Guest Reviews

Maison Polanka: "A unique experience, perfectly executed"

"My reviews reveal a shameless sybarite, happily wallowing in the decadence of suites in the top hotels all over the planet; the Amans, the Four Seasons, the Six Senses, the Belmonds. Siem Reap has most of these and visitors would be served well at any one of them in their visit Angkor Wat. For something wildly different and unique, however, book the ""Khmer House"" at Maison Polanka, the best of the five available rooms. This is a lush garden, about two acres, surrounded with high walls off a bumpy, unpaved back street not too far from the main canal road and the Museum (and the Aman). Behind the electric sliding door is a beautiful, cool and shaded oasis of grass, kept wet, with high trees and flowering shrubs. It is quiet and peaceful; there is no traffic noise Khmer House is a small, simple wooden, single room building on stilts in the center of the property. The large living room is underneath the house and the equally large bedroom with a sitting veranda is above. The bedroom is air-conditioned and has fans, in addition. See the website for photos. All this at less than half the price of the chains. Dining is under an outdoor pavilion adjacent to a very nice 50 foot pool, suitable for laps and cooling off after a visit to the temples. The menu, though limited, is varied and offers excellent suggestions for any palate. We were so pleased we ate all our meals there for five days, not venturing outside. I also attended the cooking school; one student and three cooks. Lots of fun. As it turned out, a great advantage of our booking was the superb service we received with our private car with driver and guide. Our guide, ""Pich"", is a certified, uniformed guide for Angkor Wat and accompanied us on all our temple tours for two days. She arranged for the tickets and the timing for our visits to avoid crowds. (We enjoyed the sunrise over the main temple.) She is an excellent, knowledgeable guide. The driver awaited us with ice-cold towels and water when we finished each temple visit. He was also available on call and waited for us on shopping and museum visits. a very worthwhile indulgence. The staff is small but attentive and anxious to please. Upon each return to the garden, a young women awaits with a cold towel at your room. This is not ""roughing it""; it is equal luxury in a different guise. A superb alternative to the usual."

Reverie Siam Pai: "Impeccable service with Kind thoughts from Management"

"The location is situated with quiet surrounding beside the river with a brilliant idea to have a pouch with lots of cushions to rest and wild away your time. The rooms are very clean and concept is cleverly designed with lots of space. Bed is high up and very comfortable get to the town, there are shuttle buggies service so convenient for guests. Breakfast is very good except its should have more varieties like local food instead of western menu.Staffs have provided impeccable service and knows what you want most of the time and always ready to provide a service. But the most most impressive and remarkable intiative that the hotel have provided is their kind thoughts and consideration for the the guests. I have a very unfortunate bike accident coming up to Pai with my wife and this is the first time I do this and unfamiliar with the poor condition of the dangerous and 762 curves. The first thing I checked in at this hotel, the staff at reception asked me whether i need to go to the hospital and will provide transport anytime to my convenienences. My wife and me were so miserable as our holidays was ruined by my stupidity act of this accident and left us unable to ride and go to place of interests. Our low morals is lightened up when the hotel reception staff told us that the Management is willing to provide us a one day tour of places of interest that we wish to go. Such kind thoughts from the management have sincerely touch of heart and we are so lucky in this way that we have no regrets chose to stay in this hotel. My Wife and I wishes the Management and all staff good health and prosperity."

Sandat Glamping Tents: "Magic place"

Sandat is really our kind of experience, exclusive tents beautifully designed and decorated, off beat location, far from the crowd, very warm staff who played with our daughter, 2 and half years old who enjoyed so much, great breakfast, a Must in Ubud !

Sukoon Houseboat: "Wonderful place but not now"

"This is an idealic place. Wonderful location beautiful scenery, and we were truly spoilt. Sadly you should not visit there for the foreseeable future, because of all the rioting of the local people. You can't go out, no shops open, people off the streets curfews, Internet constantly down and teeming with army and guns. The Sukoon was truly a haven in a very troubled times. Shangloo travel agency should never have brought us to Srinagar, knowing we couldn't do any of his promised tours. This was a very dangerous act."

