Koh Chang

[Monkeypants]

Hi I haven't been to koh chang for 2 years now, and we plan to visit early in November,

My question is for people who have visited recently.

Do you think that it is wise to pre-book accomadation?

Since the Tsunami I have been told that Koh Chang is very busy as people tend to be finding the Island safer and unspoilt.

Is this the case?

[think_too_mut]

Hi I haven't been to koh chang for 2 years now, and we plan to visit early in November,

My question is for people who have visited recently.

Do you think that it is wise to pre-book accomadation?

Since the Tsunami I have been told that Koh Chang is very busy as people tend to be finding the Island safer and unspoilt.

Is this the case?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just after New Year I went there and many tourists were arriving rerouted from devastated Phuket. Still I could find a room (nothing great, probably something Phuket bound tourists would not take anyway) on the day.

The place is still unable to offer a robust tourism service, it's probably good for not more than 3 days or even for a day trip only.

This 2 hotels are new, I don't think they were there 2 years ago on my previous visit. As classy as it gets at the White Sand beach:

Lots of backpackers, it's their haven.

[buadhai]

We just spent three days there last week.

Frankly, I was disappointed. We were hoping for a beach so our ten-year-old girl could swim. We pre-booked the Pla Loma Cliff Resort which is supposed to be on "White Sand Beach". Well, at our hotel there was no sand and not much beach. A better name would be "Brown Pebble Beach". That said, some very minimal "white sand" beaches were in walking distance of the hotel. And, the rooms were OK; pool nice. The buffet breakfast sucked.

We could have gotten a room without booking, but the season is just starting, so you might want to check availability. It didn't seem particularly busy to me, but some restaurants did fill up during the evening.

Also, you might want to verify that whatever place you decide to stay actually has a beach....

The island is, as mentioned above, still backpacker heaven. That said, there are a number of nice resorts in operation and under construction.

Sadly, but as expected, the infrastructure is in serious lag. The hilly, windy road is one lane each way and considerable delays can be encountered. Since so many businesses have built within a meter of the road shoulder, chances of road widening are slim to none. (Shades of Koh Samui....)

It's definitely a good place to chill. Plenty of restaurants with decent food. But, not much else.

I did some scuba diving and it was fine. Visibility was not great (it's not yet dive season), but we saw some good stuff. The potential for great diving, including liveaboards is there.

A few recent photographs can be found at the bottom of this page:

http://www.######/pattaya1005/

[KC_Farang]

No need to book in advance in early November. But if your after 3-4star hotel rooms then you'll find online rates much cheaper than walk in rates.

Was busy last week due to the long weekend holiday - but it's back to normal now. Get delys when loads of Thais come to the island as many have never driven up a hill before in a manual pick-up truck.

I've got some impartial hotel reviews on my site - IamKohChang.com -it mentions things such as hotels not being on sandy beaches which many touristy sites tend to neglect to mention. Whitesands beach is only sandy on the northern half, southern half is all stones. Klong Proa Beach is a much better bet, a couple of kilometres of gently sloping sand. I take the dog down there every day to swim.

Mac & Cookie are the ones in the photos - nearby Kacha Resort has just completed their renovations - a very nice place to stay for around 2,500 baht/night

The road from Whitesands down to Klong Prao is being widened and work is also underway in Whitesands to widen the road by a metre or so on the beach side.

Still loads of unspoilt areas on the island but most people don't see them as they only head along the west coast road and stop in built up areas.

Email me through the site if you need any specific info etc.

[Monkeypants]

Thankyou for your help everyone,

I have stayed at cookie on many occassions but having phoned them last week they informed me that they no longer have beach bungalows and are currently building a hotel on the beach !!!

So I was thinking on staying at 15 palms basically next door to Cookie, but I cannot remember the quality of the rooms, What i am after is something like cookie, i,e brick beach hut, air con would be useful but not a must, clean and comfortable, there will be 3 partys me the missus 2 kids and the mother in law, and an English/Thai couple who haven't been to Koh chang before. So either 3 rooms on the beach at White Sand, or a suite and a room, I guess we are looking to spend upto 2000 bht per couple,

Sorry I didn't mention this earlier,

also if anyone wants a beer, we are hoping to be there round about the 13th of November for about 3/4 nights.

Once again thanks for your help.

[talatnat]

Thankyou for your help everyone,

I have stayed at cookie on many occassions but having phoned them last week they informed me that they no longer have beach bungalows and are currently building a hotel on the beach !!!

