Layana Resort and Spa, Koh Lanta Island, Thailand – The Best Hotel Experience

Total Miles Traveled: 32,745

It’s Ramadan now and the Muslim Malays are fasting during the day, so things have slowed down.  So, we decide to take our chances in southern Thailand during the rainy season when it can rain for days, but hotel rates are over 50% off!

We were excited to hit the beach, but first we had to get there.  And this, my friends, turned out to be the most disastrous travel experience we’ve had yet during our journey.   Don’t worry, we were safe, it was just annoying and hectic at the time.

From Penang, we chose to take a public minivan to Koh Lanta because it seemed the cheapest.  The trip was meant to go down like this:  we take a 4-5 hour bus ride to a mid-way point in Thailand (in a city called Hat Yai) at which point we would transfer to another minivan that would take us another 3-4 hours to Krabi and would then drop us off at the Ferry to Koh Lanta.   So not a quick journey, but cheaper than flying.  We also called our hotel in Koh Lanta and they verified the last ferry to the island was 10pm.  We were leaving Penang at 8am and so would get there in the afternoon.  Easy peasy.  Not!

During our layover in Hat Yai, we got picked up and dropped off at different offices.  But we were given the ticket for the ferry so we thought all was progressing smoothly.  Things took an odd turn on our second bus leg.  We were forced to sit through a bunch of random pickups and dropoffs of supplies on the way to Krabi.  Yes, like a UPS/Super Shuttle hybrid.

Here’s where it got shady.   Instead of dropping us off at the ferry, the driver took us to a travel agency in Krabi town (which we learned was 2 hours away from Koh Lanta).  When we show our ferry ticket to the agent, he says he has no idea who we are, what agency sold the ticket, and that there’s no way to get to Lanta because the ferry is closed.  Wait, WHAT?!?

That’s when we knew something was shady.  By now, it’s 7PM, 11 hours after we started.  We’re tired, hungry and not happy.  Lisa and I (well, mostly Lisa) start dealing out some verbal pain.  How could they not know where we came from?  How could there be no way to get to Koh Lanta because the ferries are closed.  The agent told us we would have to buy a hotel room – which he could give us a great deal on – and then he would take us in the morning.  At this point, Lisa started yelling “KOH LANTAAAAAAA”. (Ask her to tell you the story – at least she was able to laugh about it a few hours – and a glass of wine – later.).  We called the hotel and found out that there indeed was a ferry to Koh Lanta – two, in fact.  But, here’s the thing, THEY’RE CAR FERRIES.  The passenger ferries were closed in the low season after all, but you could still ride a car to Koh Lanta via ferry.

Then, the agent changed his tune and tried to sell us a taxi $120 one-way.  We called the hotel again, and he then dropped his price to $70.  WTF? (Insert profane name calling here).  By now, it was dark, 8PM, and the ferry was going to close soon.  So we took him up on the offer, but he wouldn’t give us the receipt, and only gave us a card written in Thai with a phone number.  SHADY.

In the end, we got to our hotel in Koh Lanta 14 hours later – 5 hours after what we were told, and $70 extra to get to where we were going.  But, in the whole scheme of things, snafus like this happen all of the time and we were glad we made it with pretty minor issues and that – most importantly – we were safe.  We also were reminder of several valuable lessons (1) Do your homework!  in this case, the hotel gave us incorrect / incomplete info.  Especially when dealing with non-native English speakers, ask the question different ways and multiple times.  Repeat the answer that the clerk gives you.  Talk to muliple clerks.   (2) Always have important numbers on you – like the # of the travel agencies, hotels, etc.) and (3) don’t believe what you are told by shady agents :).  Ok enough lessons …

Now back to happy, positive storytelling – look guys and girls, a beach!

Our hotel, Layana Resort and Spa, has almost exclusively 5 star ratings on Tripadvisor (250+ top ratings).  We had not seen anything like that in our months of traveling, so we had to give it a try.  And the nightly rate was heavily discounted on Agoda.com.  Win!

It turned out to be one of the best (if not the best) hotel experiences we’ve ever had, and worth the debacle we endured to get there.

During our stay, it only rained a couple of days, and we were OK with that because it was nice to stay in, read, and listen to the pouring rain.

After rainstorms, a lot of debris would wash up on shore, and here’s where started to see why the hotel was so good.  The whole staff from the kitchen and waiters to the owner himself (pictured below on the left) were on the beach cleaning up.  Now that’s pride of ownership!

The pool experience was great.  There were call buttons on every umbrella that buzzed the waitstaff so they’d come over and take your order.  They brought you complimentary water, cold lemongrass scented towels, and fresh fruits on skewers.  There’s even wifi poolside (which Lisa used to do her consulting work).

And, you’d finish the day with 50% off happy hour drinks in the pool watching the sunset over Koh Phi Phi island.

That’s it for now.  Next we’ll show and tell about a few things we did while we were at Layana, including cooking class, fruit carving, visiting the town, and scuba diving.