Paradise Pearl Bungalows

“Paradise at Long Beach”

Good points: If you want beautiful, crystal clear water, tropical fish swimming alongside you, white soft sand and quiet evenings, this resort on Long Beach is ideal. It has a lovely chilled beachfront restaurant that serves nice western and Thai food. The bungalows are spacious and are Thai style … more

Good points: If you want beautiful, crystal clear water, tropical fish swimming alongside you, white soft sand and quiet evenings, this resort on Long Beach is ideal. It has a lovely chilled beachfront restaurant that serves nice western and Thai food. The bungalows are spacious and are Thai style (cool and darkened with wood furnishings). The beds are comfy and soft, comfy and large. There's a small shop at the bungalows that sells soft and alcoholic drinks, food and other items and its opened until 10 pm. The staff are really nice and they will help you with everything inc. your luggage around and helping you onto boats. The hotel offers trips from its shore (inc snorkelling); they also offer kayaks (You need to leave a deposit for the kayaks. I saw a rather rude guest argue about leaving a deposit but please do not argue. Kayaks are expensive, so if you decide to leave yours on a far off beach or get it smashed by another boat, you rightly lose the deposit). Don't be rude to the staff because they are there to help you and enable you to have a good time. Housekeeping here is very good and very fast. I moved from one room to another effortlessly with the rooms being available early, each time. Every time the room was clean and comfy (they do however need a few small adjustments with respect to sliding doors and door locks). Paradise Pearl is right on the end of the beach with easy access to the walking path that leads to Viking Resort and Tonsai village. You can also easily swim or snorkel around the rocks if you fancy checking out the Viking resort. You see plenty of tropical fish, large and small. There are downsides to staying here: 1. The beach gets busy in the afternoon with tourists from Tonsai. If you really want to enjoy the beach properly, go early, grab a spot and enjoy it before all the tourists turn up. It starts to get busy between 1 and 2 pm, but you have the whole morning before it gets busy. 2. You probably need a boat to get to Tonsai at night because the path is dark. Cost of a boat will be around 150 baht and you'll be getting your feet and legs very wet. Don't bother with frilly dresses, they'll be full of sea water and sand. Boats can be tricky to climb into if you're not used to ladders and slippery steps. 3. The noise from the long tail boats annoys some people. It did not annoy me and I slept very well, but some people were getting agitated with it. Long tails are used as taxis and for excursions, so they arrive and leave a lot. Overall, I had a lovely few days here and the manager came out to say goodbye when we left. I felt a lump in my throat when we left. My mum died this year and so travelling Thailand alone has helped me get space and feel better about the world, but I still get upset very easily, and leaving Paradise Pearl really brought tears to my eyes. Thank you to everyone at the bungalows for such a lovely stay

less