Koh Tao Hotels with Balcony

Unfortunately we were very disappointed with our stay here. The location of the hotel is amazing, on the beach along a very busy ***** of restaurants and beach bars which was great. However, the hotel itself was sadly a let down. The hotel keep whistling birds in cages just outside the hotel rooms so expect to be woken at all hours by birds whistling louder than we could believe. The room we were in was very basic to the point where the only plug socket was by the front door, so to dry my hair I had to stand at the front door with no mirror or chair… The shower was a fixed height (very low) so my partner had to be on his knees to wash his hair and I had to bend significantly despite not being very tall. The room was very dark with basically no natural light at all throughout the day. The bedding was just a thick blanket, that I imagine isn’t washed between guests, in between two loose sheets so the blanket kept coming out of the sheets. The toilet was very temperamental and wouldn’t always flush properly. One positive is that the air con was strong however to circulate the air we also had the fan on and this made an annoying screeching noise when it turned to a certain point, which again, woke us up during the night. We didn’t have breakfast because we had a look at what was on offer and decided to go elsewhere as there are lots of nice local places to eat. The staff also weren’t the most pleasant and even got our dates confused when we checked in. Sadly wouldn’t recommend this hotel.

The service at the Tarna Align resort is impeccable. They keep you in touch via Whatsapp and are incredibly welcoming and helpful. Golf buggies take you anywhere you want to go into Sairee and then bigger vans for the pier. They provide good amenities eg toothpaste. We stayed in a Villa Sea View room which had absolutely stunning views and a great balcony. It was a short trip into Sairee for walks in the day or for night time activities. The only downside was the room. 1. It was incredibly dark with all the lights on at night with no option to have brighter lights on. 2. The bedside table is a small floating shelf next to the bed and sloped downwards so in the night things would fall off onto the floor. 3. The only way to control lighting and air con was by a panel on one side of the bed which meant if one person fell asleep the other person had to try and get out to get to the panel. 4. Beware of the glass door to the toilet- we both walked into it and bruised ourselves as it was so clean and see through. Could benefit from stickers on it to prevent this. 5. The fridge is right behind the bed and very noisy so we had to unplug it at night to sleep

Hotel was beautiful. Snorkeling off the beach was pretty good, small sharks, turtles, tropical fish. The beach was busier than expected. Hotel is removed from hubbub but beach is public and well used. Hotel has basic shuttle service to main area. Hotel rooms would benefit from in room sitting.

Leider können wir die mehrheitlich positiven Bewertungen nicht Teilen, vor allem bei diesem Preis nicht! Wir wollten eigentlich 4 Nächte im Blue Tao Beach Hotel bleiben, aus diesen 4 Nächten sind wir aber nur 3 geblieben. Das Hotel bietet wirklich nicht was es verspricht. Sauberkeit: Als wir ankommen hatten wir ein kleines Willkommensgeschenk, also ja, das Geschenk waren verschiedene unidentifizierbare Flecken auf dem Bettlaken. Dazu war es im ganzen Zimmer feucht und die Handtücher haben extrem gestunken. Es wirkte, als das Zimmer nicht wirklich gereinigt wurde bevor wir angekommen sind. Frühstück: Das Frühstück ist im Hoteleigenen Restaurant. Man erhält pro Person und pro Frühstück ein Coupon. Der Coupon berechtigt jedoch nur für eine Speise, einen schwarzen Kaffee oder Tee und einen kleinen Orangensaft. Das Gericht reicht aber eigentlich nicht aus wenn man gestärkt in den Tag starten will. Das Frühstück ist geschmacklich OK aber nicht wahnsinnig vor allem bei diesem Preis vom Hotel ungenügend. Man würde erwarte, dass man verschiedene Speisen bestellen kann aber dies ist nur gegen Aufpreis möglich. Lärm: Das Hotel befindet sich im Zentrum, was völlig klar ist, dass man nicht mit absoluter Ruhe rechnen kann. Jedoch hat das Retsuarnte von 07.30 bis 00.00 sehr laute Musik, was dazu führt das man den Bass im Zimmer hört. Dazu kommt das das ganze Gebäude sehr ringhörig ist und man jeden Gast hört wenn er nach Hause kommt. Auch hört man die Wecker der anderen Zimmer und man hört sie sogar wenn sie im Zimmer miteinander reden. Freundlichkeit: Das Personal ist sehr unmotiviert und unfreundlich. Im Restaurant wirkt alles sehr umkoordiniert und teilweise wartet man sehr lange auf das essen. bei uns war es an einem Abend so, dass meine Partnerin das essen bereits hatte und mein Hauptgericht kam 20 Minuten später, was gar nicht geht... Alles in Allem war unser Aufenthalt im Blue Tao sehr unbefriedigend. Vor allem bei diesem Preis erwartet man definitiv mehr. Eigentlich sehr schade weil die Lage des Hotels sehr gut wäre. Dies führte schlussendlich dazu das wir früher als geplant weitergereist sind, weil wir uns wirklich unwohl gefühlt haben.

Fabulous snorkeling just on the shore of the hotel. Black tip sharks, fish of all colors, beautiful coral. Amazing Infinity pool with swim up bar. Super room with great view. Everyone has a big smile. Great beach. You need to be semi fit as there is a lot of stairs but it is so worth it for the view. Food for lunch and dinner is great and reasonably priced. The only negative is the breakfast… it is really not great. Worsr than breakfast at 2 stars hotel.

