Hotel Peace Resort

The hotel was located on the beautiful Bophut Beach in the north of the island of Koh Samui. The town Bophut, as well as the so-called Fisherman's Village (with many stores and nice restaurants) were only about 10 minutes walk (along the beach promenade). Opposite of the hotel one would find a 24 hour supermarket where one for German standards could buy all daily necessities very cheap. Furthermore, there were in the immediate vicinity currency exchange, rental car,moped rentals, excursion booths etc. The somewhat better known Chaweng and the Chaweng Beach with shopping, bars, restaurants, discos was reached in only 10 minutes by taxi (about 6 km). The airport was reached in around 15-20 minutes and - aircraft noise almost none heard. As already said before the hotel was located right on the beach, the sand was a bit coarse, but it was an advantage at windy weather and sunscreen. While the public beach was very clean, and had very few beach vendors (fresh fruit, ice cream, clothes etc. ), they try to well their articles non pushy. We did not think it was annoying but rather a nice, partially fun distraction - cannot be compared with the beach boys in Black Africa. The hotel area was located on a plateau and one had to go down some stairs 2-3 steps to the beach (this was for all the hotels on Bophut Beach so) - for wheelchair users it could cause some minor problems, although a wheelchair was on the beach. Koh Samui was not very large (in about 1 hour circled by car), therefore there were also limited excursion offers - but it was worth it to explore the island or take excursions by boat.

The staff was - as not otherwise expected in Asia, was indescribably friendly and one would think that almost all of our wishes were fulfilled. At the same time, the friendliness was not fake or exaggerated- we believed the people were just like that. One could problemlessly communicate in English, in our opinion German wasn't spoken much. Complaints (as broken lightbulb) were taken written and taken care of immediately. A friendly "Sawadee" (almost as good as all from good morning to good night meant), and the smiles would be even wider. The rooms were cleaned every day and the tourists could decide if one needed daily fresh hand towels and fresh bed sheets (this could be individually decided). The cleaning maids were glad about a little extra reward - and they really deserved it. In the area there was a laundry service which we didn't use though. The laundry outside the hotel was cheaper. A doctor was 24 hours available.

The Peace Resort had a restaurant (Sea Wrap) with a connected bar, which on Koh Samui was awarded for its regional Thai and international dishes and which was also used for breakfast. The restaurant was located right on the ocean, it was open and had a beautiful terrace to sit out on. We only ate breakfast, the dinner we ate in the surrounding restaurants at the Fisherman's Village at significantly lower prices and at least equally delicious meals. To start with: Thailand was not a land of coffee lovers and cheese gourmets, otherwise no complaints about the American breakfast. It had everything which made starting the day easy - various sorts of bread, bread rolls, muffins or other cakes, jams, one sort of cheese and ham, freshly prepared eggs (omelets, boiled, fried, scrambled), various hearty things (bacon, tomatoes, beans, fried noodles, shrimp and various typical Thai snacks), juices, milk, yoghurt, fresh fruit and tea (!!!). Cleanliness and hygiene were ideal because one could see that the chefs wore hygienic gloves and all meals were covered to protect against possible bugs and dust. The prices of the restaurants for dinner were compared to prices outside of the hotel very high - but we did not expect otherwise and every tourist was free, to eat where he wanted for dinner. We highly recommended the restaurants outside (and that only for cost reasons, not quality reasons). For tourists in the hotel in the evening were repeatedly different culinary events with tables on the beach, small entertainment shows, etc. - All very nicely decorated and it did no hurt to see that the tourists were unfortunately not so honored as probably the management had imagined.

About the free time activities we could not say anything, since we didn't use them. At the beach rental canoes, waterbikes or surfboards. The hotel had an internet cafe with 4 -5 PCs, but probably for extra charge. We loved the presence of a library with mostly Scandinavian books but also some in English and German. In addition current English newspapers. Also a tailor was located in the hotel. The integrated massage section (extra charge) at the beach and at the pool was used a lot and available places were very scarce. The beach was very clean and the quality of the water was very good. Fortunately it dropped relatively quickly in deeper waters what the water temperature reflected at a relatively pleasant 26 -28°C 78-82°F. High and low tide were as good as not available, which allowed uninterrupted swimming fun. Beach chairs with beautiful thick cushions, umbrellas or fixed awnings were on the beach and by the beautiful pool at any time of day available, even though still places were as usual reserved with hand towels . Although the hotel management prohibited it, not much done to intervene and we already wondered why they were already reserved at around 7 am, if the tourists did not arrive before 10am. In our opinion it needed to be a bit stricter. Beach towels at any time and sufficiently available. Showers available at the pool. There were no activities, but we didn't miss them.

We had a deluxe wing room in the modern tract as previously described. The rooms were very large (about 40 sqm) with a separate bathroom with full-length mirrors, vanity, separate toilet area and large walk-in shower. In addition there was a sort of patio with an extra bathtub more or less in open air (see the hotel website). The hotel furnishings left nothing to be desired and was completely new and modern. Everything in the beautiful Thai style with much dark wood. In the room itself there was tea, coffee making facilities; a minibar (for a fee, but with plenty of space to cool drinks), a DVD/CD player, a modern flatscreen TV with satellite TV, king size bed, desk, seats, hair dryer, telephone, room safe (no fee to use it), mossi chips against mosquitoes, very quiet air conditioner (left running in the night, didn't disturb sleep), bathrobes, beach shoes, beach bag etc. Nothing was missing.

Altogether, one could say that the price-performance ratio was reasonable and we would return to this hotel at anytime. If one was looking for parties and only nightlife it would certainly be better in Chaweng Beach. Our travel time was at the end of March to the beginning April and we really had only 2 times about 1 hour downpour with storms, otherwise only sun with very few clouds and temperatures at 33°C 90°F in the shade. At night the temperatures did not sink under 25°C 77°F. The humidity was certainly about 80 %. For dinner we recommended the Fisherman's Village with its beautiful restaurants directly at the beach (from cheap to slightly upscale everything available) or the small restaurant directly on the beach next to the hotel (on the beach the first small restaurant immediately to the left at the hotel). One could hardly spend more beautiful evenings than directly at the beach with nice lighting, ocean waves and delicious food. Highly recommended: Rent for 4 or more hours a car and driver to travel on the island where desired to go and as long as liked and not somewhere with a group. Cost about 40 euros for 2 people