Haad Chao Phao Review

Haad Chao Phao - less visited beach

Haad Chao Phao is one of the less visited beaches on the tropical island of Koh Phangan. Most of the visitors to the island in the Gulf of Thailand seem to end up either staying at Haad Rin, Ban Tai, Thong Nai Pan or Haad Yuan. This is great for those people who get the gorgeous white sands of Haad Chao Phao to themselves, but is perhaps bad for the locals who have businesses in the area.

Koh Phangan has now become synonymous with the Full Moon Party in the minds of lots of gap year students and backpackers. As a consequence the south and the east of Koh Phangan sees a lot more visitors than the west coast. This is somewhat ironic because the roads in the west of Koh Phangan are in much better condition. Moreover, there is a long series of live corals along the west coast which offers great snorkeling and diving opportunities.

About Haad Chao Phao

Haad Chao Phao is about 10 minutes by taxi from the main port town of Thongsala. It is a softly curving bay with spectacular sunsets. The beach has fine white sand. The sea drops off steeply before the coral reef so there is good swimming no matter what the tidal conditions. The coral reef is 100 meters from the shore and once crossed there is a great profusion of marine life to enjoy.

Accommodation, Bars and Restaurants in Haad Chao Phao

There is plenty of accommodation on Haad Chao Beach. The options range from basic bungalows on the beach to luxury apartments with sea views at Sunset Hill Resort. The apartments can hold up to 8 people and so can be great value for money.

Nearby is the Village Green Restaurant and Pub that does great Thai food and English grub. In its own little cove is the Pirate Bar. It’s a great spot to have a few drinks and go wild to the music. Alternatively, there’s the Seaflower Beach Bar on the center of Haad Chao Phao beach. When a few customers turn up the bar man can often be persuaded to do some fire dancing.

Haad Chao Phao is a gem of a beach. There’s everything you could want except for the crowds. If you want them you will have to go to Haad Rin.

Reviews of Phanganburi Resort and Spa in Haad Rin Nai

The Phanganburi Resort and Spa is a tall hotel style place to stay near the entrance to Haad Rin. It has 2 pools - one in a central courtyard and one on the beachfront. The beachfront pool has a towel service and a bar. One of the main advantages of the Phanganburi Resort is that it is near to the Full Moon Party and all the amenities of Haad Rin but far enough away to allow guests to get some sleep during the big party.

Facilities at the Phanganburi Resort and Spa include 2 pools, restaurant serving Thai and Western food, herbal sauna and motorbike hire. 

Reviews of the Phanganburi are mixed. Some people are very happy with the staff, service and rooms. Others complain about the dirty pools, the old sun loungers and the lack of maintenance. One reviewer describes the Phanganburi as a '2 Star resort'. That is probably a fair assessment.

Here are the prices for the Phanganburi for 2011. The prices are in Thai Baht. 's' = single 't' = twin


                      Dec-April  May-June July-Sep15 Sep16-Oct31
Deluxe Room(s)       2700     2500        2850         2500
Deluxe Room(t)       3000     2850        3250        2850
Cottage,single          2900    2750        3150        2750
Cottage,twin            3200    3150        3500        3150
Beach Side Cottage(s)3450   3350       3750        3350
Beach Side Cottage(t)3800   3750       4150        3750
Corner Suite,single     4050   4000       4350        4000
Corner Suite,twin       4350   4350       4750        4350
Beach Front Cottage(s)4050  4000      4350        4000
Beach Front Cottage(t)4350   4350     4750        4350

Click Here For Secure Booking of rooms at the Phanganburi Resort & Spa

Emily Bennett
2010-04-03     
The hotel was great. good location and good set up. The staff speak english well and are very helpful. the prices are reasonable at the resteraunt and the food is excellent. Recommended for anyone who wants to stay somewhere with a great view of the beach, but not the mayhem of the full moon party beach. two thumbs up!
     
Jayne Russell
2010-01-05     
Was a lovely hotel, great location for full moon party.. only a quick stroll to the party and nice and close to coral bungalows for the pool party.. only downer was the restaurant and service. It took ages for food and wasnt that great. and you may have to ask for fresh towels etc as they dont come some days..
 