The location is nice and quiet, walking distance to other restaurants through the beach. The beach is very nice, clean and good for kids especially when the tide is low. Our Cabana was spacious, beautiful, although a bit dark. The water pressure was low and we didn’t have hot water. We asked them to fix it but it didn’t happen on time before our check-out. We stayed for two nights. The pool has a waterfall, and it looks a little run down. Nice view to the sea from the pool, though. The breakfast (included) was ok. Fruits, bread, but not many options for vegetarian/vegans in the menu. Dinners were good. Overall, a beautiful hotel, kind staff, great location, maintenance response could be better.

The rooms are beautiful, clean, the breakfast is diverse and delicious. There is a free shuttle from the pier. Everything is good except when paying at check out, when swiping the credit card, a 5% charge will be charged. Very confused at a resort of this level. Swipe the card and still charge the customer 👎

The second stay after seven years was still a wonderful healing journey. The beautiful scenery and snorkeling, rowing back and forth between Jamagiri and Hatien, and being able to easily walk a hundred meters away from the beach after low tide, all kinds of rare experiences are impressive. The second time I went, I found that there were fewer domestic tourists and I almost didn't see them. Maybe the hotel team has changed? The food system has changed a bit. The thin noodles like the dried noodles provided for breakfast before are no longer there. The noodles are only wide and like rice noodles. The menu was completely replaced on the second day of the stay. It is said that the price has increased. Who knows? Anyway, it is a recommended hotel. After all, it is the number one hotel in Koh Tao. I hope to have another trip in the distant future.

We had an awful experience at the Seashell dive centre attached to the hotel, and are now out of pocket for 22,000 baht for courses that we couldn’t complete due to the behaviour of the centre manager. We booked and paid upfront for a day of fun dives and 2 AOW courses. After an awful experience where I became very cold and sick on the fun dives due to poor weather conditions and inappropriate kit, we asked to be refunded for the AOW or to wait until conditions were calmer. The manager said that we could not be refunded but could wait for calmer conditions and we extended our time by another week in order to wait for things to calm down. However, the following day we popped into the centre and the managers attitude was completely different, he was rude and difficult and following some very unpleasant interactions with him over the following few days, we took the decision to not go forward with the course. One of the instructors who witnessed the managers behaviour apologised on his behalf giving the excuse that he was in a bad mood as had broken up with his girlfriend ! It was evident that once he had our money, that he had no interest in delivering our course or providing any level of customer care. On the fun dive, kit was poor, with a thin shorty wetsuit provided that was not suitable for the weather conditions, no boots, fins that were too small as they didn’t have any other sizes. Our instructor however was dressed in a full wetsuit and boots etc as said he tends to get cold. There was no provision of snorkels despite PADI guidance stating that these are an essential piece of safety equipment and no basic first aid care / procedures provided for cold, sick customers. When we asked for snorkels, we were told that they are unnecessary and just get in the way. The manager has refused to give his name and diver number despite repeated requests which raises further alarm bells and he ignored all initial emails and messages. Finally, we received a response whereby he said that we had booked onto the course on 3 occasions and not attended. This was completely untrue as no date had been set for us to do it at all. The hotel (who we paid for the course) have not responded to any emails or messages in relation to our complaint and couldn’t have been less interested when I raised it with the reception staff at checkout. My advice is that if you go to Seashell hotel, please AVOID the dive centre. You might be ok if everything is straightforward and you get a good instructor, but if there is a problem then don’t expect any level of care or compassion. We had travelled to Koh Tao to do some fun dives and complete our AOW courses. Our experience at seashell dive centre has ruined our trip to this island. After some detective work, we have established that the dive centre managers name is Hasan Can Toker . I wonder what his reasons for hiding this are ! Again, not the actions of a professional and transparent dive centre manager. As for the hot

THE BEST HOSTEL I STAYED AT IN THAILAND. Apologies for shouting, but I had an incredible experience of staying in the Dearly hostel. Hostel/Dorms: I stayed for a week in a female dorm which I would recommend - sheets changed every 3 days, new towels available daily if needed, clean and nice smelling space, and comfortable beds that were not bunk beds. Modern and fresh decor with partitions between beds for more privacy. Such a simple and smart solution! Lovely and friendly cleaning ladies as well:)) The hostel itself surrounded by palm trees; I would definitely recommend to check out their common space on the 3rd floor (pictures attached). Shared Bathroom: clean, modern and nicely smelling bathrooms with shampoo and soap provided in the showers. Diving: I did the PADI open water course organised via dear hostel. As I was staying for a week the hostel offers a good deal for the accommodation combined with diving. The big advantage is a deep swimming pool at the hostel where you can practise diving skills before going into the open water. The swimming pool itself was great - they use salt instead of chlorine, which is both appreciated for the skin and hair. I would definitely recommend the diving instructor we had - Fam - who made us feel comfortable and ready to move from the swimming pool to open water diving. When speaking with other people staying in the hostel they also had a very positive experience with their diving instructors. Social: the hostel organised daily activities which were written on the blackboard in the lobby. I have not participated in many as I have been diving/studying for diving at the time, but it sounded like a good opportunity to meet other ppl. Personally, I made the most connections in my dorm bed and during breakfasts:) really great people and smiley faces with people wanting to be approachable. For partying we were going to the Sairee beach part of the island. This is not a party hard hostel, but it had a very good atmosphere of pre-drinks before going out and having a beer with some friends. Staff: very helpful, attentive and accommodating staff. Good email communication as well:) Breakfast: served 7-10 am; very useful to have it in the hostel when doing morning dives; everyday breakfast included toast, pancakes, fruit in coconut milk, and a rice/rice noodle dish. This was the first hostel breakfast I could eat in Thailand as I have food allergies and the rice/rice noodle dish was always very tasty. I recommended this hostel to three of my travel friends & all really enjoyed their stay here. For me, there is no other hostel alternative on Koh Tao ;) definitely will be back for another diving session! Thank you!