Hi guys, Sawaddee Krab! Today I'm going to do a resort review for you. I must first say that this is my first time reviewing hotel so if there's any misspelling or mistakes, please accept my apology here :)

For this review, I will try to talk in details that I think is important for people who wish to find a hotel. At last, I also will conclude pros and cons of this resort as of it is suitable or unsuitable for what types of tourists.

Ok now!! If you are ready, let's go.

Staying time: 19-21 February 2016

Beyond Resort Khaolak is a high end premium brand in Kata group. If you choose to stay here, you can be sure of their great services. The resort is located at Khaolak, Phang Nga province. It is a great location for those who wish to travel to islands like Similan, Tachai, or Surin Islands as it is fairly close to the Thalamu Pier when comparing to traveling from Phuket.

If you are staying at Khaolak, you can leave the hotel at 7.00-7.30 a.m. which is much better than staying at Phuket where you have to wake up and leave hotel since 5.30-6.00 a.m.

I'd like to start our review with the sunset view from my room. It is the scene that I'm impressed a lot. That we can sit in our room to see this view everyday without having to walk anyway simply just makes us calm, happy and feel so full.

For getting to Beyond Khaolak, we fly from Don Mueang Airport to Phuket Airport and rent the car and drive to Khaolak. The route is fairly easy to drive. We just turn on the GPS and drive on. Most of the road is quite straight along the way.

After 88 km. and about 1 hour and a half, now we've reached our destination. And this is the entrance of the hotel.

Then, driving a while after the entrance, we will see the lobby. The lobby is an open space with high roof and no air-conditioning.

As soon as we step into the building, the staff quickly approach us and welcome us to sit. There're many sits available.

After that the staff will ask our information and they check us in right at where we sit. It's really convenient and comfortable, we don't even have to walk to the counter ^^

And while we are filling the document for checking in, the staff bring us the welcome drink.The welcome drink here is water!!!

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But but but....it's not only water, it's a set like this. Let's say this is really a first impression.

Beyond Resort Khaolak has 177 rooms in which every room is a separate villa house that no one is attached to the other. This means that you will get the highest privacy. The smallest villa is 64 square meter and has yet included the backyard garden area, so the villa is generally really spacious.

Let's now take a look at villa type and its area.

1st type : Palm Villa, it has 101 villas (the room is 64 square meters.)

2nd type : Palm Villa Elite with Jacuzzi, it has 14 villas (the room is 78 square meters with personal garden.)

3rd type : Palm Villa Elite with Private Pool, it has 10 villas (the room is 78 square meters with personal garden.)

4th type : Palm Villa Premier, it has 47 villas (the room is 64 square meters.)

5th type : 1 Bedroom Pool Villa, it has 3 villas (the room is 114 square meters.)

6th type : 2 Bedroom Pool Villa, it has 2 villas (the room is 204 square meters.)

Today I'm going to show you 5 types and please keep in tuned of how they look. But before that, let's see the lobby a bit more. It shows that this resort has received a lot of awards.

Ok, the first two villa types that I want to show you are the Palm Villa Elite with Jacuzzi and Palm Villa Elite with Private Pool.

These two types of villas are situated at the Elite Zone which is the farthest zone from the beach. Starting at the lobby, you have to turn back from the beach and walk back towards the main road.

When stepping into this zone, you will feel the tranquility and quietness. This is how each villa looks like.

Overall, the Palm Villa Elite with Jacuzzi and Palm Villa Elite with Private Pool is almost the same except the Private Pool has more space since it is equipped with the pool whereas the Jacuzzi one is smaller and equip with the Jacuzzi instead of the pool.

This is how the entrance of both villas looks like, it has small garden, a wooden chair and a place to store umbrella, so lovely.

The first thing you see when entering the villa is the spacious hall.It equips with closet, sink and restroom that separates the toilet and showering area.

The closet has 4 doors, it is so big. Inside the closet lies bathrobes and hairdryer. Nearby is a cloth hanging and a weigh scale, I especially like the latter one so as we know how have we changed during the stay...haha.

Shower room is on the left side of the sink while the toilet is located on the right.

