Haad Sai Daeng — Hotel in Surat Thani Province

We stayed here for 10 nights in July, and this was not a very good experience for us. In total we where two families, 4 adults and 3 youths.

Let me start with the positives.

The rooms was clean and with great interior, and the view from the balcony was amazing. The beds was also some of the best we have experienced in South East Asia.

The pick-up service from the pier was also great, and the snorkeling around the resort are some of the best on Koh Tao.

The staff in the reception was professional and effective. I am sorry to say, but here stops the positive.

This resort really dont work at all. First there is a huge language barrier, that makes it really difficult to communicate with any staff at the resort (with a few exceptions in the reception).

We have traveled a lot in SE Asia and are quite understanding and willing to try an extra time or two explaining our needs, but when there is a total lack of understanding in the receiving end, we give up.

In the restaurant there is no understanding of service and efficiency. It takes at least one hour from you sit down to the meal are on the table, even with us as the only guests in the restaurant. We experienced several times that ordering a fresh juice or a coffee could be more than 20 minutes of waiting.

The waiters often started arguing with us when they miss understood the order, or if we pointed out that we where unhappy with it taking so long time. This is sad and just another proof that they lack competence and training.

The prices at the resort restaurant was about 40% higher than the resort next door. Not that it really matters, Thailand are still cheap, but with all our negative experiences this just adds up.

The house keeping tried there best, but some days they removed towels without replacing them, other days they where leaving used glasses and cups and even forgetting their detergents in our room. Not a big deal, but still hassel for us getting the missing towels and getting room service to remove the used cups and glasses.

With the location and the facilities of Sai Daeng Resort, this could have been by far the very best resort on Koh Tao, but it seems that the owner does not care for anything else than profit.

So our conclusion is that we would NOT recommend staying at this resort, unless big changes are...

Beautiful beach with easy access through mountaineous paved road with beautiful sights. Be sure to have good brakes and at least a +110cc bike if you intend to ride 2 on the same bike.

The beach has a restaurant, massage, dive club and snorkeling equipment rental. It has a parge shallow area perfect for beginners but it is also my favorite access point to Shark Island.

The snorkeling here is great amd you will find a multitude of fish variety like the parrotfish, angelfish, batfish, crocodilefish, bannerfish and many more. One of the two most impressive feature of this beach is the great chance of seeing one or more giant turtles. Since the water is shallow you will be able to swim very close. They are not agressive but dont block their way or try to touch them! The other interesting feature is your chance at seeing Blacktip fins sharks (innofensive). These are really coward fish so if you want to see them close you will to refrain yourself from chasing them and ideally have to remain static. The best time for seeing them is past 5pm...

Best place to snorkel on Koh Tao! We went to all popular beaches on Koh Tao and found this one to have the most impressive and alive coral with clear water and a lot of fish. This is also your spot to go if you wanna see blacktip reef sharks (small ones) - there were so many of them. You need to go on the left side of the beach near the rocks and swim along them. We also saw turtles on the right side that was not sunny anymore and in the middle of the water. I read that turtles come out later in the day around 5, when the sun is not so strong anymore (we also saw them around that time). The beach itself is also nice, not the best but is still big enough and has a lot of space to lay with nice shade (which is always appreciated) There are also 2 restaurants which we didn’t try but looked nice if you wanna grab a drink or some food. And another plus - NO ENTRANCE FEE, unlike many other beaches on Koh Tao. Don’t get scared of the reviews about the steep road - it’s steep but nothing worse than all other roads...