Once again thanks for your help.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

We popped over just last weekend to Ko Chang. (The family was visiting from overseas, and needed to take the Trat-BKK flight...)

Two years ago, the pregnant wife and I stayed at Cookie (and Plaloma), and it was delightful -- now, Cookie's a dreadful construction site, and much of KC is turning bamboo huts into godawful concrete-block monstrosities. We drove all the way to Bang Bao fishing village looking for "quaint" beach accomodation. In Bang Bao, we got locked into a one-way traffic jam; and, then we got rained in as we drove back, and so settled unwillingly for three 1,500-baht okay rooms with a view -- of the mountains, which was quite spectacular, with swirling clouds.

The Sand Terrace restuarant/bar in White Sands, next to Cookie, was beer haven while we waited for the rains to abate, but no luck. Later, as we wound back to the hotel dismayed with KC, we stopped off at the cluster of bar-girl bars, and suddenly, the night came to life. A wonderful evening, with bg's gushing over the 2-yr-old daughter, the wife playing pool, the brother flirting, and me pouring down the Bia Chang.

Next morning was even better: BKK Airways held the 9:50-am flight for 15 mins waiting for bleary-and-weary us (luckily, the wife had the presence to call them from the car)!

The iamkohchang reviews are bang-on: Wish I'd read them before taking off to KC. Anyway, enjoy.

[wilko]

Koh Chang is gradually getting strangled by unrestricted, unplanned and unsympathetic developement...

The hotels are very overpriced compared to the rest of the country and the standard of service is markedly poor. I keep having to go there because visiting friends insist. Also it's nearby. As has been pointed out there is no guarantee of a sandy beach and many of the hotels have names that are frankly misleading.

The infrastructure on the island makes it very difficult and long-winded to get round, and the nature reserve has no provision of or legal access for the general public.

I stayed at Klong Prao resort last itme....it was a building site. They only told me by phone as I was driving over there. If I hadn't been a regular customer they wouldn't have told me at all. To compensate they gave me a discount of 50 baht per night!!!!!

I certainly won't be staying with that duplicitous bunch again.

The backpackers who get there are increasingly dismayed by the price of hotels on the island and the struggle it takes to find a cheap place to stay.

If you do go, book a room for your first night at least, and then find somewhere better....don't pay for a week in advance to be imprisonned at a place that will not come up tyo your expectations.

You'll need transport...if it's just to get to a shop...the baht buses are irregular and stop at night. The motor-bike hire is about 50% to 100% dearer than in Pattaya, and car hire is overpriced too. You're best off getting a car on the mainland. The ferry is about the only thing that is cheap!

There is an airport at Trat, and a shuttle bus service to take you to the island. although your hotel should send a minibus to meet you.

It is typical of the developmnet there that they call it Koh Chand airport when in fact it is on the mainland.

Enjoy your trip!

[P76]

I agree totally with Buadhai.

I also had the misfortune of staying at the Pla Loma Cliff resort.

This place is no resort by any stretch of the imagination.

The picture on their brochure must have been taken 10 miles away.

Some people who arrived with us, and had pre paid, took one look and walked out!

[wilko]

I agree totally with Buadhai.

I also had the misfortune of staying at the Pla Loma Cliff resort.

This place is no resort by any stretch of the imagination.

The picture on their brochure must have been taken 10 miles away.

Some people who arrived with us, and had pre paid, took one look and walked out!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It is a sad reflection on the way Koh Chang is going that so many people are having indifferent experiences at so many of the islands "resorts". Disappointment is now common rather than rare. Last Christmas I stayed with a party of friends at Ramayana...what a disappointment! - No beach, built on a mangrove so an ecological disaster...badly designed rooms, incompetent staff and the Christmas Eve Gala buffet was an absolute disgrace…the place was all face and no substance

[Morden]

Try this resort:

http://www.hotels-kohchang.com/koh-chang/koh-chang-kacha.htm

We can recommend it. The rooms are excellent (a/c, tv, safe etc) and so is the service. Open air restaurant on the beach. If you want something more rustic for your evening meal, all that you have to do is just walk along the beach and take your choice from the restaurants that appear as the tide recedes. It's on White Sands Bay and the sand really is white. The sea is only chest deep even at 100m from the shoreline. The resort may have a pool by now but who would want to use it when the sea is so fantastic beats me.

Here's a pic taken from the resort looking down the beach.

Edited October 30, 2005 by Morden

[wilko]

I'm not a great fan of White Sands beach it is now soooo overdeveloped and crowded.

Have you ever considered where all the sewerage from all those resorts goes!!?!?!