In this room, there's a refrigerator, coffee maker and a table that is ready to make a minibar near the entrance door.

For bathing and skin care products, this resort provides them all for us and in a big size. Probably, we need to stay here a week in order to use them all up, haha.

After this hall, let's take a look at the bedroom. The room is spacious and decorated with wood, like the ceiling and the fan.

In addition to bed, this room provides the make up desk, sofa and TV. There's a sliding wooden door in the middle connected to the hall. If you wish to enjoy the wider room, you can leave it open but if you prefer privacy, you can close it as well.

Up until this point, the Palm Villa Elite with Jacuzzi and the Palm Villa Elite with Private Pool has similar features but it will be different upon we step into the backyard garden.

I will take you to the garden of the Palm Villa Elite with Private Pool first. I like it a lot.

When walking out of the bedroom, what you will see is a swimming pool and a large private garden. The pool is quite long, you can easily enjoy swimming going back and forth.

And how large is this garden, you can take a look from these two photos.

In addition to a private pool and garden, the villa also provides a large Daybed chair for taking a rest and the outdoor shower for washing up after swimming.

Ok now, let's take a look at the backyard garden of the Palm Villa Elite with Jacuzzi.

The garden of the Palm Villa Elite with Jacuzzi also provides us a Daybed chair. But the green grass is less. And instead of the pool, it is the Jacuzzi tub for two people.

This Jacuzzi is located near the villa. At some point, it is shady but sometimes we might get sunbath a bit.

Two types of villas are down, now I will take you to tour another two types of the villa which are the Palm Villa and the Palm Villa Premier. These two types are also very similar, except the Premier is closer to the beach and has more facilities inside the room like the DVD player, coffee maker and the Daybed in front of the room.

Let's take a look at how they look like. They look something like this....

When walking into the room, we will see the bedroom and the living room first. There's also a sliding wooden door like previous types of the villa that connect this room to the restroom and dressing room.

The restroom and dressing room is spacious. There's a sink in the middle. To the left is the shower room and the right is toilet. Also, the dressing table, closet and hanging clothes are all included in this area.

Now, we have seen 4 types of the villa already. Now, there's two types left which are the 1 Bedroom Pool Villa and the 2 Bedroom Pool Villa. Since the guest fully occupy the 1 Bedroom Pool Villa, so I can only take the outside photos.

The 1 Bedroom Pool Villa is a big room with total area of 114 square meters. It has the swimming pool in front of the villa and very near to the beach. This is how this type of villa looks like. There's a chic chair near the private pool for relaxation as well.

And now is the last type of the villa. The 2 Bedroom Pool Villa is very spacious with a total area of 204 square meters. There's only two villas available in this type of villa with frontage on the beach

This is how it looks like. Well, let's say, as soon as we walk out of the villa, we can simply walk into the sea.

But usually, we go in and out the villa using backdoor. And this is how the backdoor looks like. There's stairs and two layers of wooden doors. It is looking beautiful, strong, and safe.

When we walk inside the villa, we will see spacious living room with a dining table, big sofa in front of the TV and two doors on the left and right. Two bedrooms are looking exactly the same.

There's many facilities here at the hall, for example a refrigerator, a coffee maker, a weight Scale, and a wine fridge. Everything in this room is a complimentary from the resort, except the wine in this fridge. The fridge has milk, several kinds of soft drinks, soda, and beer. For drinking water, the hotel really provides a lot. In addition to 6 bottles at the hall, there's some more inside each bedroom. You would definitely not be hydrated staying here, haha.

What really impressed me is the extension cord for 16 plugs!!! We won't have the problem of the inadequate plugs for sure. This extension cord is right next to the TV.

Form the hall, if we open the front door, apart from seeing this private pool, we also see this beautiful view.

The pool here comes with the Jacuzzi. The pool is quite long that can easily accommodate 4 people.

The bedroom is not so spacious. The TV is at the end of the bed. One sliding door is open to the front of the villa and the other one leads to the dressing room and restroom. The bedroom is separate from the dressing room and restroom.

Then, I see a small card on the bed, so here it is....

