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A world away from the hustle and bustle of nearby Ao Nang Beach, Krabi’s Pakasai Resort is a sprawling complex set in a lush jungle setting – and yet it is only 5 minutes walk from nearby Nopparat Thara Beach, arguably Ao Nang’s best beach.
With Ao Nang the gateway to numerous Thai islands plus a vibrant nightlife, the Pakasai Resort hillside serene setting feels a world away from the crowded beach and busy bars, with a luxurious infinity pool complete with poolside bar, two onsite restaurants plus your very own jungle adventure – all part of the Pakasai experience.
We stayed at Pakasai Resort hotel in Krabi in December 2022 for two nights in a Honeymoon Green Chalet (we received a free upgrade from a Superior Deluxe room to a Honeymoon chalet) paying around £90 for two nights, excluding breakfast.
This is our honest review of Pakasai Resort Krabi near Ao Nang Beach, Thailand.
Table of Contents
The Pakasai Resort Krabi Location
The Pakasai Resort Hotel Krabi is located on a quiet side road up a slight hill, around a 10 minute walk to Ao Nang main beach and 5 minutes walk to Nopparat Thara Beach.
It is around a 15 minute walk from Pakasai to the Ao Nang Landmark Night Market too (recommended for cheap eats and a good variety of street food).
Incredibly, despite its close proximity to various bars and restaurants, Pakasai is housed in lush tropical woodland and very proud of its environmental credentials and rural setting.
Even the breakfast restaurant at Pakasai is set next to a pond full of fish with a huge fountain. The one downside to this natural setting is there are a lot of insects (particularly mosquitoes) but you should be ok with bug-spray – and this is a small price to pay for such an idyllic setting.
You can see the surrounding natural area around Pakasai Resort Krabi best by going up the stairs to the infinity pool – the views from most rooms if you are located up the hill are also quite stunning.
Note unlike a lot of Krabi hotels, Pakasai does not operate a free shuttle service but this can be arranged for a small charge.
Just across from Pakasai, you’ll find a small 7-Eleven store plus several tour operators. Nearby, the best restaurant we found was 888 Ao Nang, a small roadside cafe where the food was good, reasonable plus the best smoothies we ever tried in Krabi (and only 40 THB).
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The Pakasai Resort Krabi Environmental Credentials
‘Be at home with nature’ is how Pakasai describes itself, and it was the first resort in Krabi to offer ‘low carbon accommodations’, gaining itself a ASEAN Green Award in the process.
All cleaning products used at Pakasai are 100% eco friendly and grey water is used for flushing of toilets. Free drinking water in the rooms is providing in glass bottles with no plastic use on site.
The whole complex is a vast lush green space with many varieties of trees and plants plus home to several types of wildlife including wild monkeys. It was quite the experience to be sitting on our balcony having a coffee when a family of four monkeys swang past – incredible to witness, especially from your own hotel room!
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The Pakasai Resort Krabi Check-In
We were warmly greeted by staff members as we arrived at the reception area at Pakasai – in fact, throughout our whole time at Pakasai, we couldn’t fault the staff – everyone was always so helpful, smiling and friendly and it never felt forced.
Even the groundsmen would help, talk and point you in the right direction (the site is so huge that it can be easy to get lost when you first arrive).
Copies of your passport are taken upon check-in and then a member of the concierge team helps with your luggage and shows you the room facilities – this is particularly appreciated as some of the Pakasai chalets are a good 5 minute walk away from reception up a rather steep hill.
Staff helped us with our bags to our room – another moment of appreciation was when checking out, a member of the cleaning staff saw us struggle with one of our big bags and dropped what they were doing to help us take our bag to reception. The staff went above and beyond to help us at Pakasai and this is their biggest asset.
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Pakasai Resort Krabi Rooms
There are several room types at Pakasai Resort Krabi including chalets, suites, premier rooms and superior grand rooms.
We were fortunate enough to stay in a Honeymoon Green chalet at Pakasai, a HUGE room (52 sq metres) with oodles of space and huge balcony overlooking Pakasai’s lush green gardens (plus the sea, but quite far in the distance).
The Honeymoon Green Chalet at Pakasai was well appointed and had a nice bath, big shower and a little sofa area. We were given four free water bottles daily plus our fridge was stocked with free Coca Cola on the first day.
