Baan Sukhita บ้านสุขิตา Review in Chanthaburi, Thailand

Feb 25, 2018 | 0 comments

A Taste of the Beach Life at Baan Sukhita in Chanthaburi, Thailand

Thailand has a lot of beaches. Some good. And some not so good. Everyone, including yours truly that is planning to stay indefinitely in Thailand is always out in the search of the best beaches as a side trip from Bangkok, either for a day or more. And that’s what we found at Baan Sukhita in Chanthaburi, Thailand.

A few weeks ago for the very first time I visited Chao Lao Beach where I made a review of Maldive Beach Resort. While driving around I came across Ao Yang by chance.

Ao Yang is a bay, so not a beach even if there is a small one. “Ao” in Thai “อ่าว” pronounced àao with a low tone means bay. But theres a small beach lined with restaurants and a parking area for visitors to the beach and restaurant customers.

The view right outside of Baan Sukhita Hotel. Quiet and peaceful bay in Chanthaburi Thailand…

There are several hotels and guesthouses along Ao Yang. But we chose to stay at Baan Sukhita because we had already seen it while driving through when we last visted Chao Lao Beach. And their sea view rooms left a good impression on us which is why my wife and I decided to go back check it out.

Reception desk at Baan Sukhita…

Baan Sukhita is just a simple hotel. But in a good way. It’s not a fancy place for the fancy folks that enjoy high tea in the noon overlooking the bay. It’s ideal for any visitor looking to get away from Bangkok just for a little while to reset and rest. Which is just right up our alley.

Baan Sukhita Chanthaburi – The beachfront rooms on the left are triple deluxe sea view rooms and the ones on the right are normal sea views rooms…

Baan Sukhita has sea view rooms just 50 or so meters from the beach with a picket fence and the road in between.

There’s no fitness center. No Swimming pool. A row of beach chairs, benches and tree trunks shaped into chairs with a lovely view of the bay from the property lawn.

No hotel bar with happy hours. So be sure to stock up on your favorite beers and snacks as there are no full convenience stores in Ao Yang.

Many hours were spent on this hammock… Pure bliss with the gentle breeze blowing in from the bay…

But there is a cool tree hammock! Just a single hammock is slung between two beautiful trees. Now I can imagine this hammock wouldn’t be enough during the weekends with more guests staying at Baan Sukhita.

Since my wife and I stayed during the weekday we were pretty much alone. So I had the hammock all to my self!

Baan Sukhita has 21 Rooms With 3 Room Categories:

Standard Nature View – 20 m² / 2 Adults and 2 Kids 0-11 age
Sea View – 24 m² / 2 Adults and 2 Kids 0-11 age
Triple Deluxe – 32 m² / 3 Adults 2 Kids 0-11 age

Room #106 with a sea view. Our home sweet home, well at least for 4 night…

On this trip I booked a sea view room and stayed in room #106. Per night we paid 1500THB ($55USD). The property was renovated back in 2014 and well maintained. The room still looks new with a nice comfortable queen sized bed, a flat screen television plus some chairs, a mini fridge stocked with 2 bottles of water daily and a small work table.

Sea view rooms lead straight out to the beach…

The bathroom has a shower room and the fixtures looked brand new. Though I believe the bathroom would benefit with a ventilation fan to to keep the air moving out.

First impressions of the room, nice and clean…

I also think the room would really benefit with more light fixtures. At night with all the existing room lights turned on the room was still too dim especially near the area where the work table was placed.

The Wi-Fi was not stable but I could always piggy back off the hotspot from my phone to my laptop computer. Television has a dozen Thai channels and a movie channel with Hollywood hits but of course it’s dubbed in Thai.

Garden view rooms at Baan Sukhita…

The Breakfast

Breakfast which was included with our room rate at Baan Sukhita is served from 7am to 9am. There’s not a lot of breakfast variety but understandably so. It’s a small hotel property which receives most of its guests on weekends.

No sense to cook up a bunch of food which will just go to waste with not enough people to eat it.

Western style breakfast at Baan Sukhita…

It’s not exactly buffet style but if you want to order more food the hotel kitchen staff were more than happy to cook another set. They even offered to make an omelette just to change up the menu a bit as we stayed for 4 nights. Staff were very nice at Baan Sukhita I have to add.

Khao Tom Moo Gung – A Thai style rice soup with minced pork and shrimp normally eaten for breakfast…

What they do serve is sufficiently enough. Sunny side eggs, some boiled ham and chicken sausage with toast is the western option. Khao Tom Moo Gung is the Thai breakfast of choice served with lots of fresh shrimp and minced pork was my favorite and I had it every morning with American style breakfast.

Things to See Near Baan Sukhita

To really explore Chanhtaburi and the area surrounding Baan Sukhita you’ll need to have a car or hire a driver. It’s the only way to get a glimpse of the natural beauty that surrounds Baan Sukhita. The area is mainly popular for beaches and there are a handful to enjoy. But I just want to mention that because these beaches are less traveled or visited you will find trash along the sand.

Lots of signs with English pointing to places of interest. But having Google Maps to get around was helpful…

Beaches near Baan Sukhita Hotel

Ao Krathing – This beach is owned by the army. You have to walk down to the beach, about 150 meters down a man made stone pathway. But coming back up could be tiring. Not a far drive from Baan Sukhita.
Hat Chao Lao – This beach is the nicest with long stretch of sand and not as much rocks in the surf. Great for swimming. Not a lot of resorts on this beach still quiet even on weekends. Drive time to Chao Lao Beach’s eastern tip is about 20 minutes.
Hat Laem Sing – Similar to Hat Chao Lao but a lot more busy during the weekends. Drive time from Baan Sukhita to Laem Sing takes about 10 minutes.