When we open the door towards the front of the villa which is near the beach,we will see two Daybed chairs and this view. So peaceful, quiet, and private. More importantly, it is so close to the sea.

When I first open the door, I also see this on the Daybed. It is really full option here, let it be water, milk, snack and fruits. And these fruits and minibars are fully filled every day ><

The dressing and restroom area is similar to the previous villa where the shower room is on the left and the toilet is on the right. The only different is the sink at the middle has been replaced with the outdoor bathtub and the sink is moved to one on the left and one on the right.

I have to say that the outdoor bathtub is really huge that 4 people can easily fit in. The tub might be made of stone, it's quite hard. There's a lot of decoration around the tub, such as the artificial water on the wall, stones and trees at the floor.

There's hot water, cold water and showering water at the tub. I also get to experience by soaking myself here at night. It is such a happy time. The water is just warm enough and when looking up, I see millions of stars instead of the ceiling. The atmosphere is so quiet and I can just keep enjoying my time in the water and simply think about this and that. Let's say my brain is so fresh and relax at this moment.

Oh, I forgot to tell two important things here:

1. I get to stay at the 2 Bedroom Pool Villa so I will have a lot of photo from this type of villa.

2. What it means when I say this is a 18+ resort? It is adults only concept of the resort so that all couples can fully fill up their love. The design and all facilities are focused on giving a sense of tranquil and privacy to the guests. More importantly, there's age restriction too. The guests must be above 18 years old to stay here. This rule applies to both Thai and foreign guests. This includes the family guests that even though the parents can take care well of the kids, they also won't be allowed to stay here. So, if you are a guest here, you will truly feel peaceful and private without disturbance from the kids' crying or running around.

These two photos are sunset shots that I take from my room. I just open my door and capture this scene. it is so beautiful, really a good time.

Ok now, I have taken you to tour all type of the villa. Still, there's a few more places that all the guests can enjoy.

The first one is the swimming pool. This is a salty pool and close to the beach. I quite like the design here because it's not simply a rectangular swimming pool but it made from several square connected in a different level of height. In addition to the Pool Bar at the middle of the pool, there's also Daybed in the water. For those who wish to read or enjoy the sunbath, you can also enjoy the coldness from the water in the pool too.

Remark: The high angle top view here is the photo I got from the internet. It is the only picture that I didn't personally take in this review. I want to show you the overview of this swimming pool.

And the next thing is the Kanda Spa. Additional fee will be charged for the Spa. The building also offers a fitness room where there's many types of exercise equipment. You are more than welcome to exercise here in case you don't want to go out in the sun.

And now is the last part of this service, which is the breakfast!!!

The place for breakfast is Beyond Café which offers both indoor and outdoor. The capacity is approximately 120 guests.

Breakfast line is quite varied, ranging from American breakfast like fried eggs, omelets, boiled eggs, poached eggs, bacon, sausage, baked potato, baked tomatoes, pancakes, waffles, bread , as well as Thai food like fried rice, stir fried vegetable, stir fried noodles and porridge.

I didn't take all photos for this breakfast line as I don't want to disturb other guests. The photos I have is the food myself and my wife have. Personally, I really like bacon and porridge, especially the latter, it tastes really yummy.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. The breakfast is open from 07.00-10.30 a.m. Let's say if we plan well, we can also have our lunch here and only eat again at dinner time, haha.

The choices of beverages are also many. Fromm our left is milk, lemongrass juice, guava juice, orange juice and ginger juice. The soy milk and coffee is also available. For the coffee, you need to let the staff know the type of coffee you want.

Apart from this, we can also enjoy other type of food like cereal, yogurt, bakery and fruits.

The bakery is offered in both savory and dessert. I see French bread, croissants, donuts, muffins, sweets, chocolate balls, and some Gluten Free bakery. I think the resort really cares for their guests as probably some guests cannot eat sweets that has Gluten.

On the day I visited, jack fruit, pineapple, watermelon, and papaya are available fruits.

Remark: In fact, for the guests who stay at the 2 Bedroom Pool Villa can enjoy their breakfast at the Siam Restaurant which is right next to the Beyond Café. There, more premium food is provided. Anyhow, I and my wife decided to enjoy the breakfast at the ordinary restaurant so that we can share the information further.

