Le Meridien Khao Lak

I%26#39;ll be posting a fuller review on main TripAdvisor website with some photos when we return from KL but here is a ';lasting impressions'; abridged version.

Hotel – Excellent. Grounds beautiful and very well kept. V.Good Spa usually with offers on massage/treatments. 3 restaurants (plus another bar/restaurant currently closed due to lack of business), the Lilawadee for excellent buffet breakfasts (Western and Asian) and theme nights on a Saturday. Baan Thai - very good Thai food but limited menu. Not expensive for a 5 Star hotel but obviously more than local restaurants. Great setting near the lagoon but watch for mossies!. Bansak Grill for pasta, pizza and grills. Again good but limited menu and not too expensive. Plus Beach Bar for snacks and drinks throughout the day with Happy Hour 6pm to 7pm daily for cocktails etc. which is only time when price of them is reasonable!

Location – Beach, excellent. One beach side restaurant (Tsunami Victims) just up the beach. Simple, but good food but be warned they have a pet gibbon which may influence your decision about eating there (plenty about that on other posts). Further beach restaurants around the headland between the Similana and the Sarojin but be careful you don%26#39;t get stranded by incoming tide, especially at night. Torch recommended at night. One provided in each hotel room.

Facilities – for 2 wrinklies like me and the wife - Excellent. For kids – limited but main pool is great with separate section for kids and a ';sandy shore'; one for toddlers.If they like exploring sea shore and collecting shells etc. Fabulous - as it is for anyone. Second pool near Spa not used as frequently as it gets so hot there.

Rooms – we had D/L pool access to the Spa Pool but when we go again (and we will!!!) a top floor d/l room would be fine (and cheaper). Ground floor rooms a bit bigger plus DVD player provided. Ocean Suites more expensive but can, I believe, accommodate families. Lagoon villas overlook lagoon. Ocean villas are beach front with their own plunge pool. Fabulous but expensive.

Staff were wonderful throughout and rooms kept immaculate. Can%26#39;t praise them highly enough.

Khao Lak Town is about 10km away with plenty of typical Thai souvenir shops, supermarkets, and restaurants. Hotel provides evening mini-bus service at 100 bht per person each way.

The hotel was never more than 20% full while we were there and Town very quiet. Places closing down at end of High season. – but we didn’t mind that.

One of best holidays we’ve ever had. Liked it so much we extended our 15 night stay by 4 nights.

We booked rooms through AsianRooms.com. Best rates we could find. Flights through Southall Travel (see web site). Unfortunately no more direct flights to KL with Malaysia Airlines so will have to find alternatives to KL as we prefer there to Bangkok for a stopover.

I%26#39;d be please to answer any questions if I can.

Le Meridien Khao Lak

Hi Arandora

Thanks for all the information on the Meridian. Have just booked a week in November followed by 5 nights in Phuket and 4 in Bangkok. Took your advice about rooms and booked a D/L top floor room.

Will be our first visit to Khao Lak so all the advice on Trip Advisor has been most informative. Look forward to the full review!

Le Meridien Khao Lak

Photopete

We have also just returned from the Le Meridian. I noticed you have booked for November. Is the weather ok then as we are thinking of going to Puket at the end of October. Have you been to Phuket before, if so any recommendations.

Thanks

By late October the weather should be settling down a bit. Thought it is bit hard to predict accurately.

For monthly rain and temp averages - and links to weather histories try:

http://phuketdelight.com/Phuket_Weather.htm

Hi Wren

This will be our third visit to Phuket. First trip was also in November and although we did get some very heavy showers tended to last half an hour or so and then dried up quickly. On this trip we stayed at the Cape Panwa where we are returning to on this trip. Look up reviews if it takes you fancy. For the other visit we stayed at Sheraton Laguna. Its a great hotel in a complex of other good hotels including the Banyan Tree. Although we realy enjoyed the stay felt you were isolated from real Thailand.

PS

Thanks Tedkarma for the weather link

Thanks for Arandora, the information is very useful!

Thanks for the info - I am getting close to making a decision about this resort and booking it for next Feb!!

My only concerns right now are:

1. The beach doesn%26#39;t look very wide and I did read in one post that the commenter thought that people were crammed onto the beach too close together - is this true?

