Cape Panwa Hotel

The hotel didn’t meet my expectations of a five star resort. I’d rate it as a very tired 4 star. First of all, no one met us at the airport despite booking a transfer directly with the hotel well in advance. We’ve been given the room in the main building with the sea view on the forth floor. The rooms are very tired, outdated, and poorly maintained. The doors are dirty, some furniture is chipped, the room layout was very strange, the bathroom was kind of in the middle of the room with only a thin sliding door between a toilet and a bed. The rooms are not sound proof. We had a full board package with Luxury escapes, but it was a quest to book a restaurant for a dinner. There would be always a closed restaurant on the day, or fully booked for a function, or just fully booked even if you try to book two days in advance. So the full board package was rubbish, as most likely you’d end up eating the same meal at the same place due to limited options. Another thing, what’s going on with irons at this hotel? You have to book one through the app but there was never one available. The turn down service is on request. Why? The egg station at the breakfast is veeery slow. Coffee comes from a Coffee machine, self service. The only thing that was satisfactory was the beach, clean water, white sand, enough sun beds. Also the sea is very much swimmable even off season. There was a tidal activity provided in the room. I don’t think I’d ever come back or would recommend it to my friends. Disappointing.

This was our second holiday to Cape Panwa Hotel. We stayed here two years ago and enjoyed it so much that we decided to return. The setting of the hotel is very tranquil, set among beautiful gardens with its private beach. Even though this is a large hotel, as the grounds are expansive, it never feels crowded, including the pool areas. The selection of restaurants is very good serving both traditional Thia food and also French and Italian cuisines. A special mention must go to Maggie who surprisingly remembered us from our last visit. It was like meeting an old friend. As with our last visit, she was very helpful giving us excellent advice. She also arranged for us to go on one of the first sailings of Pisces. This was a wonderful trip on a fantastic boat. The food and drink on board were delicious. One of the highlights was the floating pool, paddle boards and jet skis from the back of Pisces that my daughter and I precipitated in. Thanks, must also go to James and Lisa in Café Andaman is who always looked after us very well. Our two week holiday just went too quickly but it was great to return and have a lovely relaxing time with a few new experiences.