Recently, I had been itching to stay in beach bungalow. You know, like you used to when you were younger and full of life, backpacking, and ready to take on the world? I don’t know what the reason was, but I just had my mind set on staying in one of those cool beach bungalows like I used to. I guess I was just craving to get back to my roots or something, so we planned a little getaway down to Krabi for a few days, and well, I found the place, at Railay Garden View Resort!
I found it online and the pictures looked amazing, so I wasted no time to book it. I spoke to the manager via their messaging service through their Facebook and she got right back to me. She told me about their deals and promotions going on right now and set me up in their highest and best bungalow for 1200 baht, including breakfast. I booked in advance and it was a holiday weekend, but keep an eye on their pricing as some rooms go for as low as 600 to 700 baht a night. I thought what I paid was a steal. I looked at a couple of the other rooms once I got there and that and can confirm, for that price, this is a great great deal!
They lady arranged for me to be picked up the airport by their driver service, 700 baht. I think you can usually get your own taxi or shared minivan from the airport for about 350–500, but I had to wife and kid so it seemed like a fair deal in my eyes. Plus, I just like it when the dude is there waiting for you with your name on the sign. He takes your bags immediately and it is just stress free and relaxing right from the get go, just the way I like a vacation to be.
It is located on Railay Beach, which is only accessible by boat, so that was exciting and added to the adventure. I always love to take a boat ride. He drove us to the pier where we waited for the free ferry to Railay Beach. Somebody told us we needed to pay 30 baht each to someone, and I guess we did. I think that might have been for the guy to carry our bags down to the end of the pier. I was happy about that because this pier is not a short one. I would have happily coughed up another 20 or 40 baht to have the guy ride my fat ass to the end of the pier, but I didn’t, cause I was getting back to my roots, so I walked it, old school. The ferry only took about 10-15 minutes and the views are fantastic just getting there. It was really cool. A great start to the trip.
Once you get to Railay Beach, you take a little ten minute walk down the beach sidewalk passing the hotels, restaurants, and travel agents to Railay Garden View Resort. Right now, some of the places are closed due to the covid situation, but there were still a bunch open. Everything on this side, the East side, is set up on a hill. I thought it was really cool. It has that jungle feel to it with lots of greenery, flowers, and trees as you climb the stairs to the reception. The staff was warm and friendly as they greeted us. The restaurant sits right to the left of the reception. A quaint little place about five tables, all lined up along the rail facing the seaside view.
The staff showed us a couple rooms because I have a little one, so they wanted to make sure that I was ok with staying in the highest room they had. I thought that was very considerate of them. Both rooms looked great, to be honest. They both had stunning views. Easily a 2 or 3000 baht view if you ask me. My room was exactly what I was looking for. I was so excited! It was exactly what I had imagined. A full on bamboo bungalow on the side of the mountain or hill, I don’t want to get to technical. I’m gonna call it a mountain. It was bigger than I had expected with a huge king size bed covered in flowers and it had the towels twisted up into little animals, just the way I like it. It had a little chair in front of a mirror for my wife to do her girly stuff and a shelf to put knick knacks on. The bathroom was not cramped and clean, thank god. That’s always a concern for me. There is no fridge in the room. I don’t know why I would have expected there to be one, now that I think about it. The staff politely explained to me that, although there was no fridge in the room, we were more than welcome to use the refrigerator at the restaurant if we needed to keep anything cold. That was really nice. I of course had brought my cooler, DON’T FORGET YOUR COOLER! I am a firm believer in bringing your cooler. We did end up utilizing the restaurant’s fridge after my ice melted, lol.
The balcony was massive with a couple chairs and a table. They even have some of those Thai cushions that roll up into a triangle that you can lay out there if you want to lay down and catch some sun or some Z’s. The view was spectacular. It faces the sunrise and that is my preference. I don’t know if I will be around for the sunset, but I always know I will be there to see the sunrise every morning. When I say this is a jungle type atmosphere, I mean it. As soon as we got there, we heard what we thought to be a coconut or something fall on one of the other other bungalows and we looked only to see a monkey sitting on top of it. A Langer (kind of a monkey – its called Glasses langur because their eye look like wear glasses)! Who doesn’t love that? During our stay, we were able to see a few more Langers out in the trees if we looked. None were very close to us and I was grateful for that because I sometimes worry about my daughter, but it was pretty special to be able to see them in the trees from afar on the balcony.
The restaurant at Railay Garden View Resort was exceptional despite it’s small size. You just cannot judge a book by its cover. It didn’t look like much, but it packed a punch. The breakfast was great. They had pan fried eggs that came out in a little metal pan, cute. The pancakes are made to order, big and fluffy. They have all the stuff to put on them, jam, chocolate sauces, honey, syrup. My daughter chose chocolate sauce, kids! They had the porridge soups, which my wife is a huge fan of. She had nothing but praise to say about them. Here’s the kicker, they have EGGS BENEDICT!!! BAAAAM!!! Eggs Benedict, yes, you heard me right! Now, if you serve eggs Benedict, you have got me in my weak spot. I love eggs Benedict with a passion. I think I had four the first day, just out of shear excitement. Two the next day. I could not have been happier.
Dinner was no joke either. The staff texted me to let me know that they were doing a seafood BBQ that evening and that I should check it out. I did, much to my pleasure. Seriously, I was in shock! Get this, their BBQ dinner was; squid done up in a black ink sauce, three giant prawns of the grill and one, I really dont know what they call it in Thai, but we would call it a Yellow Jack Fish where I am from. It was a lot of food and good eating, too. I had caught a little Grouper out on my fishing trip that afternoon and brought it back to the restaurant to see if they minded cooking it for me. The chef was like, gimme that baby, I’ll grill it up for you! Really nice guys! They put that sucker right on the grill for me next to that Jack and those shrimp. Man, we felt like kings! And, contrary to what I was fearing, a huge bill, we got all that for 650 baht! Not Hotel Prices! It was enough for the whole family, easy.
All in all, I must say, we had an excellent experience staying at Railay Garden View Resort. A perfect little two night, three day escape that was fun and exciting. I can recommend this place for anyone looking for a jungle/beach bungalow vacation with family or friends at a place that will make you feel welcome and at home. I would like to thank those guys for having us and we will see you again on our future ventures.
Cheers,
Suckadave
Website – www.railaygardenview.com
