Andaman Holiday Resort Hotel

We stayed at the Andaman for 10 nights in August and had the most relaxing holiday we've ever had. Yes the resort is quiet and there isn't much to do - but after 4 nights in Bangkok this was just what we wanted. If you want a more lively holiday then Ao Nang is about 15-20mins drive away and is more commercial. We hired a scooter for our whole stay for £3 a day and travelled through to Ao Nang a few times - which has your usual tourist shops and plenty of restaurants to choose from. It reminded me more of your usual Spanish/Greek beach resort with regular long-tail boats to the beaches of Railey (well worth a trip). We were recommended a walk to the secret lagoon there and embarked on what was actually more of a rock climb!!! There were moments when we feared for our lives as you have no safety equipment - but if you are young and fit then it's a must. You have to go at high tide to swim in the lagoon which is so quiet and beautiful - worth getting covered in mud and risking your life for! Oh - and wear sensible footwear and old clothes because the mud may not come out in the wash! The hotel staff are very friendly, the grounds are beautiful, pools are kept clean and towels were provided for by the pool (so don't waste suitcase space for 4 towels like I did - it'll leave more room for bargains!!!). We were upgraded to a villa, which was a very nice touch and it was very spacious - especially the walk in shower (if only bathrooms came this big in England!!!). Hot water was always available - which is a novelty for me on a beach holiday! The beach was extremely quiet and clean - but you do need water shoes to go for a swim as there is a lot of coral around - but don't let this deter you. The snorkling is fairly good too around the coral. Further up the beach, infront of The Sheraton (a more upmarket hotel which residents raved about) there doesn't seem to be as much coral and swimming is a bit easier. The local elephant is also a really nice touch and she's very friendly - a great photo opportunity! Breakfast is buffet style and was enough - there's a small selection of fruit and juices, cereals, breads and croisants, eggs, bacon etc and thai style food (which didn't really appeal first thing in the morning). We ate at the restaurant on our first night but it is more expensive than the restaurants outside of the hotel. We ate at nearly all the restaurants around and generally if you eat Thai food while you are there it's really cheap - we never paid more than £10 for 2 courses and a couple of drinks each. The international food such as pizza, pasta and steak etc is slightly more expensive and no where near as good as the Thai food - and I wouldn't even try the German restaurant opposite the Nakamanda - we had a dodgy tummy the next morning and it was no where near as good as the other restaurants. Our favourite restaurant was a walk down the road to Puley Beach called "The Beach". It's owned by an English guy and has a resident golden labrador (or retriever) puppy - plus has a great view of the sun going down over the sea and nearby Hong Island - I'd recommend you catch this at least once - it's very pretty. Overall - we loved our stay at the hotel and have already looked into going back next year. If you want to stay in upmarket accomodation then the neighbouring hotels The Nakamanda and The Sheraton are more modern and are probably more up your street, but if you spend more time out of your room than in when you go on holiday then The Andaman offers great value for money.

We have just returned from Thailand and I'm missing it already. The Andaman was a fantastic base to stay, giving us time to unwind and relax in its beautiful gardens and on the beach. Yes the rooms are a little dated, but they were very clean and the shower worked perfectly ,with hot water whenever we needed it! Beds were firm but comfortable, and there was plenty of space in our Superior accommodation. And lets face it, you don't fly 6000 miles to stay in the room for 14 days! The staff were so lovely especially Tik, Da and Honey at breakfast , all of them couldn't do enough for us. The food was excellent and there was plenty of choice. The resort was very quiet due to low season, so there was always a sun bed - even when people started reserving them - why do they do that? Entertainment was a bit limited, but having spent the last two years' holidays in the Dominican Republic it was quite refreshing not to have the 'Birdie Song' and 'Lets do the time warp' shoved down your throat at every opportunity. Although Mr Danny and his cousin did try hard to entertain us even in the face of adversity. Bless 'em! The Beach was gorgeous, but you do need swim shoes, the coral is sharp, but excellent for rock pooling, we found tons of interesting things there. Also there are millions of little crabs on the beach, that make tiny balls of sand and place them just outside of their holes, forming intricate patterns. This was so cool. To the other extreme, a little further up the beach at the Sheriton, there was La La, a 3 year old baby elephant who everyday at 3 clock comes down to the beach and 'plays in the sea! We had the huge pleasure of swimming with her and my daughter rode her on the beach as well. She is so gentle and sweet, you can't help but love her! If you need trips go and see Ho at the BaanThai Restaurant just across the road from the resorts gate, he provides good thai food at a reasonable price and can set up great days out all very efficiently catered for. We hired a speedboat that cost us 13000 Bhat (about £150) which took us to many different places and all the best coral and beaches, and as we had 10 people this brought the cost down from about 1800 bht pp to 1300ht pp. The weather was great although there were a few wet days - bu t this is the rainy season so it to be expected. Krabi was quiet but Ao Nang was very busy. Do barter the shop keepers down, they hear the english accent and try to bump up the prices. Halve what they ask for and then take a bit more off - that seems to be the rule of thumb. Overall a great holiday and a fantastic place to stay but just remember the rooms will smell a bit musty -you're in a hot, humid country, there will be bugs - it's Asia and you probably will get a tummy bug at some point (athough I didn't), just take a potion to counteract it! And Most of all - ENJOY IT!

