奈島飯店

We stayed at Sivalai for 6 nights with our 10 month old boy, and what a delight it was. We stayed in one of the front row beach front villas, that was spacious and the interior layout was nice and cozy, with a brialliant view pulling the curtains aside each morning. Restaurant service was great, friendly and service-minded, and the wide variety of foods and drinks on the menu, made it so we didn't grow tired of lunch and dinner at the resort. The beach at the tip by the restaurant was more or less none existing though. Guess the tidal streams and the waves have moved a lot of sand since the photos were taken. They had made a barrier/fence around the restaurant at the tip, to hold on to the last of pristine white sands. At the end i'll give the reason for not giving 5 stars: Hot water heater didn't work when we arrived. Very low water presure in the shower. 5mm gaps in the floor by one of the walls 2/6 nights being waked up by barking homeless dogs on the beach out in front (Was barking for 30 mins until i decided to go up and chase them away by myself) Facilities (pool etc.) was a little bit worn down Took me 3 days and numerous attempts to get on the wifi because they gave us bad users. (they said wifi not working because of lightning, but when i finally convinced them to let me try new users everything of course worked fine) Twice i got 220v electric shock in the restaurant. once from a fan and once from the toaster at breakfast. That said, we really enjoyed the stay and would definately go back.

PROS: - Location, amazing beaches and crystal clear waters (as others have stated) - super friendly staff - Resort is the best location on the island as it is far away from day tourists - food (lunch/dinner) is excellent and def better than at the other resorts - garden/landscape very well maintained (other resorts on the island look very “natural”) - few minutes to walk over to a beach to watch the sunset (although leaving the hotel you will see A LOT of garbage unfortunately) - not many people on the whole island which is hard to find nowadays in Thailand CONS: - bungalows (houses) pretty basic, new AC but could do with a little bit of maintenance (painting, drains…). Beds are very hard! - staff was unable to get us a boat within 5 days for a fishing trip, “agent has only one boat and cannot get”, well then get another agent or add another one. Went next door to Reef resort and booked a trip instantly - breakfast is (still) a disaster, very chaotic (seems to have been mentioned in previous reviews). Choice is limited but ok, but please just assign 1 more staff who knows what to do! dirty dishes, it takes forever until food/drinks are restocked…running out of basically everything…so you need to be patient and/or keep expectations low. - Food supply: for several days, only half of the menu was available…so better check before you sit down. but as mentioned above, food is great (Thai, western) - cocktails take forever, once again, be patient Overall, it was ok but given the hefty price (10.000 THB per night high season) you would expect more. You definitely pay for the location!

This is a tough one to review. On the one hand, you have the prime location on one of the most beautiful islands in Thailand if not in the world. On the other hand, the resort itself is very average for the price. To quote the resort’s website, ”The Reef Resort in Koh Kradan Thailand is a corner of paradise and with 18 luxury beachfront and sea view rooms will allow you to enjoy the crystal emerald Andaman Sea and the lush tropical gardens.” I fully agree on the beauty of the paradise island, but the above seems a bit of an overstatement in terms of the actual accommodation. The rooms are clean but very simple. Basically just a bed (decent one), a fridge, AC and an outdoor bathroom. The decor is very minimalistic but that’s what we expected. The rooms do not really have much a view to speak of. They are tightly placed in a U-shaped building, giving you a distant feeling of staying in a tropical motel. To have any privacy, you need to keep the curtains closed all the time. The sea view is limited and indirect, blocked by the trees and the bar hut. What you mainly look at is a sunburnt yellow/brown lawn (at the least during the hot season) and the pool. The difference to some of the neighboring resorts with their well kept gardens is striking. It seems that the Reef has decided not to upkeep the garden, maybe to save resources. During our stay we did not see a gardener around. If this is their choice, I would rather suggest them to replace the lawn with sand as a continuation of the beach. I would also pay more attention to the overall appearance of the property. Eg. the building where they have table tennis and a small kiosk was really messy and unorganized. The breakfast was simple but adequate with white toast, sausage, bacon, pancakes, a couple of warm options plus some fruit (pineapple and watermelon). Eggs were prepared by order. I would suggest them to improve the way the breakfast is presented - it was not very very attractive with many food items served on foil. What was really annoying is that there were lots of flies all around during the breakfast hours. I know this is something normal in a tropical environment but at least they could try to manage the situation, eg by very regularly raking the sand on which the tables are placed. I never saw them raking the sand although this could help to mitigate the root problem by removing the eggs etc. We had most of our meals at their restaurant. The Thai food was decent but not spectacular. The prices were reasonable. Some of the waiters could practice showing a happier face with their customers. The beach is spectacular with a coral reef just in front. The resort has canoes, SUP boards and snorkeling equipment for their guests free of charge. The swing in the beach is also great. I also recommend waking up at 6am to see the sunrise, it’s really beautiful. It can get a bit busy later in the morning and around noon when day trippers arrive (this mainly affects the neighboring Seven Sea