The Emerald Cove – A Five Star Hotel on Klong Prao Beach Koh Chang

A few weeks ago my wife and I drove down to Koh Chang, a popular island destination located in the gulf of Thailand’s Trat province.

We were excited because we had booked the 5 star rated Emerald Cove Hotel for 4 nights. We heard a lot of good things about it because the hotel earned a good reputation for being secluded with a beautiful beach.

And we love our quiet, peaceful, privacy. Normally we stay at La A Natu Bed and Bakery for some beach and seclusion.

This time around we really wanted to swim in some clear blue waters like we enjoyed in Koh Samui’s Impiana Resort on Chaweng Beach. Without having to fly out.

Koh Chang’s Emerald Cove Hotel was the perfect compromise for us.

Koh Chang is an ideal destination for some clear and clean waters because it’s far enough and away from Bangkok. And the Emerald Cove Koh Chang is right on Klong Prao beach which has a long stretch of clean sand to have a nice stroll on.

I always say, the further you get away from Bangkok, the cleaner and clearer beach water you will find.

Emerald Cove Koh Chang Info

The Emerald Cove used to be a part of the Amari group of hotel chains. It was built in 2004. Which is quite old when it comes to hotels. But of course the Emerald went through a series of renovations since then. There are 165 rooms and 3 floors.

For me the hotel is fresh and modern with Thai style designs throughout the property. Only problem is there were intermittent power outages. But that is not the fault of the hotel. The island of Koh Chang has it’s own power plant.

I think most people will be pleasantly surprised about how big the rooms are. Even the superior rooms are a minimum of 50 square meters. That’s the thing about older hotels. Many of them were built with more guests space.

The hotel ground is spacious with several swimming pools in the center for guests to enjoy. But the property’s highlight is the centrally located 50 meter beachfront swimming pool.

There are several restaurants highlighting Thai and Italian cuisine. But during our stay the busiest restaurant was the Cove Terrace where a large buffet breakfast spread is ready for hungry guests every morning.

Our Room

We booked a corner room called “Premium Deluxe Ocean Facing Room”. It is 56 square meters in size which was more than enough room for just my wife and I alone.

There is a work desk and a couple of sofas and chairs around to lounge in. Plus a large balcony with outdoor seating to take in the view.

We paid about 5000THB (approx. $150USD) per night with all taxes and a buffet breakfast fixed in the price. Which is not a bad price at all.

As I mentioned before even the basic superior rooms at Emerald Cove are 50 square meters big yet cost between 1800THB to 3000THB per night with breakfast included.

At this point rooms at the Emerald Cove are priced according to location. The better the beach view or swimming pool view the more the room will cost.

Our premium ocean facing room had a spectacular view of the swimming pool. Because we had a corner room we had a decent beach view too.

So if you’re looking for big comfortable rooms with affordable prices in Koh Chang you should definitely check out Emerald Cove.

Everything that you’d need for a comfortable stay are provided in room. You’ve got a few bottles of complimentary drinking water provided daily in the refrigerator. A kettle to make hot tea and coffee. A room safe, slippers, robes and even a carry bag for visits to the beach.

My only grip is I wish there was a larger television provided in the room.

Food at the Emerald Cove Koh Chang

The breakfast was perfectly fine and we ate at the Terrace Cove every morning. There were all the usual suspects. Eggs cooked to order, home fries, sausage and bacon with a good selection of breads.

There’s a large selection of fruit and salad options too for healthy eaters.

Then there’s a section of Thai breakfast options like noodles and ข้าวต้มหมูสับ Khao Tom Moo Sap which is a Thai styled rice porridge with ground pork

On a Thursday there was an awesome dinner buffet that was supposed to take place by the beach where all the guests can enjoy the beautiful view and cool weather. But too bad the outdoor dining was cancelled as rain was in the forecast.

But the dinner buffet was very good and worth the 600THB price tag.

While on our first night at the Emerald Cove we had dinner there because we were a little tired after the long 6 hour drive from Bangkok.

We ordered some pastas, a classic margherita pizza and crab cakes as pictured below. The pizza was good and the crust was thin which isn’t’ really what I like but the mozzarella cheese to tomato sauce ration was good.

The pasta I ordered was a Beef Bolognese. For me the sauce was too watery. My wife ordered a chili and oil pasta which she said didn’t have much taste. This was the only let down on our meal.

The real winner was the crab cakes with sriracha mayo sauce. I could eat that all day long with a nice cold glass of Singha.

You can walk outside the hotel property to search out other restaurants. There is a decent Thai seafood restaurant not far from the hotel which I will write about on another post. But outside you can find a few small restaurants with western and Thai foods too.

There’s even a 7 Eleven about a 100 meters from the hotel entrance so you can easily pick up snacks to take back to your hotel room.

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  Happy hour starts from 4pm to 6pm...

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  A good trio singing some tunes by the main swimming pool...

Overall Experience…

My wife and I really enjoyed our stay at the Emerald Cove Hotel. No surprise at all. Koh Chang is not a big island and other 5 star hotels on the island have got to be on their top game to win customers.

It’s a great hotel property with good service and even though we brought our car with us we didn’t need to drive around because everything we needed was in walking distance.

We tried to make an appointment for an Emerald Spa Package but it was fully booked for that day. They had a couples’ spa for 3900THB which includes a 15 minute foot spa, 45 minute body scrub and a 60 minute relaxing massage which I assume is a body massage. That’s an excellent deal in my book.

Since we couldn’t get in we opted for another massage and spa shop which was just a 3 minute walk from the hotel’s driveway called Hatta Thai Spa and Wellness. Try out their foot scrub, I highly recommend it if you’ve got a load of dead skin like I did on my feet.

The Emerald Cove Hotel Koh Chang is well worth the money. It’s priced just right and very affordable for a 5 star rated hotel.

How We Got There

We drove in our car from central Bangkok all the way down through Chonburi,then Rayong and ended up at Ferry Koh Chang. The total time took about 6 hours on a weekday. Be sure to use google maps for GPS because it will come in very hand although the directions to get there is fairly simple.

You can drive your car right on to the boat and the fare for the car 120THB and the fare per person is 80THB.

Ferry boats leave depart every 30 to 45 minutes from 06:30 to 17:00. But there really is no set schedule. When the boats fill up, it leaves.

If you’re not self driving you can easily catch minibus services all around Bangkok. Even Suvarnabhumi International Airport have minibus services that will take you down to Koh Chang. I believe the cost is 600THB one way.

One big tip is to be sure you use the toilet before you get on the boat. Believe me you will thank me for this advice. It’s not a fancy ferry boat but it’ll get you to the beautiful island that is Koh Chang.