Hotel Rawi Warin Resort & SPA Koh Lanta in Thailand

Eit was our first visit to the Thai island of Koh Lanta and we, after reading reviews on the Internet, chose a hotel Rawi Warin Resort & Spa 5* as our "home" for the whole 14 days. Briefly about the results, our choice was quite successful. We were not deceived and our review as a whole will be a plus for the hotel. From the beginning of our holiday to the very end, our stay at this hotel, as one well-known politician says, was fantastic. The hotel is quiet, beautiful, well maintained and in a great location. Rawi Warin Resort & Spa certainly deserves the "yes" checkbox on the tourist questionnaire as a high-end resort. Great location, knowledgeable staff, delicious breakfast and a decent room, but first things first.

Klong Toab beach on Koh Lanta

Klong Toab Beach, where the Rawi Warin Resort & Spa is located, looks like one of the coolest beaches in the south of Koh Lanta. The landscape is as advertised.

Green hills covered with tropical forest flow smoothly into the golden sands of the beach flowing into the turquoise-blue expanse of the Andaman Sea. Beautifully written :) But the way it is! But at the same time, please note that I am writing about the south of the beach. If you start from the north, then there is only a road, there are no hotels at all, and the beach itself is not an entirely aesthetic sight. For comparison, I will show the northern part of the beach.

But if you are looking for the perfect place for your holiday in Ko Lanta, away from the hustle and bustle, but close to the island's most important points of life, then the Rawi Warin Resort & Spa on Klong Toab Beach is just the perfect solution. Further it will become clear why I think so.

Where is the beach of Klong Toab and the hotel itself?

Klong Toab Beach is located in the center of Koh Lanta. This is the fifth beach if you count from the village of Saladan (Ban Saladan). All visitors to this corner arrive in the village of Saladan Thailandand then go to their hotels.

Since it is located a little further than the most popular beaches of Long Beach or Klong Dao, the infrastructure around it is slightly less developed. However, you will find everything you need for a comfortable stay, a 7 Eleven store and numerous family restaurants and bars serving delicious Thai cuisine.

Another picturesque beach that adjoins Klong Toab is Lanta Klong Nin Beach. It can be reached from the hotel by scooter or on foot in less than 15 minutes. The village, which is located by the beach, is an excellent starting point for excursions around the island. It has two main paths.

Where should a tourist go from Klong Toab?

One direction passes through the green part of the island of Ko Lanta directly east to the Old Town (Old Town Ko Lanta). This is a wonderful place that looks like time has stopped in it. Initially, it was a settlement of the so-called Sea Gypsies.

But trade won and the town became the main commercial center of the island. Today it is most likely only of tourist importance. Much of it remains from the Chinese, including architecture, who actively traded on the island. Currently, there are numerous restaurants, shops with Thai souvenirs and entertainment venues.

The second route through the village of Klong Toab is the road leading from the village of Saladan to the south of Koh Lanta. This path offers us beautiful natural scenery, coves with velvet beaches, waterfalls, hiking trails and the amazing Mu Koh Lanta National Park with a lighthouse on a rocky promontory at the southernmost point of the island.

Infrastructure of the Rawi Warin Resort & Spa

Well, here we are approaching the hotel itself. All in all, Khlong Toab offers a pretty good mix of interesting tourist accommodations, from affordable bungalows to atmospheric hotels to the luxurious five-star Rawi Warin Resort & Spa. At what, in my opinion, RWR & S is definitely in the top among others.

The entire territory of the hotel resembles a small but luxurious settlement, located among tropical vegetation near a paradise beach, surrounded by wooded hills. The territory is well-groomed, clean, with many beautiful plants, exotic flowers and a cool pond. Stone-paved paths, Thai-style sculptures and lanterns complete the overall picture.

Hotel rooms: rooms and villas

Rawi Warin Resort & Spa consists of 185 rooms, suites and villas, located almost in the rainforest of the nearby hills. The size of the rooms varies depending on the class and ranges from 45 m2 to 335 m2. The maximum comfort for hotel visitors is offered by Sunset Villa rooms with an area of 100 m2 (there are 9 in total), two Warin rooms with an area of 200 m2 and two Rawi rooms with an area of 335 m2. Expensive, but corresponds to the class.

The rooms are decorated in original Thai style with authentic teak and rattan furniture and Thai handicrafts. A constant attribute is the spacious balconies overlooking the tropical gardens in which the resort or the picturesque Klong Toab Bay is located.

High class rooms are equipped with private pools or slopes directly to the hotel beach. Personally, we had the opportunity to live in a villa on a hill. It had a spacious bedroom, a bathroom equipped with a bath and shower, and a huge terrace with breathtaking views of the Andaman Sea. We felt very comfortable and secluded there. The very location of the villa provided complete tranquility, silence and the opportunity to watch amazing sunsets.