Glenburn Tea Estate: "Absolute gem in the Himalayas"

"My mum and I spent a wonderful, serene few days at Glenburn and we absolutely loved it. Each (huge) room was quaint and charming in old Colonial style, all with their own unique theme - ours was the Rose Room. We went at the recommendation of two friends, who also stayed at Glenburn together with us, and we even made new friends over the communal dinner table. The staff were helpful with everything from making a cup of the delicious home grown tea to organising hikes and day trips. They prepared three meals a day, of various Indian and western cuisines, and even packed delicious picnics that were brought to us on our hikes. They were also very accommodating with food allergies. The surrounding gardens and tea plantations are absolutely exquisite, and it is definitely worth going on hikes around the area, especially the hikes down to the river through Darjeeling's own plantation, and up through the local village to the neighbouring plantations in Kalimpong. There is free wifi but the signal isn't too strong in the rooms - leave the laptop behind and bring a couple of books to read while soaking in the view on the terrace. Be prepared for an extremely bumpy and windy ride from Bagdogra airport. If you are at all prone to motion sickness then I would strongly recommend bringing a motion sickness armband or tablets, and ask the driver to take the calmer road through Darjeeling town rather than the precarious ""highway"" that passes the Bhutanese border."

Cuca: "Fantastic"

Went to Cuca for dinner on my wife's birthday few days ago. Food, drinks, service were just amazing. Place is not cheap, but everything was soooooooo good. Worth its money to every cent spent. Absolutely,

Tugu Malang: "Excellent deco, service and spa"

"Very nice hotel located close to train station (no need taxi). Many antiques collected by owner make hotel deco look unique with many rooms to discover and nice pieces of furniture. They know how to greet guests and make business: 15mn massage offered, very good local pastries with drink offered at tea time. Nice pool for children, good restaurant and cosy colonial bar. Great location to visit the town and the region. Very good surprise to find this hotel in this small town."

Satri House: "very special historical place"

"I am traveling a lot in nice places and specially in south east asia but the Satri House is one of those you will never forget - the houses are nicely decorated, the grass & pool are well maintained and the breakfast so delicious - very quiet place in a busy city and you will be very happy to come back in such a heaven after a day around ... special atmosphere for a very luxury place Stayed March 2017, traveled as a couple"

Golden Buddha Beach Resort: "Paradise"

"This is Thailand's best kept secret. Charming and secluded and really really well run by Massi, the hotel manager. We were in heaven and are dreaming about our next visit. No tvs, no air conditioning, running water that smells a little due to minerals, but none of it matters when you are at the golden Buddha because you are drawn into a Robison Crusoe fantasy that you seldom find anywhere these days. Lots of nature and very little to do except enjoy the surroundings. Stayed April 2017, traveled with family"

Satri House: "Fantastic stay. Lovely location and great service"

Satri house was a great experience overall. Lovely location on a quiet (well usually, see below) residential street 5 mins from "town". Great service, lovely clean rooms and amazing little edible treats left in the rooms every afternoon. The pool area is small so loungers are limited but there is a second pool area if needs be. The restaurant serves a really nice breakfast and although we only ate dinner their once that was great too. The spa was good. Not amazing but not bad. There were two downsides - the number of mosquitos which were ridiculous and almost certainly bred in the large pond by reception/the restaurant - the stagnant water must be heaven on earth for them. At any one time we had a least 10 in our room and never left the windows or doors open. The 4 poster bed with curtains helped keep the blood sucking critters at bay at night. The other downside whilst we were there was the non stop loud dance music coming from the festival next door combined with the karaoke on the street behind the pool for national women's day. We found it rather amusing but I doubt I would have felt the same if I had been there too much longer - plus our air con and fan helped drown out some of the noise when we were in the room. Despite the two issues I would definitely stay there again and loved our trip.