And finally, we made it here. I understand that this is quite long @_@ But I also want to share the most details possible to the readers. Personally, after staying at this resort, I have the following comments:

Advantages/ Highlights

- It is a highly private resort due to the age restrict that only above 18 years old adults are allowed and 90% of the guests are foreigners. It seems like we are the only Thai guest that stay here that day. ( I heard that all 177 rooms are fully occupied in that day.)

- Most of the foreigners are European.

- Every room here is villa type. It is clearly separated from other villa, so the villa is peaceful and quiet and you can be sure that you won't get disturbed by the guest next door. With the age restriction, it indirectly implies that most of the guests are couples of whom need the privacy and wish to spend time with the one coming together.

- Each room is spacious and meant to provide enormous space for dressing and showering. I think many girls will love it.

- The staff service is beyond excellent.

- It is located near to the Thalamu Pier so it is very convenient for travelling to islands like Similan, Tachai, or Surin Islands. We can save a lot of time here when comparing with staying at Phuket. Probably, we could have 3 extra hours.

- The swimming pool is huge and beautiful and it is a salty water.

- There's a free fitness room.

- The beach is also very private. Even though there's no clear barrier and the outsiders can also walk to this beach, but the beach is quite long and the hotel is far from other hotels. So ultimately, we see no guests from other hotels or the outsiders.

- The WiFi is free and great. We can use it all day and 1 user is for a person. I try to walk around the resort and I can easily connect to the WiFi at all times.

Disadvantages

- Since Khaolak has no airport and not so much of buses are going here, so we must either rent the car or take the hotel shuttle bus service for coming to this resort.

- Many staff are foreigners and may not fluent in Thai. So sometimes, the communications could be a problem but if you can speak English, it shouldn't be an issue.

- Due to the age restriction, many families with small kids cannot stay here.

- Breakfast line has few Thai food, probably this is due to most of the guests are forefingers. If anyone has issue eating Western food or bread, you will have limited option.

- The location is quite far from the market or the convenient store. It is quite difficult to find some snack. And if you don't have a car, it is also quite far to walk to the main road.

And these are pros and cons of this resort that I try to summarize. I think this resort is a perfect place for those who want to relax and cut off from the outside world for a day or two. It could be a family that the children want to take the parents out for fresh air or the lovers who wish to add some sweetness to their couple lives. Or someone who want to stay quiet without the kids sound or simply someone who is looking for a great place and can easily travel to Similan, Tachai and Surin Islands. From my two nights stay, I must say that I'm quite impressed with it. Usually, I didn't get to go to this type of accommodation as I finish work quite late and when I go travel I choose to stay at the ordinary hotel as I think I would not spend too much time at the hotel anyway. But when I get to experience this type of staying, I understand how nice and happy it is to just chill and enjoy slow life. Indeed, sometimes we all need this type of relaxation. It would be such a happy time if we can spend this great quality time with someone we love.

Well, in fact, it is only after checking out that I find out the concept of this resort. From the two days experience here and the time spent with my wife here, I truly understand its concept. It is truly a place "for a couple to fulfill the happiness".

P.S. If you are coming here with your boy/girlfriend, the Beyond Khaolak organizes the Candle light dinner every Fridays. The table is set near the beach with 4 food in a menu set. There's only a candle at the table, the sand at our feet, and the sea and the stars in front of us. If you are interested, please check for more information since there's a seat limitation for each day too.

To contact the Beyond Resort Khaolak, pleae visit below pages:

www.katagroup.com/beyond-khaolak

https://www.facebook.com/BeyondResortKhaolak/

Or you can call to 076-592-300 for more information.

This is the end of this review. If anything is wrong, please accept my apology here. This review is only my personal opinion from the day I receive the services. Each person might get different service experiences. And if you like my review, you can follow and comment at https://www.facebook.com/amazingcouples .

Thank you so much for reading until this line. See you again at our next review. I would like to end this review here with the atmosphere in front of our villa and general atmosphere inside the resort, Sawaddee Krab :)