The Retreat Koh Chang is an adults only boutique hotel near Kai Bae Beach, and I’m staying here right now for two nights at the start of our Thailand trip while I write this review.
Below I’ll tell you where it is on the island, because Koh Chang is massive and I took me a while to work out the logistics of it all.
I’ll also tell you why we picked it, what our room is like, the food and how much it costs, the activities, the downsides, what’s within walking distance and whether I’d stay again.
If you just want the answer, then yes, I’d come back.
It’s beautiful, it feels really upmarket, and it’s the perfect place to do absolutely nothing for a few days. The dinner was some of the best food I’ve had in ages too. It doesn’t have its own beach though, and I noticed a bit of noise around the hotel, so read the downsides before you book.
It’s the first stop on our island hop around Koh Chang, Koh Kood and Koh Mak.
Check prices and availability at The Retreat Koh Chang
Where is The Retreat Koh Chang?
The Retreat Koh Chang is on Kai Bae Beach, about halfway down the west coast of the island. Koh Chang is an island in the Gulf of Thailand, in Trat province near the Cambodian border.
Most of the island is Mu Ko Chang National Park, and around 70% of it is still undeveloped jungle, mountains and waterfalls. So nearly all the hotels, restaurants and bars are along the coast road on the west side, and that’s where the majority of tourists stay.
How to get to The Retreat Koh Chang
To get to Koh Chang, you have to take the car ferry from the mainland near Trat, and the crossing takes around 30 to 45 minutes. If you’re flying, the closest airport is Trat Airport, with flights from Bangkok, and it’s a short drive from there to the ferry. It’s a long day of flights, transfers and ferries, so have your travel insurance sorted before you set off.
We were going to get a later flight which got in at 5:15pm which we thought would be too late to get the ferry (apparently the last ferry is at 6pm). Seeing as it’s about a 20 min drive from Trat airport to the pier, we were worried we’d miss the boat. We heard that apparently, the ferry will wait for that 5:15pm flight from Bangkok.
Trat airport is ridiculously small. I mean I’ve seen some small airports but this is literally one small hut that you walk in off the plane to collect your bags and you’re outside. Don’t go to the first desk for the transfer to the ferry. They change like 600 baht per person. Get the second stand and they charge 390 baht per person which includes the ferry (ferry is 90 baht if you buy separately.)
From the pier to the hotel it’s about a 20 to 30 minute drive. It’s actually quite nice, because you drive through all the different areas and past all the hotels on the way.
The Retreat picked us up from the ferry for free and brought us to the hotel, which was really nice. I’d emailed them to ask if they did transfers and didn’t hear back. But then they messaged me on WhatsApp a couple of hours before we arrived and asked what our plans were for getting there.
It was so hot when we got on the boat, and we’d literally just arrived in Thailand, so getting into a nice air-conditioned car with water waiting for us was lovely. So it’s worth messaging them before you arrive to sort it.
Koh Chang areas to know
It took me a long time to figure out the different parts of Koh Chang, so here’s how it works. The ferries come in on the north east of the island, and nearly everything is down the west coast. Driving south from the top, you get to these areas.
| Area | What it’s like |
|---|---|
| White Sand Beach | The main area. The busiest beach, with the most hotels, bars, restaurants and shops, including KC Grande Resort |
| Klong Prao Beach | A long beach just south of White Sand, with bigger resorts and Klong Plu waterfall nearby |
| Kai Bae Beach | Halfway down the coast, with a walking street of food stalls, massage places and bars. The Retreat is here |
| Lonely Beach | Further south, and the backpacker and party end of the island |
| Bang Bao | A fishing village on stilts in the far south, where a lot of the boats leave for snorkelling trips and the islands further south |
| The east coast | Much less developed, with fishing villages and mangroves |
Is Kai Bae a good area to stay in?
I was a little bit worried before we got here. The main area is White Sand Beach, and I thought,
are we going to be too far away from everything?
I was worried there was going to be nothing around us.
But in actual fact, it’s a lovely little spot. You’re halfway between White Sand Beach and the south of the island, so it’s easy to explore both, and there’s plenty right on your doorstep. I’ll share what’s nearby after the review.
