Phi Phi Hill Bamboo Bungalow

I’ve been to Koh Phi Phi many times and stayed there months at a time for work, and throughout the years stayed in various places in various areas. These bungalows are by far my favourite. The bungalows are away from the hustle of the main town but a short (10 minute) walk so in the day time you’ll find it’s a very quiet and relaxing place to be surrounded by nature. Lots of reviews mention the music from the party beach, and yes, you can hear it until 1am when the parties stop. It’s nothing a pair of ear plugs won’t fix if you’re a light sleeper, and you will unfortunately have the noise in many different places in the main town. It’s nothing the hotel staff can do something about unfortunately, so just come prepared (or join the party!) You probably will encounter some of the resident wildlife during your stay. I stayed there 6 months and had a few surprises but again nothing dangerous or to ruin my stay. (Welcome to Thailand!) The walk up to the bungalows I won’t pretend is an easy one, but it’s a very short steep hill and countless times I reached the resort the reception staff have been on hand with an ice cold bottle of water to give to be. The way I see it is getting my daily exercise in here so I can spend the rest of the day sitting at the beach or in the bar! Staying at the bungalows also gives you a head start if you plan on going to the viewpoint or Nui bay (which I would also recommend). Going from bamboo hill bungalows takes you off the beaten track a bit more. The staff here are super friendly, and they keep the resort very clean and tidy.. especially considering it’s in the jungle. They always helped me with anything I’ve needed. If you’re looking for a cheap authentic Thai bamboo bungalow close to the main town but far enough away you can relax outside and enjoy the area then this is a great place. Of course it’s not a 5* resort so don’t expect to find that if you book. I can not recommend this place enough and will definitely be staying here again when I go back

My first encounter with this hotel was on the phone. Because of Storm Pabuk, it was likely we might not make our booking and be stuck on Koh Tao. When I rang to ask about this, the man on the end simply screamed no refund no refund and hung up on me. He ignored all subsequent calls. Luckily we did get to Koh Phi Phi in time in the end as not to lose $1200 AUD. We travelled 11hrs by bus and boat, hauled our bags up the huge hill, only to find once we arrived that they don’t have a queen room for us but a room with two singles. When we ask that we have a queen because we booked months in advance, we are shown a “queen” room that looks more like a junkie den than a bedroom, fluro lights, cement floors and a mould ridden toilet. We of course choose to stay in the singles rooms for one night on the guarantee we get the queen room the following day, however despite asking there would be no price reduction. Once we get to the bungalow things still aren’t great. There is solely 1 bathroom and two bed, that’s it. No table, fridge, place to hang clothes, mirror. The beds are rock hard, like honest to god, there is no softness to them. We have old flea bitten towels for blankets, the white sheets have suspicious orange stains. The bathroom is ok, but a lot of bugs. The hut itself has no natural light, and forget about any sound proofing. You can hear the crying baby 5 houses down, the conversations and, ehm, nightly endeavours of your neighbours, plus of course the pounding party music of the beaches down the hill until 4am. The staff are nice people, but this is not a good place to stay for the amount of money you pay.

After reading the reviews we figured there was no way it could be THAT bad and decided to book a bungalow. We arrived late afternoon and walked into a mosquito ridden hole. The beds are the worst we’ve ever tried, no windows, not as much as a nail to hang anything on, WiFi didn’t work, sink was leaking, toilet seat was broken and the list goes on. They put us in one room and told us we had to move again the following morning. Keep in mind we are budget travelers and don’t expect anything fancy at all. This is basically everything you don’t want on your vacations. We had prepaid a non-refundable for 11 days, but it was better to take our losses and enjoy our vacation on Phi Phi elsewhere.