Central Karon Hotel

We stayed at 7 nights in the Central village: - room : small but ordered well. The decoration is of quality. - swimming pool: very beautiful and seen on the beach of karon. - situation: practice because between 2 bays( (patong and karon). - restaurant : good cooking, breakfasts are very good! - service: the big weak point of this hotel! A single example: our tray "room service" stayed 3 days on our terrace! It did not happen one day that we have to complain about the service... It is indeed pity because it is the hotel which has assets. It is sure, we shall not return to it. Ps: it is necessary to pay attention when you ask for a taxi the reception: they are generally "sprayed" by the taximan!

Myself and my partner have just returned from Phuket/Thailand, where we stayed at Central Karon Village for 2 weeks. Don't let the title put you off...this is not a "village", but a group of 72 individual villas, cut into a steep hill, overlooking the north end of Karon beach. In developing this land, much thought has been given to preserving the environment, so that each villa is surrounded by natural jungle and all the "noises" that go with it! In room 403 (where we stayed), it was almost impossible to see another villa and we had a superb view of the Andaman sea through the palm trees. Our room was lower down and there was a steep climb to the reception area and the two restaurants. This was no problem, because complimentary "golf carts" operated 24/7 and they would come at a moments notice and take you anywhere within the complex.....a simply superb idea! There is a fairly steep walk (about 200m) down to the beach/rocks, which is perfectly managable. Immediately, there are 2 small restaurants and one called "Kai" has world class food.. to die for! Try the Tempura Prawns..best I've ever had. Both these restaurants are incredibly cheap and they supply sunbeds (2 beds/umbrella..100baht, about £1.50). Like most hotels, the food and drink is relatively expensive, but the restaurants do have a marvellous view. Also there is a half price "happy hour" (18.00/19.00) at the bar every night. All in all, this is one of the best hotels I've ever stayed in (for the price) and the service is beyond reproach. It was my birthday out there and, on my return from the beach, there was a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket, awaiting me! I didn't even tell them it was my birthday!! Complimentary buses (3 per day) run to Patong and Karon beaches and if there are too many people, they will supply another one. In the evening, the reception will phone for a tuk-tuk (upon request) and the security guard will flag one down. Forget what other people say....there is NO charge for this service...you negotiate your own deal with the driver! (200baht to Patong &150baht to Karon/Kata). The hotel has a barbecue once a week, with a great little "mariachi" group playing live. Breakfast is incredible...Continental, full English or even Thai, served "buffet" style.There are 2 pools on different levels cut into the hill, witha waterfall running from one to the other..absolutely beautiful! Towels are supplied free, either for the beach or the pool. There is a spa providing beauty treatment/massage ect., but go and have a massage on the beach (300baht for 1 hour). I find it very difficult to find fault with this idyllic place and I will definately return!

Ice cold coconut upon welcome, very nice. Food is excellent for both breakfast and dinner at The Cliff. Staff is friendly, speaks english well enough to answer questions. A bit of a climb for some villas - I got one that had 3 short flights of stairs (despite my request for a villa lower to the ground as I had 2 seniors with me). There's happy hour for both drinks and the spa. Word of advice, book the spa appts early. The events/day trip coordinator is great - she's super friendly, explain each day trip package well. The walk to the Karon beach is a little rough, not particularly far...but it's a bit of a trek. The resort is situated at one end of the Karon beach...so it'll be a bit of a walk to the better part of the beach. Otherwise, beach is great. Rooms are definitely comfortable, tv programs are interesting. All in all...a pretty relaxing place.

a great place to stay if you want a relaxing retreat. it is very hilly so you need to be fairly fit as there are lots and lots of steps. great rooms,clean and tidy. karon beach is within easy walking distance if you dont mind a few steps! the beach is fairly quite and there are a couple of cafes on the beach "happy thailand" springs to mind. breakfast is great plenty of choice from noodles to salad or pancakes or maybe eggs and bacon. the staff are very helpful. you need to use the golf cart to get to the reception area, ( men) beware of things falling out of your pocket if travelling in a tuk tuk, we lost a very expensive brand new digital camera, whilst on our way to karon one evening, someone was in the dog house that night. do flag the tuk tuks from the top of the road it will save you money. lastly the hotel surrondings are beautiful if you like a bit of greenery i would recommend it as a great place to stay if you want to get away from the regular hotel thing.

