Centara Grand Beach Resort Krabi review: Everything you need to know about this resort
Resort with a private beach, view of a gigantic limestone cliff sitting in the middle of the sea, a national park with majestic mountains behind us, spacious rooms with whirlpool spa tub on our terrace. What is not to like about the Centara Grand Beach Resort Krabi? We loved this 5-star hotel in Ao Nang and would stay here again in a heartbeat, but apparently, things are never meant to be perfect. Read on our Centara Grand Beach Resort Krabi review to find out why even though we loved it, there is an important point we believe people have to know about this hotel before they make the decision to book.
(This post is 100% NOT sponsored. We paid the hotel room from our own pockets)
First of all, the pros about this hotel:
Beautiful surroundings
Slouching on a beach sofa with my eyes closed, listening to the waves hitting the beach, marveling at the majestic mountains surrounding the beach and our resort, this is the textbook definition of an exotic getaway. Having almost no other tourists on the beach certainly helps to make you feel exclusive. In this case, pictures really speak much more than words.
Nicely designed rooms
I am usually not a fan of antique-styled furniture. But somehow, at a villa resort like this, the Thai-style, dark wood furniture used in the rooms feels just right. The rooms are spacious with a very large terrace. The bed was comfortable and big enough for all four of us, and the bathroom includes a shower as well as a bath tub. This would not matter too much as there is a whirlpool spa tub on the terrace overlooking the beautiful ocean. We have to be honest that this is probably the most important reason why we would choose this hotel again if we revisit Krabi.
Facilities
Traveling with kids means that you would probably spend the bulk of your time at the hotel so quality of facilities is definitely important. For young kids, what they care about is really the swimming pool (importance times 3) and a kid's area. The swimming pool was well-maintained, complete with a jacuzzi tub and even a little waterfall "cave", which young children will be very excited about. The only slight criticism is that the water depth is 1.4m and for a petite girl like me, I cannot hold the baby while standing on my feet so the only place for the baby is the children's pool.
The children's playroom was also very complete with all sorts of toys and activities for age groups from 1-10. Both my four-year-old and 11-month-old baby enjoyed it. At all times, there are babysitters on duty so you can leave your kids above 4 years old in the playroom. There are also movie nights on Tuesdays and Sundays so you can leave your kids while enjoying a nice dinner. Invaluable when you are traveling with young children!
Food
There are four restaurants at the resort - the Lotus Court, where breakfast and dinner is served, a Thai restaurant, a Japanese restaurant and a restaurant/bar on the beach. Prices are more expensive than outside the resort but are acceptable (but I'm is quite high given the expensive Western food in Hong Kong). The food quality is better than decent but I would not call it stellar. Five-star hotel food here is not the same as its counterpart in Hong Kong or other international cities.
We like the food at the Lotus Court (especially the lime sea bass and steak) best. The Japanese restaurant was okay but not as good as the ones in Hong Kong. When we checked in, we were given a dinner voucher for the Lotus Court, where you get a complimentary three-course dinner for two. It is such a good deal because you can order ANY main course so you definitely should order the steak with this voucher as it's the most expensive in the menu. In addition to the dinner voucher, you also get a 25% off voucher for the Japanese restaurant.
Price
We paid around $130 per night for a spa deluxe ocean-facing room. Not bad for a level-up room at a five-star resort.
Up till this part, this resort seems like the perfect stay, but there are two caveats: accessibility and monkeys. They may seem like two separate issues but they are actually related.
As the resort is situated at the private Pai Plong Bay, it is only accessible by two routes (exclusivity comes with a price in this case): 1) boat from Ao Nang Pier, 2) through the national park behind the hotel on the "monkey trail." The speedboat service is free of charge for hotel guests and takes about 10 minutes from the pier. During monsoon season, the boat runs per hour, with increased service during high season. You can also rent a longtail boat to get back to the hotel. Guests arrive at the resort jetty, which is a floating, plastic structure that follows the movement of the waves.
We had the top luck of arriving the hotel on a rainy and stormy day. After letting out a sigh of relief from the really bumpy boat ride, the slightly scary part awaits us at the jetty. Apart from heavy rain, we were met with some high waves. The jetty was moving up and down with the waves like a roller-coaster and the surface was very slippery so many people lost their balance and slipped while crossing, even experienced staff.
This was taken after we got off the jetty. Obviously, no pics or videos when you were fearing falling into the water. Waves were actually much calmer in this video than when we walked on the jetty to the resort (our kind of luck)
The day of our arrival
For adults, this may sound adventurous and exciting, but the story is different when you are carrying kids. With my 11-month-old baby strapped on me and the other hand holding my four-years-old son, I managed in the end, but this was not the sort of risk we want to take when we are with kids. My little boy was already quite scared from the bumpy boat ride and add in the roller-coaster-like jetty, he was completely traumatized. Some other older kids were screaming as well.
The above situation was when the boats managed to run. When the waves got too strong, the boats (both the hotel boat and the longtails) were canceled altogether. We were left with the other alternative: through the "monkey trail" in the national park behind the resort. The route is only a 15-minutes walk and you reach the part of Ao Nang where all the shops, restaurants and massage parlors are (which is a 10-minutes tuk-tuk ride from the Ao Nang pier). Other than the set of steep staircase initially, the trail is flat and easy to walk on (even my four-year-old did not find it challenging) but as its name suggests, you might run into dozens or hundreds of monkeys.
My husband had another top luck moment of running into hundreds of monkeys on the trail. Worse, he was holding a plastic bag with a pineapple stick that he had gotten for free and forgotten it was even there. As you may guessed it, the monkeys smelled it and went crazy over it. They attacked him, won the bag, and he ended up with a scratch.
This was the monkey that attacked me but didn't get me
Actually, of the five or six times we had taken the monkey trail to get out to Ao Nang, there was no monkeys except for that one time. But the monkey problem is not limited to the trail as they sometimes roam around freely in the resort area, too. When we arrived, a monkey just strutted out of the reception area like he was a staff there, to which my first thought was excitement and, "How exotic!" That opinion was quickly reversed when one day I was also almost attacked by a monkey (he tried but did not get me), and another time when there were two dozens of monkeys gathering at the swimming pool trying to unzip our bags and steal things.
Ending thoughts
In the end, we still enjoyed our stay and our kids had a really fun time despite the hiccups. In a way, it was really our setting and luck that weaved together to form this story: our accessibility was either limited by the waves, or we face the threat of monkeys by walking through the trail. Chances are, as long as the boat is running and the waves are not so strong, you will not even notice the issue. But people should be informed about this potential issue and decide if this resort is right for you. Basically, if you are not fit and hate walking, or if you are traveling with young children or elderly, this resort may not be for you.
Because of the wonderful environment and facilities, plus the fact that this is one of the very few handful of five-star resorts in Ao Nang, I would still recommend this resort and stay there again, but that will be when we travel without children.
