Khaochan Resort

It’s a lovely, simple resort on the cost, with great food. You can ask the owner about a boat trip on the lake. Patthalung and this amazing lake don’t seem to be well known, but this place is something special. If you’re reading this, just go. You can’t be disappointed.

The lake views are amazing, and the place is beautiful, peaceful, and super quiet. But we had some trouble with the booking. We’d reserved the aircon “cottage” on Agoda, but the owner first tried to put us in a cheap fan room. After we complained, he moved us to a basic aircon room, then to the aircon cottage the following night, which was much better. The resort is completely isolated, so without your own transport there’s nowhere else nearby to eat or drink. Food here is very expensive, for example 130THB for stir-fried vegetables. Also, they charged us 200THB each way for a pickup from Pak Phayun, the nearest place with public transport. They hadn’t told us about the fee beforehand and charged it at the end.

The setting is the best part, a great place to relax, though there’s nothing around for more than 15 km and the resort is far from the city. There’s a restaurant on site, but the food wasn’t really to my taste. Better to bring some food and drinks, then you can spend the whole day relaxing.

The lake views are good, and the historical feel makes this resort unique. There are interesting activities, including boat trips to nearby islands. Getting there by private car means driving nearly all the way around Mak Island, the largest island in Songkhla Lake, for about 20 km after crossing the bridge from Pak Payoon town on the mainland. During the weekday it was quiet, with few guests, but there were more people on the weekend. The staff were friendly, though hard to find on weekdays. Breakfast was included, but came quite late compared with the weekday schedule, and the food was oily. The room itself was clean, but the bathroom and toilet need better maintenance, and there were lots of insects in the room at night. The lobby and most rooms aren’t designed for wheelchair users, with lots of raised thresholds. A wheelchair user can get around most areas with a helper, but there are no disabled toilets or parking. The resort is along a public road, and rooms are easy to reach from both the road and the lake, which raised a safety concern. Rooms have standard facilities, including cabled TV, but no refrigerator.