I have just returned from this hotel, and thought it was very good value (I paid 17 GBP for a cottage and was upgraded to a room). The rooms are very clean, although somewhat old fashioned in decor - but they are comfortable, just not beautiful! Air conditioning could be improved - it only works when you are in the room so returning after a hot day touring to a steaming hot room can be rather trying.The hotel and rooms are very well maintained, and the grounds and pools are very attractive. Klong Muang beach, at the bottom of the hotel grounds, is absolutely stunning and off season it was almost empty. Swimming is great as long as it is high tide (low tide swimming is possible but you need to avoid the coral). Breakfast in the hotel is great, with a choice of American, Thai and Continental breakfast in buffet style. However, on the whole the hotel restaurant is a bit of a letdown. It is cheap by British standards, but very overpriced by Thai ones, and the quality of the food doesn't really warrant this. Evening entertainment also comprised a rather painful to listen to singing duo which I could have done without....If you stay off season, be warned, because many of the restaurants on the road outside the hotel (mentioned in other reviews here) are closed. The best open restaurant in the area was five minutes walk away down the road to outside the Sheraton hotel, and was called Pad Sea. It specialised in seafood and was much better value than the restaurant at the Andaman. Staff at the Andaman Holiday Resort cannot do enough to help, and absolutely no complaints here. Sadly, I witnessed British tourists being incredibly rude to hotel staff who wished to be helpful, but who had a limited grasp of English and were having difficulty understanding customer requests. If you must have staff with fluent English, then stay at an international chain hotel (or stay at home!) The hotel is 17 km away from Ao Nang, although it provides a very good free shuttle bus service. However, in retrospect I think that I would have preferred to have stayed in Ao Nang which offers longtails to beautiful beaches in the area, is not unattractive in itself, and which has a great selection of restaurants, particulary the seafood restaurants towards Nopparat Thara.

I visited Anadaman Holiday Resort last month. The service was fantastic, especially the driver, Mut and Songchai the restaurant Manager. ^_^ They were very friendly and warm. We were upgraded to a better room at no charge and was pleased by their generousity. One bit spoiled our holiday though. They made an advertising mistake on their low season brochure and we still had to pay for their mistake. We were not the only ones who mistook the information on the brochure.

Just back from a week here. Even though this is the 'rainy season' we found the weather just perfect, as the passing clouds allowed one a respite. (I'm very fair skinned and burn easily). Temperatures were in the low to mid 30's, although humidity, as ever in SE Asia made it feel higher. It rained most nights with some spectacular thunder and lightning storms, but theses dont affect you since there are umbrellas in the rooms if you wish to walk in the evenings. We stayed in a 'standard room'. It was just right for two adults. They offered us a very cheap upgrade and we looked at both superior and villas. The latter were wonderful and I would recommend them in high season. The reason we stayed in our purchased room was that it was opposite one of the pools and there were no other guests nearby. This resulted in us having the pool to ourselves! (We didnt hog it, honest) However, these standard rooms may be different in the high season (hence to go for villa) since the pool is small and if occupancy was high, it would not have been pleasant. Also some of the standard rooms face other standard rooms and may feel claustrophobic in high season. The room itself is medium sized, large fridge and wet room style bathroom plus a great A/C to get you acclimatized. (Bangkok Hotels take note). ALL staff are wonderful and friendly and seem to take to kids very much. The hotel has two other pools, a 'beach bar' which is handy for lunch and a restaurant for dinner, but, as with other hotels, these are more expensive then eating outside the hotel, although this is thailand and still cheaper than eating 'in-house' in a london restaurant. There are a number of places on the road opposite the hotel (Paddys Bar and Daddys Home) which are great. The latter for dinner and the former for lunch(if its open). There are a fair amount of activities to peruse, and they are only a pound or so more expensive then booking in Ao Nang (the nearest 'large town'). As others have said, one can book a longtail boat to Rai Laih (beautiful) and more structured tours to Hong Island and Chicken Island. Breakfast was fine for us (We only paid £20.00 per room ) but if we'd gone for a superior room/villa then I may have been miffed. The choice is adequate, although I was surprised about the lack of fruit! Similar with the cooked breakfast, although the congee was nicer than others I've tasted. The great aspect of the hotel is the shuttle service to Ao Nang. We began to get fidgety after a day or two by the pool, and this allowed us an afternoon/evening there. Nothing spectacular, but good markets and shops plus a nice choice of restaurants. Its also a good place to get longtails to some of the islands, plus a nice beach for an eveing stroll. There are some wonderful 'sea fruit' restaurants on your right, away from the main strip. (Sadly some were showing the W***D C*P........................grrrr). The beach at the hotel itself, is lovely and one can take fold up chairs onto the beach. Aqua shoes a must due to rocks and coral, however, if you potter down five minutes to the left, opposite the Sheraton, the beach is smoother and better for a swim. For us, who really don't like beach holidays but our brains needed it (!!) then it was perfect and really good for total chill out. Would recommend thoroughly for this time of year, weather was great, hot and sunny mixed with occassional clouds, and much cheaper and cleaner then Koh Samui, Pattaya (!!) and Phuket.