Recommended Area to Visit in Chanthaburi

Chanthaburi Waterfront – I haven’t been all over the city of Chanthaburi but I came across this little section of town near a river. It’s a nice little place to visit, explore and perhaps enjoy a cup of coffee at one of the many cafés by the river. A recommended side trip while staying over in Baan Sukhita.

Chanthaburi Waterfront – Because the area has Chinese and Vietnamese background you’ll see their influences all around…

The Takeaway

I like Baan Sukhita a lot for the ambiance and environment. If you want to travel Thailand, relax at a beach with not ton of people around than this is the type of place you’ll like and enjoy. I certainly did.

But you also have to have some expectations as well. Ao Yang is not a very developed. There’s a row of seafood restaurants along the bay where the locals go to enjoy freshly caught seafood right off the bay. And that’s all there is in the immediate vicinity of Baan Sukhita Hotel.

There’s absolutely nothing to do at night. Matter of fact the area is deserted at night except for the seafood restaurant owners and workers that live nearby. There are many dogs in Ao Yang area too and from my experience they are friendly. Especially when they get to know you. But if you’re afraid best to avoid them.

This is Frank, but in Thai is name is pronounced “Flang”, very friendly when he gets to know you…

During the day you can lounge on the hammock or take a dip in the beach and explore Chanthaburi by car. But this is the kind of rest and the sort of thing I enjoy. And enjoy I did at Baan Sukhita Hotel. I highly recommend staying at this nice little beach hotel in Chanthaburi, Thailand.

Impiana Resort Chaweng Noi Review

May 15, 2016 | 0 comments

Affordable Resort Right on Chaweng Noi Beach, Koh Samui

I have stayed at the Impiana Resort several times over in Koh Samui. It’s one the nicest affordable 4 star resorts along the southern stretch of Chaweng Beach. And in my opinion Chaweng is one of the best beaches on Samui. By booking a hotel at Impiana Koh Samui you won’t need to go pay for a tour to get to another beach. Because the beach right outside of the Impiana is very beautiful already.

For this trip my wife and I purchased some promotional hotel vouchers for the Impiana Resort Chaweng at a special tourist promotion event at the Queens Sirikit Convention held twice a year.

From Don Meung airport to Nakhon Si Thammarat airport…

We got a pretty good deal. It was a 2 night 3 day package that included a free set dinner for 2 and free transfer to either the Samui airport or the ferry port. The free hotel transfer in itself was worth at least 1000THB. For this trip we flew on Air Asia to Si Thammarat airport, took the 1 hour bus ride to Raja Ferry Port and took a 45 minute ferry boat ride to Koh Samui. When you book a ticket on Air Asia you get an option to add on island transfer for a fee.

Leaving Rajah Port on a ferry boat to Samui island…

Breakfast was included but because we purchased the special voucher we also got 10% off on all meals including drinks purchased on resort.

Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of all for purchasing this special promotion is the free hotel transfer. And if we took a direct flight to Samui’s airport a driver from Impiana will pick us up from there. But since we were arriving from the ferry port the driver met us there instead. All we had to do was call the resort up right when we left the port.

As I mentioned I’ve been to Impiana before and on this trip this was my second time. The first time I went was about 6 years ago. And it definitely looked different from the last time I went.

The hotel lobby is open air and spacious…

Checking in was a cinch and the staff were very friendly and helpful. We presented our voucher and they were expecting us because you have to call them up and let them know which days we were arriving.

The hotel grounds was nice and well kept. It’s a small resort with superior rooms in the back, deluxe rooms in the middle with views of the beach. But there are ranch style cottages which are closer to the beach. Maybe next time we’ll go for the cottage styled rooms.

Not sure why I wasn’t holding the camera straight…

There are only two floors for the deluxe rooms but ours was located on the second. I wish we could’ve gotten a room on the first. Deluxe rooms on first floor had a balcony with a door that led directly onto the hotel grounds near the pool.

While our room on the second floor we just had to walk back a bit. Since our superior room was a bit back at the end we had a limited view of the beach. But most important to us was the room was clean, modern and comfortable. Though a bit small at 23 square meters.

This was my wife’s first trip to Samui and she was eager to check out the beach. So we quickly changed and headed out over to the beach right in front of the Impiana Resort.

And wow, the water was just as clear and beautiful as it was 6 years ago. Swimming in it was like a privilege. I’m 6 feet tall and eve up to my chest my feet was still visible through the water. My wife was just as overjoyed. She’s been to a couple of beaches closer to Bangkok like over in Koh Samet.

Crystal clear waters, soft side just right outside Impiana Resort…

Really folks Chaweng beach should be your first choice if you want to stay at a resort closest to some of the clearest waters in all of Thailand.

During our first night for dinner we used our prix fix menu coupon and the food was quite nice. In the evenings there is a buy 1 get one 1 free deal for mixed drinks. It was as good as any time to order up some Mai Tais.

Lightning storms make a pretty show. And the Mai Tai were really tasty…

Impiana Resort Chaweng is a nice hotel with very friendly and helpful staff. It’s not that expensive if you can locate some good deals online especially off season which are the months of May and June. But even then knowing that Chaweng beach is gorgeous I really do believe Impiana Resort Chaweng is simply one of the best valued 4 star hotel in Koh Samui I’ve reviewed.