At the time of writing this review Ao Kao is rated 9 out of 14 hotels on this beautiful island. All I can say is that the eight that are 'better' must be fantastic...because it really is difficulty to find fault with Ao Kao White Sand Resort.
Of course there always will be those who look to nitpick on the details. So I titled this review for those travellers whose expectations always seem to exceed the likely reality of a beach holiday on a relatively undeveloped small island in a quiet corner of Thailand....and I thought it might catch your attention too!
You know the ones who might say something like this:
Crikey - there were a few ants in the bathroom one night! [well I have ants in my kitchen at home, go figure]
Blimey - it's called 'White Sand' - but there are a few rocks on the end of the beach [so don't go on the rocks - stay on the lovely sandy part, simples!]
Grrr - the shower's water pressure dropped at sunset...[could that be because everyone showers just at that time...? Oh, yes]
Anyway - the bottom line is that we booked for three nights and would have been happy to stay for plenty more.
This was our first night in Thailand having got the Jet Airlines 'redeye' flight from Heathrow connecting in Mumbai and getting in at around 7.40am. We opted to come from Bangkok by road as the flight to Trat is relatively expensive, and although a slow visa queue meant we missed the early bus and we had to get a taxi this only cost us 2,500 baht for a 4-hour drive, and if we'd haggled a bit more I reckon we could have got it down to 2,000.
[Tip, the shuttle bus at Bangkok airport goes from the level below the baggage reclaim hall and is at the far left of the pavement area - look for the seats and 'express' marked on the road. This free service will take you to the bus garage and takes about 20mins. The bus is the cheap option to Trat but takes 5.5 hours, and then you have to get a taxi to the pier, where ferries run at 2pm and 4pm. However as the speedboat only seats about 30 people max you do want to make sure you are there in plenty of time. We got there at 1pm, but the 2pm was already full, so we had to wait for the last one. If you get to the bus station and it feels risky getting a bus you can pick up a taxi there very easily. If you do have a wait at the pier then it' best to hang out at the cafe just before you go onto the pier itself.]
It is a great boat ride from the Laem Ngop pier to Koh Mak - enjoy!
The boat gets you to a pier on Koh Mak where the Ao Kao pickup is waiting to give you a courtesy ride to the resort...it's a silver colour van and will be parked to the left at the end of the pier.
Our room was number six, the closest one to the beach and right next to the chilled-out beach bar...if you have a choice I can recommend this one. There were a few others with roof balconies that also looked very cool, but to be honest having looked around I wouldn't have complained with any room in the resort.
The swimming here is OK at high tide, but once it goes out you are left paddling. The rocks/reef just offshore make it tricky to swim at low tide.
There are kaiaks for 100B an hour or 300B a day and a hobie trimaran for 1,500B for two hours, 3,000B for a half day or 4,000B for a full day. Lots of other things to do too, from volleyball and archery to giant chess...or the ubiquitous Thai massage.
Speaking of hobie cats - the most comfortable 'sun bed' on the beach is the decomissioned hobie anchored on the beach with a parasol where a mast used to be. This really is the one to grab early!
[Tip watch our for tar spots on the beach...there are a few dotted around and it can take a bit of scrubbing to get the muck off your feet. No big deal, but just a reminder.]]
You can also rent push-bikes at 180B or 300B per day - the 300B ones are powered!
Food is fine here - nothing special in the restaurant, but worth checking the BBQ at the beach bar, where a small selection of very fresh seafood is available.
If you need supplies to stock up the fridge walk back up onto the 'main road' and turn left. There is a mini-mart down on the left. It's about a 15-min walk (or ten if you hurry, but why hurry?). There is also a small store next to the restaurant, but it doesn't have much in.
For more choice walk up the beach to the right and aim for the pier - about a 30 minute stroll. If you don't like walking barefoot on rocks then take shoes as there is one small section where the sand stops. Turn right at the pier and go up to the road, there is an information/booking place there and another about 250m down on the right with various little shops and bars dotted along the road.
We had to make a bank transfer for another hotel and the second information place did this for us for a very small fee (a lot less than if we'd done an international transfer from a UK bank).
Everything at the bar and restaurant is on a tab, and you can pay at the end by credit card if you want for a 5% fee.