Mananunt Ahlefeld
2009-12-12     
This hotel could use some TLC. The pool area was messy with dirty dishes and broken glass. The pool furniture was falling apart, the umbrella stands if you were lucky enough to have an umbrella didn t support the umbrella which would fall over with the slightest breeze. The entire place was poorly managed. The rooms were below average, especially for the money being charged. When I requested a comment card to voice these issues I was handed a blank sheet of paper and asked to write my comments.
 
Sagi Ramon
2009-11-29     
dont expect too much, rooms are below mid-level, the pool is very nice and the private beach is realy not recommended. if u lokking to stay in had-rin not many good high class resort. rate is overprice to what u get. we stayed there only couple of nights, will not go back.
   
Roy Michael Atkinson
2009-10-06     
Well situated on the quieter Sunset Beach but easy access to the busy town and sunrise beach. The whole resort was clean and well appointed which gives a 5 star feel to the resort. The staff were very friendly and helpful.
     
Hin Patelio
2009-07-13     
Had a great stay, nice room, helpful staff, ideal for a comfortable stay in koh phangan!!!
 
Sofia Khan
2009-05-13     
Nice Hotel would visit there again. Everything clean and staff very friendly. Nice food. Nice pools. Close to Full moon parties but far away enough to get some sleep.
     
MRS NICOLA PIERCY
2009-04-03     
We stayed here for three nights - our second stay at this hotel following a trip three years earlier. From what we ve seen it is definitely one of the better resorts in Haad Rin - the staff are good, the pool is clean, and most importantly the location is excellent!! On the good side the two pools are lovely - one is located centrally in the hotel and is very quiet - the other is directly on to the beach and has a very good pool bar including a towel service. It is also an amazing place to view SUNSET, which is spectacular!! Our allocated room was on the ground floor, but as mosquitoes love me, we asked for an upper floor and were accommodated without any hassle. The tourist desk also offers a moped hire service and for 200 baht per day (about £4) the bike we hired was in perfect condition and was brilliant for travelling around the island - but be VERY careful - the roads aren t great (bit s missing, big hills getting out from Haad Rin to Thong Sala) and further north east are basically clay, but if you know what you are doing a great way to get around. On the negative, the resort appears to have nothing done in the last three years - I d describe it as a posh way of roughing it - the rooms are good in size, but could do with a bit of a freshen up and the sunloungers have definitely seen better days... Great if you want to party (close enough to walk to SUNRISE), but also far enough out that you ll get a decent nights sleep.
     
Patrik Arvidsson
2009-02-28     
We stayed at Phanganburi in a Corner Suite for a week. All in all the rooms are overpriced. For the same price you will get a much nicer room on Samui. It is a typical 2-star resort. Our suite, room 3217, was ocean facing but had mostly tree-view. The room was ok, but the bathroom was not. Housekeeping was slow and not very good. There are two quit nice pools, but the sun bed mattresses were dreadful (200 years old and mouldy!). The beach had not the best sand and the seafloor is a bit muddy.

Buchanan
2009-01-13     
Most worthwhile just for the pool that overlooks the beach. I think the best resort by far in the Had Rin area. Beautiful deluxe cottages with everything you could possibly want except a bath tub. Staff are friendly, helpful and very polite. Very close to all the action but far enough away to escape. Highly recommend the Phanganburi!

Reviews of Santhiya Resort and Spa on Thong Nai Pan Noi

Santhiya Resort and Spa was the second real hotel on Koh Phangan. And it choose the opposite end of the beach from the first hotel, namely the Panviman on Thong Nai Pan Noi

Panviman is a great hotel and so is Santhiya. They have differing styles. Panviman seems lower key and Santhiya is a brash and luxurious place that announces itself very loudly. They have some very expensive villas with private pools and great sea views.