One of the reasons they have a pool is that from time to time the sea becomes unswimmable - they get swarms of jelly fish which although harmless are rather unpleasant to swim amongst.

I did have a look at the place last time and it seemed quite clean, but again they wanted about 2000 baht or more in middle / high season. If you come on holiday from Europe that sounds cheap, but here it is tantamount to price gouging.

[KC_Farang]

Kacha is about the best place to stay on Whitesands. Also the posher bungalows at KC Grande are worth a look. But pretty much everywhere on the island is overpriced. Ramayana (mentioned above due to lack of beach) is an exception , they tried the price gouging initially - I gues people got wise and now you can get some good dealsif you book online - very nice rooms going for 1500 baht right now. A good bet if you're driving here and have your own transport to get to the beach.

Klong Prao Resort is still a building site - as is the area all around it where anything resembling a tree has been cut down.

[thedude]

was there over the last long weekend. thoroughly unimpressed with the beach. brown sand, and meagre 6 inch waves. it was high tide most of the time, possibly due to the monsoon? lots of backpackers. general food quality was dismal.

hotel overcharged me, saying that the room reserved for us was taken up. the lady at the counter offered me one of the more expensive suites with no balcony instead. "take it or leave it" she said to my face.

well, excuse me, what is the purpose of making a f*cking reservation if your not going to hold the room for me. she didn't even have the courtesy to call and check before releasing my room, she just looked at me coldly, and indicated that i was holding up the counter, and that this was a long weekend, other people would take the suite if i didn't take it now.

now i don't say this often, since this is thailand and people here are usually so nice, but i really wanted to reach over and smack her hard on the face, repeatedly. i had just endured a 5 hour journey, and was being blackmailed by a nasty b*itch because she knew i wasn't going to go round the island looking for another room at that time, because my other friends had already checked in the same hotel earlier in the day.

don't go to koh chang, the service sucks, the quality is bad, and the price is too exhorbitant.

[wilko]

was there over the last long weekend.  thoroughly unimpressed with the beach.  brown sand, and meagre 6 inch waves.  it was high tide most of the time, possibly due to the monsoon?  lots of backpackers.  general food quality was dismal. 

hotel overcharged me, saying that the room reserved for us was taken up.  the lady at the counter offered me one of the more expensive suites with no balcony instead.  "take it or leave it" she said to my face.

well, excuse me, what is the purpose of making a f*cking reservation if your not going to hold the room for me.  she didn't even have the courtesy to call and check before releasing my room, she just looked at me coldly, and indicated that i was holding up the counter, and that this was a long weekend, other people would take the suite if i didn't take it now.

now i don't say this often, since this is thailand and people here are usually so nice, but i really wanted to reach over and smack her hard on the face, repeatedly.  i had just endured a 5 hour journey, and was being blackmailed by a nasty b*itch because she knew i wasn't going to go round the island looking for another room at that time, because my other friends had already checked in the same hotel earlier in the day.

don't go to koh chang, the service sucks, the quality is bad, and the price is too exhorbitant.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That bloody mindedness seems to pervade the island....it may be because the hotels are so crap that the staff get nothing but complaints all day. However being on an island and with limited time there's absolutely nothing you can do, and they know it.

I have complained to TAT about Klong Prao Resort but to no avail, they offered me a free night at THEIR convenience, but why would I want to go back to a building site???

Over the past year my family has rented about 50 room/nights off them and they turn round and try and pull a fast one!

As for the food...well...look at the seafood, the fish should have bright eyes and firm skin if it's fresh.....check it out! They take it out of the ice, slap it on display and any unsold goes back for another day....in and out warming and cooling, until some unsuspecting tourist eats it. I reckon it comes from Hull to be as unfresh as some of the stuff I've seen!

[think_too_mut]

hotel overcharged me, saying that the room reserved for us was taken up.  the lady at the counter offered me one of the more expensive suites with no balcony instead.  "take it or leave it" she said to my face.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

A British tourist in January this year told me her room price was jacked up 500B per day and she was told "the Thai government had imposed a special levy on all hotels, to rebuild Phuket".

One of the beachfront restaurants had a large menu display and we (6 ppl, including children) sat for it. Turned out the meal we wanetd was not available. What else could we have, we asked. "If you don't like what's already written on the board, go elsewhere" the waiter replied. Walking away from his establisment I saw his elbows going up and down as he was eating like pig himself with no customers to disturb him.