When we arrived we couldn't believe what an amazing hotel we had found. There are over 2000 species of plants in the tropical gardens, and the setting is amazing. At the front of the hotel is a Garden of Tranquility, and this sums up the atmosphere of the hotel. The staff are so friendly and helpful and made our whole stayu delightful. The food is of an excellent standard, and there are even opportunities to have cooking lessons (and eat the results afterwards!) There are three freshwater swimming pools (modest in size), and water features and sculptures throughout the grounds. The beach is beautiful, and shaded by trees. Since the tsunami there is a lot of broken coral which is rather sharp underfoot, and does prevent swimming in the sea when the tide is very low. The rest of the time walking into the sea is like getting into a warm bath! This hotel really has a magic atmosphere which has made a lasting impression on us. We can't wait to return.

We have just returned from 2 weeks at the Andaman Holiday Resort and it was heaven. The hotel is set within beautiful mature gardens and the sights, sounds and smells are a delight to the senses. Sitting in the restaurant at breakfast time being entertained by squirrels and mynah birds was a great way to start the day. The buffet breakfast wasn’t bad either. The staff at the hotel were without exception, friendly, polite and helpful. Peter at the hotel ‘Dive Shop’ organised a wonderful day’s introduction to scuba diving at Phi Phi Leh and Franco took us on a very enjoyable tour of Phang Nga Bay. Klong Muang beach in front of the hotel is a largely deserted stretch of sand and despite the bank of dead coral visible at low tide provides a wonderful place for a stroll. When the tide is in swimming is great and even the snorkelling is okay. Aqua shoes are good idea to avoid any unseemly scrabbling about at the waters edge. 3.00pm is ‘La-La’ time when the baby elephant at the next door hotel comes out for a bag full of bananas, a game of football and a play in the sea - not to be missed. Long tail boat trips to Poda Island, Chicken Island, Hong Island etc. can be arranged at the beach right in front of the hotel and cost between 1200 and 1500 baht. The beaches here are stunning, but get there as early as possible to avoid the crowds. The boatmen, whilst keen to get customers are never pushy and are generally very helpful and informative. There is no real nightlife in the area but there are a number of restaurants on the road outside the hotel. We particularly liked Daddy’s Home, the food was delicious and service very friendly. All in all we had a wonderful time and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anybody wanting a relaxing time in a picture perfect setting. I’m sure we will return.

Enjoy and experience one of the best pearls in Thailand. This is a wonderful and beautiful resort with a great and helpful staff. The garden with all the plants, trees, ponds, pools and statues is like a botanical oasis pacing the needs for comfort for all living creatures. Your choice to stay and enjoy peaceful soulfood in this treasure or/and experiece the surrondings, all within an "arms reach". A boattrip to the islands, short way to other cityes, airport, etc. We stayed there under the tsunami and have returned 5 times to assist rebuilding the local longtail boat community and other tsunami victims, having the resort as a much needed "safe haven" and a place to relax. A big hug and thanks to the owners Khun Patchara and Khun Pramot who have assisted and supported us in our work far from home in a totally new culture. And many thanks to the most pleasant and patiant staff who has aided us in obtaining a better understanding of the culture and the language. We will return... All the best Morten & Lisbeth - Norway

We stayed at the Andaman for 2 weeks. We booked a Superior Room which was fine for 2 adults and 2 young children ( 2 and 5). The rooms and bungalows are very comfortable. The tropical gardens are splendid. The food is good with a great buffet breakfast. What really made our holiday was the staff who could not do more to be nice to us. They adore children and make you feel welcome. There are a few Restaurants opposite the Andaman which serve food throughout the day. Our favourite was "Banthai". The young Thai Couple who run it are extremely friendly and the food is excellent. Beware of the other Stores next to the Restaurants. Depending on who serves you they will try to overcharge. There is no night life close by which suited us perfectly. The beach is very quiet and has a pleasant view. We will certainly not hesitate to go back to this Hotel in the future.

We spent 10 glorious days at the Andaman in February and thoroughly agree with the comments made in the last few reviews. It is a lovely place, so peaceful and relaxing, everything about it was good. We had a villa which was very comfortable and we enjoyed the natural surroundings. The roof top villas near the sea look good -maybe next time! The staff at the hotel were excellent -so efficient and friendly -they made us feel so welcome. The hotel food was good and there were several restaurants nearby at very reasonable prices. We had a couple of excellent meals at a restaurant called Pan Sea -opposite the entrance to the Sheraton next door. Either walk along the road or go along the beach and walk through the Sheraton (gives you a chance for a look around!) - We decided we much preferred the Andaman. There is come coral on the beach at low tide but there was plenty of opportunity for swimming. The Andaman may not have the 5* oppulence of some of it's neighbours but we much preferred it's comfortable relaxed atmosphere. All in all an excellent choice