Phuchawee Lanta Resort

We had a wonderful time at Phuchawee Lanta! The photos represent the reality, the entire structure house is neat and clean. The kitchen is practical and well equipped even for preparing a complete meal (only limitation is the lack of a microwave oven). WiFi was very high-performance, no problem for Skype\WhatsApp calls and for working tools like VPN and Teamviewer. I read some reviews where someone was concerned about the hill where the houses are placed as steep climb. It is not true! Yes, we talk about an hill (that allow a beautiful seaview on Kantiang Bay!), but 80m of a paved road even if steep, is nothing! A mention for Dao, the kind owner, always available and present, but never intrusive, to every request we made to her we got prompt response. Phuchawee Lanta is located on south half of Lanta Island where even the best beaches are. From Kanting Bay, passing through Nui Bay, Jark Bay and Bamboo Bay till Mu Ko Lanta National Park. Location is the best! My only concern about the structure is cost related. In my opinion is maybe Phuchawee Lanta is a little bit overpriced. 10-15% less should rappresent better its value.

We arrived and at first the room looked good. The view is really nice, and the size of the room is cool. There is even a stove and kitchen sink. However, there was no refrigerator, the bed sheets had some stains which looked like blood on the pillow cases, there were spider webs in the drawers, the entire room appeared it hadn’t been cleaned in months. The furniture on the patio was disgustingly dirty and old. I’m just glad they gave our money back. We stayed at Kantiang view resort down the street which is cheaper and I gave it 5 stars.

This was my 2nd stay at Phuchawee (1st time for my wife) and we loved it. It had been 5 years since my 1st stay here, yet the owner (Dao) still remembered me, which was really nice. We had the villa right at the top of the hill, a steep walk, but well worth it for the view. Kantiang bay is a sort of cove in the mountains, so you'll most likely encounter a steep slope or 2 wherever you stay in this area (great for a morning workout though!) Our room was well kitted out with kettle, toaster, pots, pans, plates, gas stove, fridge/freezer, cable TV (mostly Thai), wifi access (worked perfectly), small dining table and chairs, and half a dozen plastic chairs and a table on the veranda - so full marks on that point. The only negative was it could get quite hot in the afternoon and the ceiling fan was quite noisy on full speed and not so efficient on the quieter setting. Opening the doors and windows to allow a through breeze was all that was needed though. Being a frequent visitor to Lanta over the past 5 years, I've learnt that the locals tend to respect the privacy of their guests and wait to be asked for something as and when needed rather than come knocking your door every day. This is quite common practice on Lanta and should not be treated as a negative - if you want daily housekeeping, just ask and the staff will gladly assist. The people of Kantiang bay are very warm, kind, and helpful; it has to be my favourite holiday destination in Thailand. We were given access to the pool and dining area of the neighboring resort (Phuteri Lanta - also a great place to stay) as the owners are related - this was a nice extra that we were not expecting. If you don't mind the walk up and down the hill (which is not that severe anyway), you'll find this a great part of Kantiang to stay. The main shops and dining areas are a short walk up the road (100-200 meters). There is also a handy little Thai convenience shop just next to Phuteri that has bread, drinks, ice, fruit, veg etc if you fancy doing your own cooking in the villa. Phuchawee has the advantage of being out of earshot of the noisy beach bar karaoke that you can read about on the reviews of other Kantiang resorts. It's really nice and quiet and given the right time of year, you'd get a perfect sunset view from this location. Positive aspects: 1. The location is in a quiet area, but still handy for the beach (via Pimalai), and the local shops / restaurants / bars. 2. The view. Fantastic view of the bay and Ko Haa in the distance. Just a shame there are some ugly new hotel developments visible in the distance. 3. The staff fully respect your privacy and leave you in peace - however they will do anything to make your stay more comfortable, JUST ASK. 4. The villa had everything we needed for a relaxing stay, with enough utensils to cook our own meals if needed - my wife even cooked a pizza in one of the pans! 5. Free use of the great pool at Puteri resort. Negative aspects: 1. Accepted, there are some maintenance issues with the build, but we were more interested in relaxing and enjoying our stay than evaluating the quality of someones woodworking skills (I don't understand this concept). Despite the gaps in the joinery, we had no problems with bugs or mosquitoes etc as others have mentioned, in fact, we set up our hammocks on the veranda and stayed there till quite late most evenings without any issue. 2. Noisy / weak ceiling fan (hardly the end of the world). Major Negative aspects: 1. We only stayed for 1 week. 2. I left it so long after my first stay here before returning. We loved our stay here, thanks Dao!