Below is a list of real reviews of the Santhiya Resort and Spa:

Boris Steiner 

2009-12-16

The Hotel was really amazing! You feel like you are in paradise. I personally enjoyed most the room with pool access, but this might be up to the person you stay with!\r\n\r\nThe hotel is suitable for couples, honeymoon etc. Makes sure you are not going with a buddy (like i did) to have a nice and pleasant stay and really can use everything to the full extend!\r\n\r\nFor the location i can just give a four, as the beach directly next to the resort is even more beautiful! But the good thing is, you just walk 5 minutes!
     

Orit Ziv
2009-12-12 

   
A grat and beutifal hotel. An hour drive in a very bad road too quite. Recomended for people that would like to b alone.
       

Eva Christina Bengtsson
2009-06-28

     
Great hotel. We had a super view from our room. Breakfast was excellent. Staff very friendly and always at your service. The beach at the hotel was not very good but just a few steps away around the corner you reach a nice beach. Pool terrific. This hotel I would like to return to.
     

Nataliia and Oleksandr Globenko
2009-04-22 

   
Amazing and relaxing luxurious hotel, making you feel as being in paradise from the first minute you arrive there. Stayed in Santhiya Garden Villa Suite for 4 nights in April, 2009. There is nothing negative we could find about this hotel. Villas look gorgeous, all of them new, spacious, made of carved teak wood, with really LARGE verandas (there were 2 sun beds with a small table, normal dining table with 2 chairs and a large bathtub on ours). Almost all walls of the villa feature large windows from the floor to the ceiling, which can be easily closed by the curtains if you look for 100% privacy (though rich rain forest trees and flowers around your villa will provide enough privacy to keep the windows open). The wooden roof of the villa covers only the part of the veranda so if you are afraid of getting burned with sun ask for a large beach umbrella and hotel staff will easily provide it in shortest time). All in-room facilities were excellent: starting from cosy cambric bathrobes and slippers embroiden with golden elephants and ending with a variety of elegant glasses in the bar. Service was very nice, all staff friendly and trying to be as helpful as possible. We were impressed with the welcome and check-in procedure. The hotel is large, its villas are situated on different heights of mountain hill but don’t be afraid of exhausting climbing up/down as there are many wooden-decorated hotel cars available upon call from your room or near the reception which will give you a drive as many times per day as you may need (free of charge). The private beach of Santhiya is very good though if you look for a really airy sand – walk through the rocks (1 minute) to the nearby beach. If you want to swim in the deep water – do it on the hotel beach, if you prefer walking for 20-30 meters in shallow water – the neighbor beach would be your choice. Closer to the left side of the private beach of the hotel (side of the speedboat pier) there is a nice coral reef with different fish and underwater habitants so do not miss the opportunity to snorkel there. We are not the swimming pool fans but the pool in Santhiya is the most excited infiniti pool I’ve ever seen in reality or on the pictures. It’s a great pleasure either to relax in jacuzzi section or massage your back and shoulders under the streams of the waterfall. What is very important – they use high quality cleaning system so no clorine can be felt in the smell of your skin or swimming suit. We didn’t try Santhiya’s restaurants because of their high prices and were very happy about many dining facilities on the nearby beach (you can eat in any of them and won’t be disappointed). Still, the breakfast at Santhiya was very good, serving not only European but also Thai food. In general, we were more than satisfied with the hotel which even exceeded our expectations. We took the special room rate at Sawadee.com (our room cost us around 172 USD/night with breakfast and all taxes) and consider that there hardly could be possible to find better alternative on all Samui group islands for the period of our stay.
     
Pamela Molnarova
2008-09-11

    
Absolutely fantastic! We have nothing to add. Beautiful rooms, luxurious, beautiful resort, nice place to stay. Great breakfast, beach, level of service provided. We loved the place and we recommend it to everyone who needs the luxurious accommodation for a reasonable price. Thanks to Sawadee and a special hotel offer (buy 6 pay 4 nights) we paid less than 50% of the normal rate. The only con was the price of the food in the restaurant, which equals to the European level. However the quality was more than corresponding. We had there the best Pad Thai noodles ever. Most of the time we ate in restaurants on the beach next to the hotel resort as the prices were on the level as you are used to in Thailand. We recommend this hotel and we would love to come back again.
      

