Guest Reviews

Rachamankha: "Gorgeous – memories to last"

My wife and I hosted our wedding here recently, and we cannot say enough good things about the hotel and the hotel staff. We visited several roughly comparable hotels in the Chiang Mai area, but none actually come close to what the Rachamankha offers. The hotel’s owner and architect have shown an exceptional ability to capture a sense of place and history, to create an immersive experience through architecture and design, and to pay tribute to the artistic histories and cultural life of northern Thailand and surrounding areas - yet without being heavy-handed, overly sentimental, or too pedantic. The hotel grounds are simply gorgeous: a serene series of courtyards that recall Thai and Chinese family compounds from another time. Throughout, the hotel is decorated by the owner’s personal collection of sculpture, paintings, decorative arts, and so on. The service is attentive and professional, and clearly extremely well-trained (discrete, welcoming, skillful). The suites are spacious, decorated exquisitely, and comfortably private - with superb lighting, as with the hotel grounds overall (among my favorite aspects of the hotel). The generous breakfasts are best enjoyed slowly with friends over the course of a morning, relaxing in the restaurant’s enclosed courtyard area. My wife and I particularly appreciated the hotel’s library, another intimate, tastefully appointed space that features a strong collection of works related to art, architecture, and design. I am an anthropologist, and my wife works at the UN. The larger brand-name hotels are generally uninteresting to us, but even the smaller boutique hotels we’ve encountered do not meet the standard set by the Rachamankha, combining singular character with all the amenities of a luxury hotel. We would especially like to recognize the Rachamankha’s former manager, who oversaw our wedding preparations and carried us through the big day - and who is now helping to mentor the hotel’s next generation (as it were) of management. From top to bottom the whole team at the Rachamankha were a godsend for our wedding, and we can’t thank them enough. If we could be more effusive without simply throwing out more adjectives and cliches, we would do so! Unforgettable place and people, so glad I stumbled upon it all some years back. In short, an understatement: we rather enjoyed our experience at and with the Rachamankha, and we hope to return often in coming years. You’ll surely want to do the same.

Misool Eco Resort: "Amazing stay in paradise"

"I have spent 9 days in the Misool Eco Resort in November 2106 and it was truly paradise. I have been to Raja Ampat before to resorts in the northern part, but this resort and diving are on a next level. The resort is great and very spacious compared to other resorts. The rooms and facilities are amazing, but what stands out is the staff and their commitment to make your holiday amazing. Yes, this resort is more expensive, but in my view worth it. The rooms, food and other facilities are super. The diving is next level, although norther Raja Ampat has also similar and amazing dive sites, the dive sites near this resort have much less people and most often you have dive sites just for your selves. Another big difference are the mantas, I have seen them in northern Raja Ampat and the Maldives, but here I saw almost always the larger oceanic mantas and they not only cam much closer, they were not only in the known cleaning station site, but we same the almost every day on other dives as well. Also, the muck ( diving is great, the amount of e.g. pygmy seahorses is amazing, etc. The dive guides and boat crew are super friendly and professional and actively search for what you want to see. My tip would be to try the new dive scooters and this was a lot of fun. Furthermore, their commitment to protect the reefs, fish, mantas and sharks is impressive. I would highly recommend to go to this resort if you like to fully relax and dive in paradise, thanks again to Sue, Marc and your entire staff for an amazing stay at your resort."

CABOCHON: "Lovely small hotel"

"Old colonial style boutique hotel with friendly staff. Quiet location on side street. Lovely rooms with interesting furniture and artefacts. Small pool on roof. Lovely smell of burning candles throughout. Cute little restaurant if you don't feel like walking out. Good Thai food plus western options available. Breakfast was good too. Good wifi connection. "

Rice & Zen Boutique Resort: "Friendly and beautiful resort"