This hotel is fantastic. We have just returned from a 5 night stay at the Central karon Village and i am going to re book this week to go again next year. Our villa was fantastic and they had decorated the bed with fresh flower petals on our arrival. The staff are fab, really friendly and genuine and will do anything for you. The location of this hotel is also fab. Only a 2 min drive each way to Karon or Patong beaches. I think we would have been sick and tired of the hassle if we stayed in Patong but because we had the advanatge of staying out of the resort we enjoyed it even more. You can walk to Karon along the beach reached by the hotels acess path. We also walked down there to watch the sunset sat on the rocks. The restaurants were both excellent, The Cliff was fantastic, we ate there 3 out of our 5 nights and in Patong we ate at The Grill this was also excellent. I would definatley Recommend this hotel to anyone it was fantastic.

We have just returned home after staying at Central Karon Village for 8 days. We decided on this hotel after reading all the reviews and seeing pictures of this hotel on the internet. And what a great decision it was! We left the kids at home for the first time and asked our travel agent to book it as a honeymoon, as it was, well, sort of, a 2nd one I guess you would say. When we arrived, the staff were fantastic and friendly and were congratulating us, so didn't like to tell them any different! We got to our room and it was so beautiful, we had champagne and a fruit basket, flowers and a decorated cake and the bed was decorated with a huge heart made of flowers - it was amazing, we took photos of course. Actually didn't want to use the bed and ruin all the work after that! The buffet breakfast was fantastic, so much choice, you just coudn't try everything. We had dinner there one night which was also great, more expensive than other places but not overly and the setting is wonderful anyway. We had 1/2 price happy hour cocktails every night. The bar staff were very friendly and obliging even making a special request for me, and then remembering it and making it every night after that, and we met a lot of other couples around the bar each nigh too, so that was a highlight for us. We didn't consider the stairs between our room and the pool or lobby a problem. (we were around the middle - room 306, but a bit closer to the pool than the lobby) Sometimes we took the stairs, but if we were feeling a bit lazy or I had heels on, we just rang for the cart and they were there in no time. Loved the setting - like being in the middle of a rainforest in your own private villa with ocean views - even though ours was standard and not classed as ocean view it still had them. Access to the beach we didn't consider a problem either, was fairly flat most of the way until the end, where there were a few steep steps, but not many of them, so was OK, and when you got there, there was a couple of cheap great restaurants or sunbeds to lie on. All of the staff were great, the reception staff were wonderful, very helpful and friendly and interested. The car drivers also were a lot of fun. I would definitely recommend this hotel and if I went back to Phuket, would stay there again, but not if we bought the kids. I think its more of a couples resort, our kids aged 12, 15 and 17 would probably be bored and not appreciate it like we did.

Have just returned from spending 6 nights at the Central Karon Village. It is located on a very steep hill, between Karon and Patong. Karon is only about a 15 minute walk away, and Patong about 5 minutes by Tuk Tuk. Very central to both towns and so was a great location. You do need to be fairly fit to negotiate the stairs from the beach to the lobby. Our bungalow was located about half way between the lobby and the pool which was perfect (number 305). Golf cart service was quite quick, except during peak breakfast time - around 9am, when everyone appeared to want to use the service. Buffet breakfast was good, with lots of choices, ranging from cereals, yoghurt and fresh fruit, through to toast, danish pastries, croissants, meat & cheese for continental breakfast and through to Asian breakfast foods. Also eggs cooked to your liking (with great omelettes). We didn't eat any other meals at the hotel. Happy hour at the Cliff Bar was excellent with half price cocktails - try their monthly specials..... Bar service by the pool side was also excellent, with a wait of up to 5 minutes for a cocktail (Long Island Iced Tea - these were very good), and with Singhas and soft drinks on hand. Either pay cash or charge to your room. Regular shuttle buses to Patong and Karon every hour - if there was a large queue of people waiting, they simply arranged for another bus to take the overflow. Staff were excellent, and always friendly and helpful; some with a fantastically cheeky sense of humour. We would definitely stay here again.

