Fellow Tripadvisors,

For too long I have leeched the reviews of conscientious reviewers, taking what I need, booking and not contributing. This selfishness is now at an end.

Nakamanda - 5 nights, February 2012.

It's is as good as every one says. So instead of wasting your time gilding the lily, I will let you know what you need to have an even better time here:

1. Long tail boar trips - Don't bother organising trips through reception. Want to see the Hong Islands? (you should!) speak to staff at the pool, they'll put you in touch with a boat owner, then negotiate. Be polite, laugh, and drive a hard bargain. The set prices on the sign outside are for western tourists with too much cash.

2. Eating - the hotel restaurant is good value. I know the urge to travel outside and perhaps get a bargain. Don't bother. Mother's (the restaurant to the left of the entrance) is not good enough.

3. Beer / snacks - for this do venture out. It's worth the 7 meters you have to walk to any of about 5 minimarts around the entrance of the resort. Grab a few beers, get rid of the overpriced stuff in your minibar and restock with the good stuff.

4. Getting around - this is this the conundrum you will face here. You would never trade the tranquility for sleezy Ao Nang, and heaven forbid the madness of Krabi town, but you are about 30km from anywhere. So hire a scooter! They are 220BT a day. Bargain for it. The going rate is 250BT per day, but you can do better. Fuel is 35BT/litre. These little scooters run on fumes. There's no traffic. The downside is that other than Ao Nang and Krabi the rest of the Krabi province is appallingly signposted. Ask for helmets. Just step out of the resort, turn left and walk for 10 minutes. You'll find at least 3 scooter hire places.

The breakfast is good. Don't be shy, ask for the menu and get what ever you want cooked up. It's included. Mix and match. Bacon with your omelet? Mushrooms as well? Knock yourself out.

I stayed at Nakamanda early in the New Year with a group of friends. I found the resort charming with lovely rooms, great amenities and very good (if very "local") service.

The spa was excellent, the food in the restaurant very good and the setting was lovely.

A perfect place for a 4-5 day getaway.

We booked an 18 night holiday at the Nakamanda. For personal reasons we had to leave after 8 days and would like to thank the management again for the way they handled our premature departure.

At the Nakamanda we enjoyed especially the friendly staff, the excellent food (unfortunately some dishes and several wines which were on the menu were not available) and the tranquil and serene location of the resort.

The pool is a plus and compensates for the times when the sea in front of the resort is disappears during low tide. A special thankyou to Khun Dee, the housekeeping lady, who made sure to keep our room spotlessly clean

The Nakamanda was a lovely surprise. We had never been to Krabi before and were a little unsure as Krabi is quite developed (people hassling you to go into their restaurants / shop etc) but knew that Nakamanda was further out on a quiet beach and were pleased when we arrived and saw the location. It is also not too isolated, there are a few shops and restaurants near the entrance (the Indian restaurant is very good).

The room was lovely and spacious, with very large windows and a comfy sofa, but the best bit was the large sunken bath with its glass panel above so you could bathe and see the stars at night.

The grounds are not very big (but it is a smallish hotel) but are well kept and there is a huge pool and plenty of sun loungers.

Food was excellent, both Thai and Western, and the food and drink was very reasonably priced, the cheapest we have had at equivalent hotels in South East Asia, but the quality was still superb. There is nothing worse than feeling that you are being ripped-off by a hotel on drinks but at Nakamanda that was not the case.

The hotel has a shuttle that goes into the town of Ao Nang at 5:30pm and returns at 10pm which is good (and cheaper than a taxi) and they even recommend where to eat there, but it is nice when you return to the quiet of Nakamanda after seeing some of the gaudier bits of Ao Nang.

The only thing that is a shame (which we did know before we booked) is that it does not have a better part of the beach, you can just walk round the left corner and swim there, but there is a new resort being built next door and it is a shame that the Nakamanda was not able to buy a small piece of the land on the corner to be able to have access to that part of the beach. That said, we had just had 8 days on Phi Phi at the beach so it did not bother us too much.

My boyfriend really likes to use the gym but the equipment was quite outdated and needs to be updated, especially the running machine. We meant to add this to the hotel questionnaire before we left but we did not have time.
That said, we really enjoyed our stay and would go again, the above points are me just being picky and it really is a lovely hotel.