Michael Rasmussen
2008-08-03 until 2008-08-10      Santhiya Resort and Spa, Thong Nai Pan Noi
We had a PERFEKT stay really relaxing and fantastic facilities on the whole resort. We enjoyed the golf cars taking us to and from our room (just press 0 on the phone and the golf car is there instantly). We loved the evening walks on the nearby Thong Noi Pan beach, with is calm and cool/trendy bars dinner places. We DEFENTNENTLY WILL BE BACK... Love from Michael & Diana, Copenhagen DK.
      

Grassagliata
2008-07-28 until 2008-08-05

      

Magnifique, exceptionnel à tous points de vue. Beauté des paysages, gentillesse du personnel, la plage, la magnifique piscine. Un endroit magique. On a déjà envie d y revenir.
 

Reviews of Chaloklum Bay Resort

A couple of bad reviews here are mixed in with generally positive reviews for Chaloklum Bay Resort. There is no doubt that it is in a beautiful, quiet location. The bungalows are not 5 star but neither are the prices, which are between 1,800 and 2,600 Thai baht for a beach front villa, standard room.

Reviews of the Panviman Resort on Thong Nai Pan Beach

As you can see from reading the reviews below, The Panviman Resort on Thong Nai Pan Noi is a popular high-end resort. It has a spa, 3 restaurants, and a big pool with an infinity lip with views over the bay. There are 72 rooms to choose from. The cheapest are about $150 a night. The most expensive have their own private pool. Panviman was the first luxury hotel on Koh Phangan and they have obviously developed excellent customer service. However, Steven T's comment is a reminder that in Thailand it is still very hard to get anything 'complimentary' if you complain. Thai staff just aren't trusted with that type of responsibility and the manager might be having a bad day (such things exist in paradise).

So here are the reviews of Panviman Resort

Cameron Teys
2010-03-20     

Me and my wife had 5 nights here for our honeymoon and it was amazing! Worth the journey to get there. Staff were so friendly, location is stunning, room (spa villa which we were upgraded to free of charge from a deluxe villa) was incredible. Great peaceful location overlooking the bay. Great food (especially breakfast) and a short walk down the beach to the village. Couldn t have been better.
     
Lorna Gordon
2010-03-04  

  
I can't recommend this hotel enough, everything was fantastic. We had a deluxe cottage
     
Veronica Capone
2010-03-01

     
Beautiful hotel, beautiful staff who made us feel very welcome and special - nothing was too much trouble. The staff really make this hotel something special.
     
Finn Sonsby
2010-02-18    

The stay at Panviman was indeed a wonderful experience. First of all a real killer location with fantastic view to both beaches. great ambiance and service. I like the style that is not so comtemporary. Highly recommended and we will definitely be back some other time.
     
Steven T.
2009-07-24    

Disappointed! First, the swimming pool was out of order. Water was green and really disgusting. Now these things can happen, so if they do, a small compensation from the hotel would be appreciated (eg free bottle of wine, or a free meal, or a free spa treatment whatever but here - nothing!!). Second: the beach. Next to the beach there runs a stream but basically this is a sewer. Really disgusting! We had dinner on the beach and visited the Rasananda resort which is REALLY nice. I strongly suggest booking either the Rasananda or the Santhiya. On a positive note: the staff were very friendly and polite.
     
Peter Lim
2009-01-02     

Although a bit far from everything else, Panviman Resort is in one of the best locations in Koh Phangan to rest and relax. Its pools, rooms and facilities are by far one of the best I had seen, and staff are very hospitable. It is up a large hill which was hard to walk up, but gave great views on the beach and sea below. I highly recommend this resort for couples wanting to spoil themselves in luxury, and being far away from all the troubles of busy cities.
     
