Varin Beach Resort

The pool is great, the breakfast buffet has lots of choice, and the location by the beach and pier is excellent. But at €70 in peak season, this was the most I've paid in Thailand so far, and there were a lot of problems. In the superior room, the AC seemed set around 25 degrees. The electricity cuts off when you leave, so you can't charge your phone then. Coming back meant sweating while waiting for the AC to cool the room. I complained and got a different remote, but it made no difference. The bathroom smelled so strongly of excrement from the pipes that I only wanted to go in when absolutely necessary. The bedsheets were changed but not cleaned. Koh Lipe was booked out, so they seem to get away with these issues.

The location is AMAZING, right by the beach, and the pool is great. The room was roomy, and cold drinking water was free, with bottles provided. If location is all you care about, stay here. But check-in isn't possible until 3, and that's when the front desk opens, so everyone ends up standing in a huge line. Checkout is by 10am, the earliest I've ever seen. Check-in felt like a running warning that losing anything would cost 500 baht. It became a joke between us: heaven forbid they tell you where your room is or when breakfast is, it's just, lose this and it's 500, lose that and another 500. You have to ask for room cleaning before noon. I asked, and my room still wasn't cleaned. If you think you don't need cleaning, remember you can't flush toilet paper in Thailand. We were there five days, and sand gets everywhere no matter how hard you try. There was no working WiFi, so we had to buy a data plan. If you don't need WiFi, fine for you. There was no fridge or safe, either, and the staff were oddly unfriendly. The free water was great, just don't lose a bottle, or it's 500 baht, haha.

The beach is easy to reach from Varin Beach Resort, and the room was okay. The air conditioning worked well and the blanket was comfortable, though the bed itself was only average. Food at the resort was nothing special, and there are better places to eat outside. I also asked for the room to be cleaned in the morning, but it still hadn't been done by the end of the day. Better service and maintenance could make this place much better.

The staff were especially helpful when they brought our luggage to the ferry port in their trailers, so we didn't have to haul it over the sand. The resort is right by the seafront and ferry ports, with plenty of restaurants and cafes nearby. Walking Street is next door, with shops, places to eat, tourist services, activity shops and doctors. The beach has sunny and shady spots to lie on, as well as places to swim. Our standard room was basic, as expected, but the bed was very comfortable, the shower was lovely and hot, and the air conditioning worked well. I did miss having a kettle, and a fridge would have been useful. The breakfast was better than I expected, with roti, eggs, toast, sausages, fruit, rice and more. The food was good, though getting coffee could take a while because the two machines often stopped for refilling or emptying. The restaurant was clean and had plenty of tables. The pool was a nice extra, but there aren't many loungers, some were broken, and the ones we tried weren't very comfortable. Our room block was noisy, with doors banging and people talking and walking loudly in the corridors.