Traveler Reviews Koh Samet

on Saikaew beach (white sand beach)

Just finished two nights at Sai Kaew B R. Right now the hotel resembles a construction zone! The charming beach front hotel I've stayed at previously, is in the process of being demolished and replaced with a western style resort. Part of the new hotel is open for business. They are offering discounted rooms while undergoing "renovations". It is a lot more and worse than that. So I would highly recommend staying away until all contruction is finished it's just not worth it.
A couple of other minor things - they charge 300thb for 1 hour of internet (about $8) and the connection is very slow. The pool area is nice but the water is not very clean. To get to the beach you have walk about 200 yds though the construction area and the air quality is terrible - not what you want at the beach.

I stayed here so many times. Rooms were comfy, very beautiful and super clean. Service, breakfast and location were great. Pools were nice and good for both adults and kids. They have many good restaurants wit fabulous taste and decoration also. Staff were very friendly and accommodating. We left our car at their parking next to the resort office. Can take thier boat from/to Koh Samed everyday , all free of charge!

I won't describe the rooms or sevice etc as this information is clear from the other reviews people have written, & I agree.
I'd just like to warn folks about the EXTENSIVE building work going on at the premises at the moment. To get to the main beach you have to walk between two buliding sites, which are curtained off with green netting. As the building work is fairly low tech there isn't too much noise, but you can still hear the work going on when you are on the beach, which detracts from the 'island paradise' feel.
The beach IS beautiful - but not that clean. There are suspicious looking black pipes running from the side of the restaurant into the sea, so we kept away from the small private bay. There was also some rubbish on the main beach & in the sea (nowhere as bad as some big beaches in the UK though!)

The restaurants on the main beach are pretty indifferent in the day, but some serve fabulous sea food in the evenings.

We only had one drink whilst on sunbeds near the hotel seafront restaurant. One beer and one lemon soda cost 365 baht (£7.30) . A cheap one course meal of noodles in a local cafe cost 30 baht (60p) so you can see why this had us reeling!!

Also, avoid the temple with the large Buddha behind the hotel. The monks will entice you in and then 'give' you lucky charms which they then want payment for, & if you give them some money they ask for more.

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From : www.tripadvisor.com