Ban Sainai –550, Soi Aonang 11/1, Moo 2, Aonang Beach, Krabi, Krabi, 81000, Thailand, 800 120 6467
Date of Visit: May 2016
During my last trip to Krabi, we needed a stopover place to stay before our flight home, as we were in Koh Lanta for the majority of the time (see my review on the gorgeous Atlanta Villa). Because it was only for a night, I was issued a strict budget and reminder to be practical haha!
I kept overlooking this particular hotel on Hotels.com since it looked rather “rustic” and “scruffy” from the first glance – no doubt it had a nice rustic charm, BUT I didn’t particularly want to sleep on wooden floors and straw cottages, so I never did any research on it.
However, since the rooms started from $60+ a night (wow!) and had a great rating score of 4.8/5 on Hotels.com and was also listed as one of the top hotels on Tripadvisor, I did a closer look at it – and no regrets. Absolutely none.
LOCATION
We travelled from Koh Lanta directly to Ban Sainai, so that journey took us almost 4 excruciating hours. Once again, we used Ao Nang Travel at 075684664 for most of our travels (much cheaper than if you were to arrange for them via hotels).
However, it’s only like 30 minutes away from Krabi Airport (nearer than most other nice hotels) and 6 minutes away from Ao Nang Beach, which is a popular destination for tourists, and bound to have a lot of food (Macdonalds yo). In addition, they have daily free shuttles to Ao Nang Beach itself. (Another hotel I stayed at charged like almost SGD $30 for transport one way to Ao Nang Beach!!)
For transport to Krabi Airport the next day, I used Krabi Shuttle, which cost me like 600 baht (SGD $24), cheaper than via the hotel shuttle.
So thumbs up for this location, it’s definitely very convenient to travel for nightlife, night markets, food and shopping (and beach time!)
FOOD
In house food was not bad, their room service took awhile (we were starving from the 4 hour ride so perhaps we were biased with hunger) but it was nice and generously portioned. The cost was reasonable as well, SGD $10 – $20 for main courses. Breakfast buffet had a great variety, from asian food like porridge and rice, to western food like french toasts, omelettes, poached eggs and many more!
Because of such a short time at the hotel, we weren’t able to explore the food choices at Ao Nang Beach (we wanted to chill at the hotel since we paid for it haha), but I’m sure there’s plenty of delicious Thai food there, no problems at all!
ROOMS
Even though there were $60+ rooms available, the upgrades were too tempting to resist. I booked one of the poshest sounding room types available because it was so affordable!
The GRAND LAKE VIEW option featured a 60 sq meter room (the size of a 3 room HDB FLAT) with a King bed, a gorgeous balcony with a lake view. What killed me was that it came with a hammock. A HAMMOCK guys, how can you say no?
It also had a jetted bathtub that comfortably fit 2 people in a bathroom which was very well designed. Oh, and free banana chips. Score!
Price: SGD $129 per night. Worth it? I think so.
SERVICE
Service was courteous and polite, but not exceptionally amazing (you could tell they were too used to tourists). But that being said, it was good enough to make you feel happy and relaxed. They had buggy services at certain times to drop you at your room, and are extremely professional.
WHAT TO DO THERE
Hop on the shuttle to Ao Nang Beach and eat your fill, shop and party if you’d like, or check out their swimming pool (which looked gorgeous). Or if you are like us, chill. Hang out on the hammock at the balcony, soak in the jetted bathtub and lie in bed watching Game of Thrones (It happened to be showing that night on TV, so why not?)
CONCLUSION
Ban Sainai didn’t look like an obvious choice to soak up luxury, but this is really a hidden gem. If you are heading to Krabi anytime soon, book a stay here and you won’t regret it! It’s really affordable for the comforts provided, there’s plenty of things to do and hey, you get your own hammock!! #dealbreaker
Where else can you find this for under $150/night? Spread the word and share this post!
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