[Morden]

I have to say, Monkeypants, that the negative stories posted here are the exact opposite of what we experienced. Maybe a lot has to do with the hotel that you choose. As I said earlier Katcha was excellent and under the watchful eye of the owners all day. It's not the cheapest but neither is it the most expensive. We did see some pretty rough looking accomodation along the beach and elsewhere but if you stick to the newer but completed establishments you should be OK. A few web searches had told us that the older establishments were a bit basic so we stayed well clear and left them to the backpackers.

[Adagio]

I'm glad someone has something good to say about the island! I think some of the people complaining earlier would have been happier in Pataya or Phuket, or perhaps Benidorm or Torremolinos

I am a little worried about the fact that there is drug resistant malaria on the island, anyone have any info on this?

I'm looking to stay in Thailand for at least 6 months starting 20th November. My current plans are to start in Phuket as I will need a high speed internet connection to continue doing by job from the country, but Phuket is more developed than I really wanted long term. How is the internet on Koh Chang? The confidential nature of my work requires an in room/bungalow/apartment internet connection, or at the very least internet on site where I would be able to plug in my wireless hub (I will have my laptop with me, I'm not expecting a computer to be provided). Does anyone know of moderately priced (under 15,000baht/month) acommodation somewhere fairly quiet and pretty with a nice beach (I'll be having friends come to visit). Preferably with a web site I can check out.

[ThaiPauly]

Personally I have nothing but GOOD THINGS to say about Koh Chang.

I have stayed at KB Bungalows and Koh Chang resort and been impressed on both occassions. Never found the traffic a problem, have eaten some of the best food I have ever tasted at Invito's and really enjoyed myself at nights.

I am a firm Fan of Koh Chang

[wilko]

I have to say, Monkeypants, that the negative stories posted here are the exact opposite of what we experienced. Maybe a lot has to do with the hotel that you choose. As I said earlier Katcha was excellent and under the watchful eye of the owners all day. It's not the cheapest but neither is it the most expensive. We did see some pretty rough looking accomodation along the beach and elsewhere but if you stick to the newer but completed establishments you should be OK. A few web searches had told us that the older establishments were a bit basic so we stayed well clear and left them to the backpackers.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have to say that I consider this advice to be very dodgy....from personal experience I stayed at Ramayana when it had first opened and it was hopeless....it was plagued with teething problems, the rooms are very badly designed, and the staff ill-trained and ineffective. The facilities there were extremely basic especially for the price they were asking. We stayed in a group over Xmas.

When you speak of these newer hotels you basically supporting the ecological rape of this island and financing the same sort of development that will lead to there entire island becoming a monoculture of resorts smothering the coastline and dedicated to taking as much money as they can and giving nothing back to the island. I have already had reports that the extra sewerage is affecting the scuba diving and the divers are having to go further and further a field to find good diving sites.

I have been visiting Koh Chang for several years and am increasingly dismayed by the irresponsible development that goes on there. Soon there will be no coastline left that hasn't got a resort on it...so what that will do for beach access is anyone's business. The infrastructure is quite incapable of coping with the influx of western tourism and huge strain it puts on an island's resources. On top of this although the second largest island in Thailand because of the nature reserve there is very little space, and what is there has already been bought, so anyone wanting to buy or rent on the island is faced with what virtually amounts to a cartel. This has forced up the price of rooms etc…

A few years ago Koh Chang was a pristine island and what it will be reduced to in the next 5 years doesn’t bear thinking about …

[think_too_mut]

I'm looking to stay in Thailand for at least 6 months starting 20th November. My current plans are to start in Phuket as I will need a high speed internet connection to continue doing by job from the country, but Phuket is more developed than I really wanted long term. How is the internet on Koh Chang? The confidential nature of my work requires an in room/bungalow/apartment internet connection, or at the very least internet on site where I would be able to plug in my wireless hub (I will have my laptop with me, I'm not expecting a computer to be provided). Does anyone know of moderately priced (under 15,000baht/month) acommodation somewhere fairly quiet and pretty with a nice beach (I'll be having friends come to visit). Preferably with a web site I can check out.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Internet on Koh Chang? On the beach? Sure:

[Adagio]

Internet on Koh Chang? On the beach? Sure:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks but where is that? Is it an internet cafe or a resort with internet in the room? Is the internat genuinely fast or will I be waiting ten minutes for one piccture to download?

[think_too_mut]

Thanks but where is that? Is it an internet cafe or a resort with internet in the room? Is the internat genuinely fast or will I be waiting ten minutes for one piccture to download?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hey, you have the Internet and Email as an add on! They never come together, except at Koh Chang.