Pimalai resort
An hour flight to Krabi. An hour driving to the marina. A ten minute private-boat ride to Koh Lanta. Another hour drive to the south end of the island. You’ve finally arrived at the Pimalai Resort, considered to be one of the best in Thailand. Here’s what I thought of my solo stay at this beautiful hotel.
Location: B+
Its a bit more off the beaten path, but thats not necessarily a bad thing. Pimalai is located on Kantiang Bay, one of the best beaches on the island of Koh Lanta. Ultimately, the reason I stayed on this island was to go and see the Emerald Cave on Koh Muk, and this hotel was my best bet to do so (and trust me, the day trip to see this cave is absolutely worth it). Lanta has some more fun areas to the north complete with proper beaches restaurants and bars and whatnot, but this is a place you come more so to just relax and decompress. Also, the Why Not Bar down the beach is a great (albeit surprisingly more expensive than I had expected) place to grab a bit and have a drink while worrying about the kids performing a fire show.
Rooms: A-
I quite liked these rooms. They aren’t spectacular, but they are well-sized, with tons of little amenities to enhance your stay. Plus, the tub was just divine.
Dining: B+
The breakfast buffet was solid, but could not even compare to how amazing the view from breakfast was. I didn’t even care that the waitress could not for the life of her understand what hot sauce/tobasco/pet sauce was because this view is next level. Dinner was also good, nothing special either. I had a whole grilled squid which was nice and spicy, just how I like it baby.
Amenities: B+
Beach pool at night - didn’t use this pool at all during the day, but it looked solid…just an odd arrangement of chairs and circulation surrounding it in my opinion.
There should be more and it could have been better designed. The pool by the beach was just not designed or laid out very well, and honestly, neither was the pool up in the mountain. Maybe it was because of COVID that the hotel was not operating at its normal level, but I found the whole layout of the pool situation to be a bit odd. Regardless, it is a large, destination-style hotel, so you’ll find a basketball court, tennis courts, nice gym, and plenty of activities on the beach (I spent about an hour kayaking across the bay during sunset and it was magnificent).
Service: B-
Look, everyone is dealing with COVID and it makes things tough. But waiting multiple times for 10+ minutes to get a golf cart to go to breakfast or back to my room got on my nerves a bit. The hotel is set on a seriously steep hill so I had no intention of walking up and down it myself, and relying on what was an unreliable transportation service just wasn’t ideal at all. Plus, they didn’t give me an upgrade. No one was in the freaking hotel man, come on!
Overall, Pimalai is a fantastic hotel, definitely more suited for couples looking to just get away from it all but still have all the amenities you could ask for. It’s well priced for what they offer, so definitely a place that is worth it if you intend to visit somewhere a little different but just as beautiful such as the island of Koh Lanta. And definitely be sure to take a day trip to explore the island east of Koh Lanta, especially the Emerald Cave (its a beach tucked inside massive cliffs only accessible by swimming through a pitch black tunnel - yeah, badass).
