Our favourite Southeast Asian hotels – some new additions

Favourite Southeast Asian hotels

Excuses for the slightly deceptive title – it works better for SEO purposes – and our list is not in any way intended to be our all time favourite Southeast Asian hotels, but rather a rundown on some favourite new spots we’ve added recently to our range of small group tours.

Obviously, new hotels and resorts open all the time; some instant shoo-ins, others not so, while long-standing establishments may go down hill, change management or ownership or alternatively receive welcome make-overs. It can be a full-time job keeping up with the constant changes and firstly, we apologise if we initially miss a few changes or our reaction time to said changes isn’t always as fast as it could be. Between Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam we use a lot of different hotels and as a small, family-run business, with limited staff numbers, there are occasionally time lags. This is why we rely on our guest’s feedback as well as reports from local guides.

We don’t mean the kind of feedback one sees on certain websites; “there were noisy kids in the hotel pool”, (they’re not a permanent fixture), or “the WiFi didn’t work very well”, (you’re in the middle of nowhere), and we’re very happy to report that the vast majority of customer feedback is constructive, clearly intended to be so and valued.

Note that our criteria are varied; obviously value for money is one, along with hotel facilities and staff, but location is vital. Another, even more crucial one, albeit imperceptable to casual visitors, is reliability. We need to be confident that any booking procedure will be quick and efficient but also that if we have booked X number of rooms, then X number of rooms will be available to us at the time the group in question checks in. There’s a few other details not obvious to a guest, such as sometimes weird and wonderful reservation, cancellation and confirmation systems, so, managing to form a good working relationship with local staff is also primordial.

Without further to-do then, a brief rundown on just some of our new favourite Southeast Asian hotels which we’ve added to our various itineraries over the last year or two.

Cambodia

Some of the most successful changes are forced ones, rather than a result of deliberate choices with Phnom Penh being a prime example. We’d been using the 252 Boutique Hotel for years, as many previous guests on our Cambodia tours may recall, and it had become our Phnom Penh base, office and indeed home from home, as well as providing comfy rooms and friendly service for our groups, so imagine our distress when the owner said they were selling up.

Patio Hotel, Phnom Penh

We searched in vain for a similar-style alternative but with downtown Phnom Penh land prices rocketing, very few of the traditional converted villa in a garden sort of places remain. The 7-storey Patio Hotel and Urban Resort is of course a very different style but don’t be put off by the slightly (we hesitate to say) pretentious name; the hotel is low-key, welcoming and comes with a cosy atmosphere. Tucked down a narrow alley, the hotel is also as quiet as anything you’ll find in the centre of a large Southeast Asian city and the panoramic rooftop restaurant and infinity pool have proved to be winners. Happy to say this move has proved a great success.

Pierre Hotel, Siem Reap

We’d been using Siem Reap’s City River for many years but while we’re waiting for them to install new a/c units, we’ve decamped 100m down the road to the Pierre. (Siem Reap can get very warm and despite the great rooftop pool and delightful staff, efficient a/c is nonetheless an essential requirement.) Again, the all-important location is perfect with a view over the river and a 5-minute walk taking you to the Old Market and town centre. The pool is on the small size, albeit enough to cool off in, while, as in most other hotels in Cambodia, staff are fantastic. The jovial chef also knocks up a great buffet breakfast, including an array of home-made bakery items.

Sabbay Resort, Kep

The Mealea Resort was an excellent spot, overlooking the sea and almost directly opposite Kep’s Crab Market, but having been, on one occasion, let down at the last minute, we had to transfer our booking to next door’s Sabbay Resort. Regrettably, for Mealea, we’ve never looked back and Sabbay’s comfy villas in a lush garden have since become a firm favourite. Run by a welcoming Franco-Khmer couple, their in-house restaurant and bar is also excellent with great quality French and local fare. An example of an enforced, accidental change, which proved highly fortuitous. Features on our Beyond Angkor tour, as well as our Kep, Kampot and Takeo extension or mini-tour.

Laos

Nakorn River View Champassak

We formerly stayed at the very plush, albeit slightly out of town, Riviera Resort in tiny Champassak Town, although a limited number of rooms meant that with an increase in popularity of our southern Laos tour in recent times, we had to look around for something slightly larger. With a riverbank location in the centre of the town, a lush garden and a beautifully located restaurant, we came up trumps with the particularly friendly Nakorn River View.

Sri Lanka

Tartaruga Beach Resort, UNawatuna

We’ve swapped around a bit in Sri Lanka’s Galle and while staying in the old town was the initial preference, options amid the narrow lanes are actually quite limited. Many ’boutique’ lodges had just a handful of rooms while several were frankly way overpriced so we turned to nearby Unawatuna Bay. This offers a wide choice of beachfront resorts as well as a village area with cafes and shops while remaining only a short drive from town. You can then opt for a morning dip in the ocean or pool, head into town to explore the World Heritage town’s lanes and historic sites then head back to Tartaruga for a sundowner with your feet in the sand. Best of both worlds we reckon and another serendipitous find as Galle of course features on all our Sri Lanka tour itineraries as well as being an option for beach extensions.

Thailand

The Wood, Surin

The northeastern Thai town of Surin is decidedly off-the-beaten tourist trails so there’s correspondingly not a huge choice of accommodation however the new, or at least new to us, Wood is a great choice by any standards. Central location, super-friendly staff, comfy rooms and some imaginative decor tick all the boxes and is a definite shoo-in on our favourite Southeast Asian hotels list. An overnight stay at The Wood features on our Emerald Triangle and Thailand World Heritage tours.

Vietnam

Nan House, Tam Coc

Tam Coc Village in Ninh Binh Province – stepping off point for the World Heritage Trang An landscapes – can get quite busy during peak season so we decided to move from our central location to a quieter spot on the edge of the village. The small, family-run Nan House fitted the bill with spacious, comfy rooms, an excellent in-house restaurant and particularly friendly, welcoming service. It’s down a quiet side street but still only a short walk from the town centre plus bicycles are available for guests’ use. Another great find.

Pu Luong Eco Garden

With a spectacular setting, plus spectacular infinity pool overlooking the mountains of Pu Luong National Park, Pu Luong Eco Garden quickly became a firm favourite on our Laos and Vietnam tours. So much so that we’ve since had to include a side trip to Pu Luong on our regular, Hanoi to Saigon and World Heritage Sites of Vietnam tours.

Mentions in dispatches

We’re trying to keep this post to a reasonable length so there’s several more spots that deserve mentions but which we’ll have to skip over for now. A shout out nonetheless to Battambang’s delightful Moloppor Villa, Malaysia’s Rosa Malacca and the Sri Pakpa Boutique Resort in Thailand’s Thale Noi among many.