2. A photo of the bathroom on one website looks a little dingy (green tiled floor and walls) - what was you opinion of the bathroom - were the bathrooms clean?

3. I really want to visit Phang Nga Bay but am not sure whether that would be possible from this location. Did you go on any daytrips from this reosort - would you recommend any tours?

Any additional comments would be really appreciated.

In answer to your queries:

1. The beach directly in front of the hotel is about 10 to 20 metres wide depending on state of tide. When we were there at onset of Wet Season when sea became rough it did encroach nearer at times. Plenty of room though and kept clean by hotel staff. To the right of the hotel it is wider and deserted. To the left wider it%26#39;s wider a headland around which are the Similana and Sarojin resorts. It is true that the beach loungers, two rows of them positioned under palm trees are quite close together, but if you want more privacy the very helpful pool boys will move some for you (within reason!) Also depends how many are in the hotel. Loads of space around the pools.

2. We had a Deluxe Pool Room (Ground floor, Standard D/L on 1st and 2nd floors, furnished and equipped the same) and the bathroom was one of its best features. Fully tiled with darkish but certainly not dingy. Decor entirely in keeping with rest of room and resort in general. Spotlessly clean with a glass wall between the bathroom and bedroom (with blinds if you didn%26#39;t want this feature). You could fill a bath, switch on speakers in the bathroom and lie back and watch TV or listen to music, with an appropriate drink in hand to relax you (as if a day on the beach had not already done so!)

3. We hired a car for 3 days through AsianTrails who have a Tour office in the hotel, though we booked on-line in advance and paid on picking up the car. Hertz also have a desk in the hotel and are a bit dearer for same vehicles. Work on no more than 1600 THB a day. 1st day we did Hot Spring Drive (see excellent www.khaolaklovers.com for this and other drives) and various visits in the National Park surrounding Khao Lak. 2nd day we visited Phuket (about 1 1/2 hours to Patong Beach). 3rd day we went to Phang Nga Bay, drove down to the pier and negotiated a longtail boat tour of the Bay, visiting James Bond Island (or James Bone as it%26#39;s known locally) for a couple of hours. We didn%26#39;t want to stop and alight there but could have if we wanted. Could also have Incorporated a Sea Canoe trip but we%26#39;d already done that before. Drive time to here no more than 2 1/2 hors and Krabi is ';just down the road';. Very direct route on excellent roads.

Anything else I%26#39;d be quite happy to answwer if I can.

Hi Arandora,

Thanks for your info. Some questions...

1/ How long did it take to drive from Le Meridien to PhangNa Bay Peir?

2/ Was it easy to arrange the Long Tail Boat? How much did it cost? For how long?

3/ Was it safe to leave the car parked at the peir?

Thanks so much

Hi Max,

Sorry for delay in replying. Just returned from a very nice week in Portugal.

Not sure it was Phang Nga Pier we drove to. We followed Highway 4 and were first of all distracted by the hand painted road signs to ';James Bone Island'; and foolishly followed one down a gradually deteriorating track, pursued at the end by a local on a motor bike, to a ';bay';. The local then tried to persuade us to hire him and his boat for a trip. When we asked which boat he showed us a long-tail out in the bay which was half submerged. We quickly went back to the highway and took the next official sign to the pier where we negotiated with one of the several locals for a 2-3 hour trip non-stop round the Bay for, I think, 1200 thb for just the 2 of us. I suspect I could have got it for less but both parties were happy with the price and we enjoyed the trip. We%26#39;d already done the Sea Canoes and didn%26#39;t particularly want to get off at James Bond Island but either or both or whatever you want are perfectly feasible. Or you can join in probably cheaper on one of the excursions with more people on board. We preferred the smaller boar for just the two of us.

My uncertainty about whether this was Phang Nga Pier (but I%26#39;m fairly certain it was) is because afterwards we drove down to Phang Nga Town and stopped off at another Pier nearer there which also did trips.

Allowing for the first unnecessary detour, it would be a comfortable 2 hours from Le Meridien to the first Pier.

Down there, there were several souvenir shops, bars and a couple of restaurants and parking was perfectly safe.

Tks Arandora.

make up