Jason Laurence
2008-11-15  

   
To stay at this hotel you must love the quiet romantic beauty that would see you isolated from the rest of the island. We stayed here two nights to get away from it all and Thong Nai Pan is very beautiful. This hotel is situated on the top of the cliffside and naturally, there are a few steps to climb and a steep hillside to walk most places. I enjoyed it because all I had been eating for days was bacon and egg breakfasts! This hotel offers free taxi to and from the main town (some cab drivers wanted 1500Bt to drive to Thong Nai Pan one way due to its remoteness) and free internet. The value for money was definately there given this hotel is fairly expensive. I would recommend for a few days but not a long stay. You can t beat the beauty of Thong Nai Pan and getting there on the island s mountainside roads is truely an adventure.
     
Dupichot
2008-08-01 until 2008-08-08

     
very nice hotel but much inconvenient it is seated on a hill and no shuttle service is available we asked 3 times for a coach and received three times a negative answer it is really tiring to get up from the beach
     
Mr J. Atkins
2008-07-23 until 2008-07-25     

Great hotel and fantastic location - certainly the best value for money (we had a Superior room) during our two week trip to Thailand. If you want to escape the frenzy of Koh Samui, then head for Koh Phangan and the Panviman. Beautiful setting on a headland overlooking two great beaches. Yes, the road is a little rough getting there (50 mins. from the port) but the relative seclusion and outstanding natural beauty of the setting more than make up for it. We particularly liked the pool area and the beach at Nai Pan Noi - good swimming (unlike much of the west coast of Koh Phangan) and several beachside restaurants/bars to choose from for lunch/dinner. Food at the hotel was fine, though being a four star, was obviously quite a bit more expensive than down on the beach. Breakfast - an excellent buffet. Overall, excellent rapport qualite prix as the French say (basically value for money). We would highly recommend the Panviman to all those planning a trip to the Samui archipelago.

Reviews of Centara Pariya on Haad Yuan beach

The reviews for the Pariya on Haad Yuan beach are generally favorable. It is a higher-end boutique style resort on Koh Phangan and most people who stayed said that they enjoyed themselves. The beach is especially recommended. It is a beautiful secluded beach tucked away in a cove just north east of Haad Rin. Near the action but also a million miles away. There are a few complaints about the prices, the breakfast and the staff, but overall if you are looking for peace and comfort with stylish accommodation then the Pariya is a good choice. For more choices for accommodation in Koh Phangan visit phanganaccommodation.net.

Reviews 

Angela from  Perth

2009-04-10    
We stayed in a Tropical Villa which was very nice - they upgraded us into this room free of charge which was nice of them. The food prices at the hotel were a bit pricey for what you got and the room service menu was very limited. We were recommended to stay there for the full moon party but that was a bad recommendation - we had to wait 5 hours for a boat to come and pick us up because of a low tide. Also our return hotel transfer was a nightmare because they were late so we had to catch a taxi to the pier or we would have missed our ferry back to koh samui.
     
Idit Shalve

2009-03-14   
Amazing place! great hotel and rooms, lovely staff, beautiful beach. You should check the 2-3 restaurants in the area that are very good and cheap. Will definitely visit again when I get a chance to be in Thailand.
     
Alice Kath

2007-12-30 until 2008-01-01     
This place is a disaster for the price you pay. the service sucks, they don't speak english well and are not helpful at all, the breakfast is horrible. the bungalows are nice and so is the beach, but for this kind of money i really expect more. Out of the 4 weeks southeastasia trip we did, we stayed at 10 dollar a night hotels that had way better service and breakfast than this one, which cost 200 dollars a night.
     

Marcus Coutou

2007-06-27 until 2007-07-02     
Great time, staff was very attentive. A little overpriced for Thailand (probably why the place was pretty much empty our entire stay) but it had all the amenities and is situated on a very nice beach. Stayed in the tropical villa. Would prob stay again but maybe in one of the hip rooms, better value.
     

Jean Christophe Lombard

2007-04-02 until 2007-04-05     
Had a lovely stay in this exceptional paradise. Very polite staff and 2 chefs largely worth the stay. Secluded enough to be quiet but not too much lost in the jungle. Overall, a must on Koh Pha-Ngan