Thai massage and SPA services

Massage at the hotel and SPA services at Rawi Warin Resort can certainly be considered a model for many other establishments. But it really depends on your personal attitude to all such procedures. For example, I personally know several people who do not accept Thai massage in principle.

For everyone else, I will write a few words about this side of the hotel. In a room stylized as a traditional Thai house, among lush tropical vegetation, local masseuses perform real miracles with your body. I completely relaxed after the fourth massage session, so I advise you not to limit yourself to a couple of visits.

In total, the hotel has five private SPA rooms and one luxurious suite. All of them are equipped with an outdoor jacuzzi. Of the procedures, in addition to Thai massage, you can order masks, peeling, body wraps, manicure and pedicure. What I like is that all cosmetic procedures are carried out using natural products.

I also want to note that masseurs do not immediately rush into the “battle”, but ask about problem areas, wishes, and so on. At the same time, the minimum knowledge of English on the part of the client is quite enough for a complete understanding, perhaps you can do without them.

At the same time, I cannot say high prices for all SPA services of the hotel. However, it is possible to use similar services in a nearby hotel, the price will be significantly lower. So there is a choice.

Beach and pools

The hotel has direct access to Klong Toab beach, equipped with every comfort, such as: sun loungers, umbrellas, bar, showers, towels and children's playground. I liked the beach itself, there are no questions about it, but sometimes with the sea problems are ebbs and stones.

Somewhere around 16.00 the tide starts and swimming on the beach near the hotel is quite problematic: stones are exposed, which prevents you from entering the water. Some go swimming from the pontoon bridge, but we didn't do that for two reasons. Firstly, climbing back to this bridge is inconvenient, since there is no ladder (or you need to dive under the bridge into the pool, which is also not very convenient). And secondly, at this time of day, we were quite satisfied with the beautiful hotel pools, or rather one of them.

By the way, on the neighboring Klong Nin beach, the same problem is expressed to a lesser extent. To swim at low tide, you need to go from the shore in shallow water of at least 50-70 meters and pebbles also come across.

The hotel has four swimming pools. The main pool is located next to the beach. The other two are hidden among the dense vegetation on the hills and in the tropical garden at the bottom of the resort. The fourth pool is quite original - it was placed in the sea. The main one is perfect for swimming at sunsets, and they are simply gorgeous here.

Food, restaurants and bars

The resort has several restaurants with a varied menu. At the restaurant Golden Pond A delicious buffet breakfast is served every morning. For breakfast, you can choose from not only standard continental cuisine, but also Thai, Italian and even Chinese (the Chinese are frequent guests here, especially on Chinese New Year). For lovers of sweets and various buns, breakfast is simply expanse, plus a decent selection of fruits and drinks in the form of juices and fresh juices.

There is a restaurant "Watermark", which offers a pleasant view of the Andaman Sea and green tropical gardens. He specializes in Thai and international cuisine, using not only local seafood and products from other regions of Thailand. The food there is really not bad, the service is fast and professional, but the prices are relatively expensive.

Located on the beach, Stream Pool Bar serves Thai cuisine, light snacks and refreshing drinks. There is also Mizumi Sushi with pretty decent sushi and Daeng Homemade Fried Chicken with Thai fusion cuisine and various chicken dishes.

Additional useful information about Rawi Warin Resort & SPA

The great advantage of the hotel is the service. And this is not an advertising slogan, but a real fact. Even the most picky guests rarely complain about the service of the hotel. The staff is always smiling and very helpful. For them, nothing is impossible, all issues are resolved and at what in the shortest possible time! A solid plus in this matter.

Cleaning, changing bed linen, towels, drinking water and hygiene products - all this without any complaints, so I didn’t focus on it.

What else is interesting and useful in Rawi Warin Resort & Spa? Can be called Fitness Centre, Thai boxing room Muay Thai, studio yoga, table tennis, shooting range, library and room for children with many games. Can be rented for free bike or canoe and go explore the area, but we didn't try it ourselves.

Wi-fi is tolerable, but to be honest, we have not paid attention to its availability and quality for a long time. We buy a Dtac sim card and connect unlimited at a speed of 4 Mb. We pay 649 baht for a month right away and do not bother ourselves with Wi-Fi.

In general, I repeat, we evaluate our vacation and the hotel itself as a solid five with a slight minus. Minus the sea on the beach near the hotel, overpriced prices for individual services and meals in restaurants and bars, and probably the total cost of the tour. And in steel there are no questions to the hotel, only positive emotions.