The balcony was large with a table and chair plus a swinging bench. Dressing robes, a safe, umbrellas and an iron were located in the wardrobe.
Compared to other hotel rooms, the furnishings did seem quite old (the resort has been around for a while) with a small TV (which we never watched). One thing we didn’t like was how hard the bed was – seriously this is the firmest mattress we’ve ever encountered in Thailand so it won’t be for everyone (not us).
This was the only resort we stayed in at Krabi that didn’t have in-room tea or coffee making facilities / a kettle (not a huge problem as there is a 7-Eleven literally across the road).
Most importantly, our room at Pakasai was immaculately clean.
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The Pakasai Resort Krabi Infinity Swimming Pool
Other than the beautiful gardens and ‘jungle’ setting, the star of the show at Pakasai was the incredible infinity pool, on the roof of the restaurant block.
The pool was always warm and we were able to get sun loungers every time we went – pool towels are also provided too.
The poolside bar at Pakasai was the best poolside set-up of any hotel we’ve stayed at in Krabi. It was always manned from late morning, offering food and drinks at reasonable prices.
The Pakasai Happy Hour was also the longest ‘happy hour’ we’ve encountered at a hotel in Krabi, running from 2pm to 6pm every day with a buy one get one free offer.
This included everything except coffees and beers. That said, poolside beer prices at Pakasai were the cheapest of any hotel with a large Singha costing 80 THB (or 50 THB for a small).
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Dining at Pakasai Resort Krabi
Our room rate at Pakasai didn’t include breakfast during this most recent trip (December 2022) but we have stayed here before several years ago. Based on that experience and recent reviews, the breakfast at Pakasai seems very good. It is a tad expensive compared to most other hotels in Krabi, priced at around 410 Baht per person if you want to add it on afterwards.
We ate at the poolside bar at Pakasai and the food prices were pretty good e.g. pizzas for around 170 Thai baht, noodles for 120 baht and big beers for 80 THB.
We ate a bacon and spinach pizza, plus beef with sticky rice. Both were excellent and exceptionally well presented. The young guy working behind the pool bar was an absolute delight – so helpful and friendly.
One night when it was raining, we also tried to order room service but the line was constantly engaged (we rang about 15 times before giving up) and instead grabbed some snacks from the nearby 7-Eleven.
Room service last orders were at 9pm and food was reasonable priced e.g. 200 thb for a pizza, 150 thb for noodles etc.
Lunch and dinner is also available from the Pakasai restaurant which is reviewed well on Google – we did not eat there but if the poolside food quality was anything to go by, it should be a treat.
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Pakasai Resort Facilities
As our stay at Pakasai was quite brief (two nights), we didn’t really make use of any of the facilities other than the infinity pool and poolside bar.
An air-conditioned fitness centre / gym is available for all guests to use at Pakasai. In addition, we also read online (via reviews) that bicycles are available for free hire but this wasn’t mentioned to us at check-in so we aren’t sure.
Pakasai also has an onsite spa called Arokaya Wellness offering services such as osteopathy massage, herbal compresses and oil massages.
Reception at Pakasai can assist with tour bookings plus there is a book swap shelf in case you’ve already completed your holiday novel and wish to exchange it. Pretty sure the Bill Cosby autobiography we saw on the book exchange shelf had been there for years!
Pakasai Resort Krabi Review – Overall
Whilst Pakasai is one of the older resorts in Ao Nang, its incredible tropical, lush location set amongst a green, gorgeous glade with hillside views makes its a unique and memorable stay. I mean, we’ve never stayed in a hotel before or since where monkeys swang by our balcony!
Of all the hotels we stayed in in Krabi, the staff at Pakasai were undoubtedly the most friendly and helpful and that was reflected in the quality of our time spent eating and swimming at the pool.
Whilst the natural location does have a few downsides like more insects, this is a small price to pay for such a beautiful setting.
For us, we liked our room but maybe it could do with a little refurbishment and it is definitely time for a new mattress – but a small quibble and overall, we had a really pleasant (and most importantly peaceful) stay at Pakasai.
We would score Pakasai Resort Krabi hotel an 8 out of 10
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