"Me and my friend got stuck in Samui because of a monsoon, and made a quick decision to stay at Seadance. When we got there we immediately felt right at home, and all the staff made us feel like members of the family. The weather was not on our side during the stay, but Seadance went out of their way to keep us happy. They put together parties and live music nights in order for the guests to still have a good time, the restaurant made us delicious food (try the springrolls, the crispy snapper and the white Sangria!), they helped us organize the trip home and helped us with transportation. The room was wery nice and the beds super comfy. Most of all the atmosphere at the resort was amazing. Although this was our first stay, the management and the rest of the staff made us feel like we were regulars and old friends. We would love to come back again! Stayed January 2017, traveled with friends"

Inle Princess Resort: "Amazing place to stay"

We spent 4 nights and enjoyed every moments . Our stay included the new year eve night and we were delighted to enjoy the staff entertainments with all staff children. Lovely place and memories. When cold in the room we enjoyed a fire . Food was great

The Village House: "Gorgeous little place"

"I really LOVED it here. It's no 5 star Marriott or anything... But the staff are super hospitable, accomodation very clean and comfortable. The pool and relaxing areas are great and the food is good-okay. Around the accomodation, there is not very much to do. You cannot swim at the beach located 100m down the street as there may be crocodiles. Apparently the sunset is nice from there though. I stayed in a six person dorm for 123 RM, but it's cheaper on the Agoda website I've been told. This is a great place to relax, swim (the pool is GREAT!), read and relax. Stayed January 2017"

Maduzi Hotel: "Splendid experience"

"I thought that it was really good with a choice of this hotel. This hotel is not big at all, but the room is large, and the size of Bet is too big to sleep alone. And it is the hospitality to be glad above all. A splendid smile of the hotel staff met the calm entrance when I entered. I will stay at this hotel again. Stayed March 2017, traveled solo"

Hotel Tugu Bali: "A little slice of tranquility!"

Tugu was everything I expected plus more! If you are looking for an authentic Bali experience with its old world feel and amazing friendly service and care than look no further. The hotel is also located in the very hip Canguu area and is a hop step and a jump from the beach. You have everything here from an amazing spa, serene pool (which we had to ourselves) and a rooftop bar and restaurant. We will be back for sure!

4 Rivers Floating Lodge: "Amazing"

"My husband and I stayed at the 4 Rivers Floating Lodge in October for 5 nights and it was simply not enough! We loved the resort, its surroundings, tours and people working in it so much, that we felt like staying there forever! It was superb! The journey to the resort is spectacular! Nature surrounding the lodge is simply magnificent! Real paradise! We truly loved it! The lodge itself is wonderful, very well laid-out and well-decorated. Rooms are really spacious and the shower wooden cabin is fabulous! Tours are fabulous! Really interesting and definitely worth taking. The lovely guides are incredibly accommodating and very friendly. In fact, they were fantastic. We really enjoyed our time with them and we actually wish we took few more tours with them. The wonderful restaurant requires a special praise! It was superb!!!! The food was delicious and really plentiful. We were spoilt and we loved it! And the wonderful and really talented chef is only 17! His food was superb! Gordon Ramsey has a serious competition there! The wonderful young men working at the front of the house and restaurant were incredibly sweet and hospitable! They were true gentlemen! Incredibly welcoming and kind. We will definitely miss everyone at the 4 Rivers Floating Lodge! It was superb! Huge thank you to everyone at the resort for making our time simply magical! With much appreciation, Olga and Alan White from Ireland!"

Les Maisons d’Itac: "Like home..only better"

"It has been a month since my friends and I had the pleasure to spend the most relaxing time at les Maisons. What can I say, it is a piece of paradise. We were really happy and so relaxed. The staff is more than staff, I really want to describe them as friends and family. Brian, Raiden, Marvin, Rose, Leah and of course Stacy, and our protector and compansion Itac. We miss all of them so much, we get nostalgic and homesick when we look at the pictures and videos we took. Once you have been there, you do not want to leave. If you have to, like us..one will be gripped by this constant wanderlust! Thank you so much for one of the best times! We will be back! FYI, the food is also really good!! =)"