Why we picked The Retreat Koh Chang
We picked it because it looked like one of the most upmarket boutique resorts on the island, and it had really good reviews everywhere I looked on the internet. When I checked, it was rated 9.7 out of 10 on Booking.com from over 200 real guests, and it’s part of Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH). We also looked at The Dewa Hotel, KC Grande Resort, Sylvan and Santhiya Resort before we booked.
We wanted somewhere special for the first couple of nights. And it ended up being the perfect place to stay, because we had a really traumatic time getting here, with flight cancellations, lost luggage and all that stuff. It couldn’t have been any better for us. If you’re flying to Thailand, sort your travel insurance before you go, because our journey was a reminder of how quickly a trip can go wrong.
We also loved that there were no screaming kids anywhere, because it’s adults only. The Retreat is the sister hotel of The Chill Resort, which is the family friendly one, so if you’re travelling with kids, look at that one instead.
Check in at The Retreat Koh Chang
When you walk in, it has a real luxe feeling to it. The reception area is open plan and the staff are really professional. As soon as we arrived they gave us a lovely peach tea and a cold flannel, which felt amazing after we’d been travelling for 20 hours or so.
I did feel like they were a little bit in our face when we got there, going through all the activities and everything that was going on. We were so exhausted from our day of travelling that it was the last thing we wanted. But then they didn’t actually show us around the resort at all. They just said your room’s upstairs, and that was it.
Our room at The Retreat Koh Chang
We got the cheapest room there was, which is an upstairs balcony room. There’s no view of the beach from ours, but from some of the other upstairs balcony rooms you’d probably be able to see the ocean.
The room was nice and cold and really spacious, with the bed in the middle of the room. The bathroom is beautiful, and it’s Japanese inspired. The minibar is stocked up as well. Can’t complain. We had a great night’s sleep, and it was perfect for our first night.
Tip – it’s worth knowing that if you book before high season starts on 1 November, the room rates are almost half price. We stayed only the first two nights of our holiday because the rates went up to over $400 which was out of our budget. We paid $270 pn to stay before 1 November.
The pool access rooms and villas
Downstairs from us are the pool access rooms, which have their own little swimming area. It’s almost like its own little river that flows out onto the main pool.
There are 38 rooms in total. As well as the balcony rooms like ours, there are the Deluxe and Premier Pool Access Rooms, with direct access into the pool from your terrace. Then there’s The Retreat Ocean Suite, with ocean views from the balcony, and The Retreat Duplex Pool Villa, which has its very own private pool.
The pool and the Ocean Terrace
The Retreat doesn’t have its own beach, which we knew when we booked it. But it’s got a beautiful deck that flows out from the restaurant to the ocean, and it’s lovely to sit out there.
The pool is great as well. You can sit by the pool all day, they bring you free water, and you can order food to your sunbed. We had a Thai rice dish by the pool, which was good. They really look after you, which is fantastic. We spent the whole of our second day by the pool and it was so lovely.
The food at The Retreat Koh Chang
Breakfast
The breakfast is amazing because you could sit there for hours. We literally sat there for an hour and a half and kept ordering from the menu. Breakfast was included with our room, and it’s à la carte, so you can order anything off the menu. And the menu is massive. You literally want to eat everything off it.
They have everything from scrambled eggs, avo toast and smoothie bowls to Thai food and pastries, and the list goes on. I had the chicken congee, which was so nice, and a green juice. We had some Thai tea, and then I had an English breakfast tea. Steve had a pad thai and a smoothie bowl.
It’s just so lovely looking out at the water in the morning.
Lunch and dinner
The main restaurant is the Ocean Terrace, right by the sea. They had two menus, a Japanese menu and a Thai menu, and there’s some Western food as well, like pizzas. The Japanese food comes from Zojima, their Japanese restaurant, and it’s what the hotel is known for.
We went for dinner at the hotel on our second night, even though one of the other guests told us it wasn’t that good. I had the Japanese and Steve had Thai, and both were amazing. I was super impressed with it, and I turned to Steve and said, “I’m guessing this will be the best food we have all holiday.” I haven’t had food this good in ages.