Central Karon Village was our base for a 6 night stay on Phuket, plus we stayed a night there after visiting Phi Phi islands for 5 nights. The friendly helpful staff were great and made us feel especially welcome when we returned for our last night. We only had a standard villa booked for our last night, but they upgraded us for free to the same Deluxe ocean view villa that we had had before. ( I think this is probably what happened to the previous reviwer who says that Standard and Deluxe villas are the same!). The villas location in the well-tended hillside grounds is lovely at Central Karon Village. Yes, it's true that the hillside and steps are steep - especially if you are there at the hottest time of year, as we were told we were - but there is always the "golf cart" if you are feeling unfit or lazy. Wouldn't recommend this hotel to the elderly or infirm though. The restaurant breakfasts and meals are lovely, but the lunches and dinners are pricey by Thai standards so we ate there only at the beginning of our stay, then discovered restaurants elsewhere. Extending our stay was a little complicated, with the hotel staff advising us that the cheapest way was to book on the Internet, but they did let us use their Internet facilities to do this and the upgraded room at the end was icing on the cake. The pools and grounds were lovely, and overall we would recommend this hotel to others. We were very happy with our choice.

Dont let the title put you off, overall my girlfriend and I had a lovely 5 night stay here, but some points to note...... We stayed for 5 nights and paid extra for an ocean view bungalow with double bed. On arrival our room wasnt ready, but all staff were very polite and we moved to a double room the next morning. We travelled to Phi Phi for 5 days ( which was amazing!) but returned to stay at the karon for 1 night before flying home. This time i only booked a standard room.....and guess what.....it was excactly the same as the delux! NOTE: all the bungalows have a partial sea view, so dont be conned, only pay for a standard, the facilities in both are exactly the same! Second warning......dont order a taxi from reception as they charge for a limo price! Walk to the end of the drive and flag one down for half the price. Lastly, be aware of taxes. Phuket isnt as cheap as it was years ago and when paying for anything in the hotel you must add 17% tax to all prices. Overall the hotel was lovely, if a little isolated. The pool area is fantastic to relax by, and treat yourself to 1 spa treatment, the location is stunning. Due to the very steep location its recommended you are fit to walk around. The minicars are ok, but do not use if its wet, they will slide you to your room! Hope this helps.

On arrival we were met in reception with an ice cold towel to refresh ourselves & after a long journey it was much appreciated. The staff were very helpful & took our luggage along with ourselves down to our villa in a what I can only describe as a golf buggy, it soon became apparant that we would rely quite a lot on the buggy. The villa was beautiful & overlooked the Andaman Sea, it was totally private & not overlooked, it was surrounded by tropical plants. After settling in & because it was quite late we decided to eat at the hotel restuarant, we decided to find our own way there & after climbing a lot of steps we arrived out of breath & sweating - it was a waste of time having a shower - so please use the buggy - it was worth the effort because the food was really good & the staff were very friendly & helpful.The food & drinks are dearer here than outside but they do have a specials everynight for aroung 650-700baht & that is for a 3-4 course meal or you can choose from the a la carte menu - it is worth treating yourself to this as it was really good. They have an happy hour from 6pm-7pm & make fantastic cocktails. The resort is well maintained & they provided clean towels, made beds & cleaned rooms everyday & provided free bottles of water. It is not a resort I would recommend to people who have walking difficulities or young children in buggies although you can ring for the golf buggy & they will collect you & take you to reception or wherever you wish to go in the resort. The pool was very nice & kept clean & tidy throughout the day & they provided towels. You can also take towels, which were also provided, down to the beach but you had to sign for them. Another downside was getting to the beach - again a problem for young & old - you could only get to the beach from the pool & although most of the journey was quite flat the last few steps were quite steep and a rickety wooden hand rail was all you had to support yourself. Once on Karon Beach it was worthwhile & the beach bar named Kai did a fantastic Tom Yum soup for around 120baht, you could also hire 2 sunbeds & brolly for 100baht for the whole day. If you wanted to get out and about the hotel would arrange a taxi for you & you could either charge it to your room or pay cash, always ask for a price first - it was usually 200baht to Karon or Patong. When coming back a tuktuk was about 100-150baht, sometimes they will ask for more but you.ve got to stand your ground & barter with them. I,m not going to go on about Karon or Patong as I feel everyone has to discover this for themselves, but overall we had a fantastic time & would definatley stay at Karon Central Village again