Koh Samui: Chaweng Garden Beach Resort

[ilikeredheads]

My trip to thailand included spending 3 nights on Koh Samui.

Cost: Booked a superior double room with pool view via Agoda.  Around $80 cad per night after taxes and fees. (kinda surprised this is way cheaper than the hotels in BKK.)

Location: As its name suggests, it's located in the Chaweng district, aka the nightlife area. In fact, soi green mango is right across the street, and the infamous ArkBar is several buildings to the east. (ArkBar is closed off for some reason. Maybe renovations? Only their beach bar is open).  Central Samui shopping mall is like 5min walk away.  If you are planning to spend most of time at the resort, I have to point out that hotel is right underneath the flight path of the nearby airport, so you'll see and hear planes overhead during the day.

Room: All of their rooms besides their bungalows are in 2 storey buildings.  I booked superior double room because all their superior rooms are located on the second floor. Staying on the second floor means having to take a flight of stairs every time, but for me this is the better than staying on the ground floor, where there may be privacy concerns unless you keep your curtains closed all the time.  My room is fairly standard, and clean, but some of the furniture are showing some wear and tear.  The bed is on the firm side, which may bother some who prefer softer mattress.

Pools: there are 2 pools. One runs along the superior rooms and has a pool bar at the end. The other is a beach pool located right next to the restaurant.

Breakfast: It's included in the price. Basically a buffet style breakfast serving both western and asian dishes. It was pretty good. I liked that they have several nespresso machines for all your coffee needs.  Being able to enjoy breakfast with a sea view is pretty nice. 

Getting to/from the airport:  All taxis do NOT have meter. Forget about Grab because it's just as expensive due to lack of drivers. Your main form of transportation besides walking are songthaews that run between the main districts on the island.  At the airport you can take a share van for 120b (costs more if going to other areas farther than chaweng) that will drop you off at your hotel.  Getting to the airport, however, I had no choice but to take a taxi.  If traveling in a group, you can rent a songthaew and split the cost. Because I wanted to avoid potential disagreement in pricing with the driver, I had inquired about the price at hotel beforehand and had the hotel book the taxi for me.  This short drive to the airport (not even 10min) costed me 300b. (I had a feeling it would cost more if I just flagged one of taxis on beach road.)

Overall, it's a pretty nice hotel. I get to chill at the beach and just enjoy the nice view of the sea while downing a cold one.  I was lucky that it did not rain at all during my stay.  Nice clear sunny weather everyday. 

https://imgur.com/a/mZClocP