The hotel says the food is made with fresh, sustainably sourced ingredients, and there are vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options.
Cocktails at sunset
When we first got here, we went straight to the bar and had a couple of cocktails. The cocktails were really good, but expensive. An apple spritz was 450 baht, which is about AU$18, so almost the same price as Australia.
We had a couple of drinks there and watched the sunset, and the staff were so attentive.
How much does food cost at The Retreat?
So for drinks, the prices are closer to Australian prices than Thai prices. If you want to keep your costs down, the street stalls two minutes up the road do cheap Thai food.
Activities at The Retreat Koh Chang
There’s quite a lot going on if you want it. They do Pilates, yoga and sound healing, and walks up to Kai Bae waterfall. There’s also a spa and a fitness centre.
We went to the sound healing and it was so good. It made me realise how nice it is to stay at a hotel that’s so aligned with who we are (Steve and I met at a meditation retreat in India). Having the sound meditation run by a local Thai teacher was great.
Tomorrow morning we’re going to yoga. They also have a walking meditation session in the garden, which I’d love to go to, but we’re checking out.
It’s also the type of place where you don’t feel like you need to do anything. You could literally just chill out here for a week and not even worry about missing out on anything. It’s perfect for that.
It’s definitely the type of place you could bring your laptop and work from, and it would be so nice.
The downsides
For us, the biggest downside was the noise. There was a lot of noise constantly, whether they were working or mowing or doing stuff around the hotel.
Next to the restaurant there’s also an area for boats, where people are working on boats and fixing them, so there was always something going on there as well.
To be fair, I think the only reason we noticed the noise is because we live in the country in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, where we don’t hear anything. The average person probably wouldn’t even notice it like we did.
One thing we did notice is there was hardly anybody staying here. There must be a handful of people here at the very most. We’re here at the end of October, which is the end of low season on Koh Chang, so that might be why.
What’s near The Retreat Koh Chang
Within about a two minute walk out of the resort, there’s a big Muay Thai boxing place and loads of street stalls where you can pick up cheap Thai food. There’s a 7-Eleven around the corner as well, and there are loads of massage places and other places to eat too.
So you don’t feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere, which is great. And once you’re back inside the resort, you feel like you’re in your own little private oasis. You can’t even hear the music from the Muay Thai place.
Kai Bae Beach
Kai Bae Beach is just around the corner, and we went to have a look. It wasn’t our cup of tea personally. The bit we saw, around KB Resort, felt a bit like we could have been in Spain.
It was high tide when we went, so we didn’t really get to see much of the beach. I reckon it would be quite a nice spot for sunset though.
The golf buggies
You can also rent the hotel’s golf buggies. You don’t drive them yourself. One of the staff drives you, and they’ll take you anywhere within a 2km radius.
We went up to the mountain view cafe and had a look at the view, and then we had a look at Kai Bae Beach on the way back.
Further afield
The hotel runs walks up to Kai Bae waterfall, the nearest waterfall. White Sand Beach is a short drive north if you want the busier side of the island, and Lonely Beach and Bang Bao are a short drive south. If you’re planning waterfall hikes or a boat trip, check your travel insurance covers activities like these.
Who The Retreat Koh Chang is for
It’s perfect for:
- Couples who want to switch off
- Anyone into yoga and meditation
- Anyone who wants somewhere special after a long journey
- Working from your laptop by the pool
It’s not for you if:
- You want to walk straight out of your room onto the beach
- You’re travelling with kids, because it’s adults only (look at The Chill Resort instead)
- You want cheap drinks at the hotel
Would we stay at The Retreat Koh Chang again?
Yes, we would come back here again. It’s a lovely place, as an adults only resort it’s really nice, and the food was the best we’ve had in ages. The only thing that annoyed us was all the different noise going on, and I’d much prefer it if it was super peaceful. But we’re so used to the country, and I don’t think most people would even notice it.
Next time I’d definitely book a room with access to your own little pool spot, because they look really lovely.
Check prices and availability at The Retreat Koh Chang
If you’re booking a trip to Koh Chang, sort your travel insurance when you book your flights.
Have you stayed on Koh Chang? Let me know where you stayed in the comments below.
