Chaweng Regent Hotel, Koh Smaui Thailand
I stayed at this hotel between Christmas and New Year a few years ago, and the Christmas decorations were still in evidence. Koh Samui Island is not large, and the hotel was barely a 10 minute drive from the airport, but I don’t recall hearing any airplane noise during my stay.
Chaweng Regent Gardens
I was fortunate to stay in one of the royal suites (in bungalow style accommodation right at the beach edge). To get to the room there was a (very pleasant) walk around a large fish pond with water-lilies and lush gardens. I believe that staying in the rooms adjourning the fish pond can be a bit mosquito-ridden so I would avoid staying in those. Our room was beautiful, we had a smallish outside seating area, a lounge area with tv and privacy screens, then into the bedroom (all in beautiful ‘blond’ wood) with another tv, off to the side was a dressing room leading to a black marble bathroom with the obligatory Jacuzzi. All very tastefully done.
Entrance to our Royal Suite
The breakfast buffets were really great. A huge selection from satay, wonderful fruits and of course eggs served in a myriad of ways. I also indulged in a wonderful Thai pool-side massage - which made a very nice change from being tucked away in a spa room. Fortunately the pool side area wasn’t too busy so I didn’t feel like ‘exhibit A’.
Inside Royal Suite
The hotel has 2 pools – one a beachside hotel which is ‘curvy’ in shape and quite shallow / good for children, the other is a good sized more of a ‘serious’ swimming pool (in which I had an impromptu short scuba lesson!).
Beachside Pool
Chaweng is a busy and touristy resort (it even has a Starbucks now), but the Chaweng Regent is right at one end of the ‘strip’, and because of this it seemed very peaceful and quiet, but only a few minutes walk from the ‘action’ if you wanted to go and find it. We did walk along the beach and ‘checked out’ a few of the other up market hotels in the resort, and have to say that while the Chaweng Regent isn’t the most expensive there I would go back in preference to any of the others partly because of its quieter location and little private beach, but also because the room was so beautiful.
There are many many restauants and bars in Chaweng, some complete with lady-boy shows (albeit not the ‘best’ examples of either ladyboys or shows!). Quite a few potential guests may find this off-putting, and I believe you can get quite a bit of hassle from vendors trying to sell you all manner of tat, but this wasn’t my experience.
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