Sunday, August 24, 2008

The Best Koh Tao Hotel For Your Thailand Holiday


Finding the best Koh Tao Hotel for your Thailand Holiday shouldn't be left to chance. Many people don't do enough research before booking a Thailand vacation, and they just pick a Thailand Hotel out of a brochure, and if they get it wrong, then they won't have a great Thailand vacation, and they might also find that the beautiful Thailand beach they were promised in the brochure isn't what it was cracked up to be.

It pays to do research, and it is worth discovering Koh Tao.

Koh Tao is a beautiful island off the coast of Thailand just north of Koh Samui. The best hotel on Koh Tao is the Charm Churee Villa which sits very close to Jansom Bay. This is one of Koh Tao's most beautiful and private beaches in the south west corner of the island.

The best way to get to Koh Tao is to fly into Koh Samui and get the catamaran over. Do pay extra and get seats in the VIP lounge. To get to the Charm Churee you'll be picked up by water taxi and taken to the small private beach.

You need to book a Sunset Villa at the Charm Churee. They are huge, even having a dressing room, and a very large bathroom. Two balconies look out at the sea, and very private too. The rooms don't have all the bits like TV's and DVD's but honestly, do you come to a place like Koh Tao for that anyway. There are no telephones in the rooms, but if you want reception you can just use your mobile phone.

It is not only the accommodation that makes this the best hotel on Koh Tao, it is the beach, the ambience, and very much the food in the restaurant, and down at the beach bar. Meals in the restaurant do take quite a long time to arrive, and everything will arrive at once, but it is well worth the wait. The lunch at the beach bar has an extensive reasonably priced menu, with excellent seafood, but it is only a short walk of less than a quarter of an hour into town, where this a good selection of very reasonably priced restaurants.

The Spa in the Charm Churee is extremely good, better than you will find in any other Koh Tao hotel, in fact this may be the only spa on the island. It is built as little Thai Huts, and a couples massage can easily be arranged.

The Charm Churee Villa really only has one downside, and that is the number of steps, boulders and difficult paths. There can be over 50 steps to your villa, which doesn't matter if you are young and fit, but has to be considered if there are elderly, disabled or very young children coming to this Koh Tao accommodation.

It is worth noting that the cheaper rooms are a lot further up the hill!

The beach is great, and there are masses of fish. The hotel has snorkelling gear but you would be advised to take your own. There are two bamboo rafts anchored offshore to relax on. The sea is just like swimming in an aquarium.

If you are in Koh Tao for the scuba diving, a very strong recommendation is Dive Point. Take the hotel longboat out to Koh Nang Yuang where there is another great beach and very good for snorkelling.

You will find the hotel staff at Charm Churee very friendly, a number of them are from Burma.
There is little doubt that if you are on a Thailand Holiday you need to visit Koh Tao, and the best Koh Tao Hotel is the Charm Churee Villa.

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