Khaolak for inexpensive but tasty thai food or Viking for steaks.

There are sun loungers by the pool and at the beach (only hotel in the neighborhood to have them at the beach). One disappointment for this trip was that it was not very relaxing/refreshing to swim in the pool because the temperature of the water was unusually high. Due to rain season starting, the swell in the ocean was so big that it did not tempt to try swimming there either.

The staff was always smiling and attentive, even if they sometimes don't understand English very well. This was evident when ordering room service or breakfast from the menu, sometimes the food you got was a surprise!

Maintenance of the place looked good, but there were some faults. I reported to reception during the second day of our stay that the air conditioning did not work in the gym, which was not fixed by the time we left. In addition, the plumbing from our bathroom sink fell off one day, because the sink was not attached to the table top. This was fixed promptly by the staff, however the sink was left ""free-standing"".

Overall, all hick-ups aside and considering the price (60euros/night) and star rating (***), we had an agreeable stay at Baan Khaolak Resort.

A beautiful location set amongst immaculately kept gardens. Our bungalow was very spacious, comfortable, clean, spotless bathroom. Housekeeping did a splendid job everyday, it was a pleasure to go back to our room.

The staff were friendly and helpful nothing was too much trouble. It is a very peaceful location and we found by hiring a motorbike (very cheap) we were able to see more of the area and made the shops and restaurants more accessible. We would not hesitate to go back.