The hotel is just perfect!

Our room was tastefully decorated and had everything we needed for our stay. The central courtyard with the swimming pool and the bar/restaurant is wonderful. By the pool or from the balcony of your own room, you can rejoice in a daily live show of Thai music and dance. Surely you will not need more than that to relax after a day of sightseeing.

Fantastic option in Chiang Mai. I hope visit it again soon.

We stayed here the night before our Chiang Mai destination wedding and it couldn't have been more of a let down. For starters, the bed was rock hard. They literally put a sheet over a piece of plywood, it was miserable. The room was full of mosquitos which was surprising because we didn't have this problem in any of our other hotel rooms and we were in Thailand for 17 days. We had our laundry done there and it cost us 1200 Baht (30 USD)! That is ridiculous considering that we had been having it done at other hotels for around 180 Baht (6 USD). We only brought one backpack each so needless to say, we didn't have much to wash. The water in the shower was luke warm at best and the hairdryer and hot water kettle were broken. We could not get out of this hotel fast enough. Worst stay of our entire trip.

We stayed 4 nights with our 9 year old son. we were upgraded to a junior suite due to a reservation error and it was lovely. we spent our first night in a standard room which is too small for3 people. location great. Fab laundry service at enterance to hotel. breakfast could be a little more interesting...same old stuff.

Spent 4 nights at the Banthai Village in Jan 2012 with my husband, during our honeymoon travelling around Thailand. It is a really magical, beautiful little hotel, with a unique boutique vibe.

The traditional rooms are large, airy and spotlessly clean. The half-outside bathrooms were a nice touch, our 4-poster bed with mozzie nets was incredibly comfy.

The hotel's communal areas were lovely - centred around a small tropical courtyard with a lovely little pool and bar area, where breakfast is also served. Breakfast was simple but very tasty, a small buffet of fruit and cakes and a couple of Thai options, with eggs, bacon and sausage available on request. Happy hour every evening saw discounted cocktails being served by the pool whilst a local teenage girl played a traditional thai musical instrument under a pagoda, a nice start to the evening.

The location is great: just a 5 minute walk into the walled old town for a selection of nice restaurants, bars and cafes. 10 minutes walk in the other direction and you cross the Ping river, where there is a little cluster of riverfront restaurants which are worth a look. Our guide recommended The Riverside and The Good View in particular.

Banthai Village is also just a 10 minute walk from the Night Markets, although we felt these were a little bit crowded and touristy (McDonalds, Starbucks et al were in attendance) so we preferred to have dinner inside the old walled town. But the markets are certainly worth a look, for the free open-air nightly ladyboy show if nothing else...

A couple of tips when in Chiang Mai:

- if you need a break from Thai food we'd really recommend Girasole italian restaurant, inside the old walled town, just off Ratchadamnoen Road, on a pretty little square surrounded by restaurants and cafes (behind Cafe Wa Wee)
- at the back of the same little square there's a fabulous noodle soup cafe (i think called the Blue Cafe), where you can bag a delicious lunch for 30 baht (less than 1 GBP).
- take a local songthaew taxi up to visit the Hmong hilltribe village and stop for a coffee at a plantation on the way back down - the drive is spectacular.
- we visited Chang Dao elephant training camp about 1 hour's drive outside chaing mai, it was a brilliant morning.
- enjoy the weather!! we found Chiang Mai to be much less humid than Bangkok and the beaches in the south of the country, but it was still 29 degrees celsius everyday, perfect!
- if you're coming to Chiang Mai from Bangkok, consider taking the overnight train instead of flying - it's a real experience, but don;t expect to get much sleep! (we had a private 1st class cabin with bunks which was clean and comfortable, but the train was so noisy and jerky all through the night).