Sandalwood is a more traditional, Thai style property with incredible views & wonderful staff. We stayed for 6 days & loved it. Our apartment was spacious & comfortable, immaculately clean & well equipped (the air conditioning also worked very well!) The restaurant on site was lovely - we only had breakfast which was very good but the setting is beautiful, so would recommend it for an evening meal. The highlight though - aside from the view - were the staff. Incredibly friendly & welcoming (speediest check in I’ve had in 4+ months travelling!) and very good at their jobs. They were very polite, present & attentive but gave us space. Communicating via WhatsApp to ask if/when we needed anything, rather than disturbing us. 10/10!

The drive up to the hotel is VERY steep. They do warn you, however it is a bit daunting at first. If you have rented an under-powered car (as we did) the trick is to turn off the air conditioning before attempting the hill, as you gave yourself the extra revs needed! Also, the resort would not be suitable for anyone with mobility issues - as there are a lot of different levels & stairs to negotiate.

Staff great , villa nice Needed cleaning

Water issues No access on foot up the hill Pool didn’t filter properly

We stayed in the three bedroom pool villa, and everything was great. Fantastic spacious villa, with gorgeous baths, good sized kitchen, infinity pool, and outdoor seating areas. The food in the restaurant was pretty good and not too expensive too.

The staff could have been a little more attentive and friendly in our opinion. We ordered a floating tray lunch on the first day, and the tray with dirty cutlery and plates remained in the villa until we asked 2 or 3 times, when it was eventually taken away the following day. All in all we found the staff to be a little cold, and not to the standard we'd expect in such a beautiful resort.

Fantastic View out to Sea and swimming pool to look at it from. Villa was clean and comfy and the on-site food was great. There was construction going on next door and without even asking, they gave us free breakfast for our entire stay to apologize. Would definitely recommend.

Not the hotel's fault but there was a decrepit building very close by with sheet iron hanging off the roof and banging loudly in the wind all night. They need to get onto their neighbours to do something about it!

Great view, nice swimming pool, nice villa, nice bath tub. Staff is nice and reactive Access to the hotel is fine. 2 on the scooter, no problem. Road is steep but fine.

Would have been good to know before booking, that the next door villa is under construction all day, so grinding machines on all day. But nothing the hotel can do about it. There is a night club down the hill, music on until 2am every nights unfortunately. Huge amount of mosquitos, this, hotel could fight them more, not just to give mosquitos sprays, it might ruin the experience laying down on the terrace

- staff is AMAZING! Very kind and helpful - beautiful views, just couldn't get enough of it - you can get a free taxi ride to Vikasa - best cafe we went to in Thailand. Ended up going every day! Delicious food.

- the location is a little isolated and you need a taxi to go anywhere. Return to Lamai was 800 baht, so it adds up a bit. But the staff are very helpful with the taxi service. You can request a taxi via their whatsapp nr. Worked really well and we never had to wait.

We loved our stay at Sandalwood! Even though there were obviously other guests, the rooms are set up in a way where it feels very private and quiet so it felt like we were the only ones there. It’s also up on a very steep hill so feels secluded, more peaceful and private than the beachside resorts on the island, with the bonus of an amazing view. The hotel has a free transfer service to nearby beaches which was helpful but we ended up hiring a scooter which made it easier to get around ourselves. The staff are all very helpful and nice.

The villas are beautiful and the views are incredible. The beds were comfortable and the villa contained all the required amenities. We originally stayed in Jumpee, which had an incredible pool, but was underneath another villa. We then moved to Bougainvillea, which was high up, on top of another villa, and therefore a lot more quiet. We had dinner at the restaurant, Blue Ginger, a few times. Food was delicious. After the second time the staff knew our preferred table and our preferred drinks. A big thank you to Thi for making us feel special each time we visited! The reception staff are fantastic! They were able to meet our every request, efficiently and always with a big smile - especially Fah and Keeta (apologies if the spelling is incorrect). The hotel uses WhatsApp for you to contact them, e.g. to request a driver to take / collect you. This is extremely convenient.

There are two items to be aware of: The hotel is on the top of a very steep hill: it’s unlikely that you will be walking up or down this hill to the main road - we made use of the hotel’s drivers when we went anywhere (by requesting a ride over WhatsApp). The venues close by are free of charge, but there is a charge to places a bit further (which is similarly priced as the taxis). Some villas are built on top of each other; if you are a light sleeper or sensitive to noise, the noise from the upstairs villa may be annoying or you might get woken up if your upstairs neightbours are night owls.

Beautiful views & lovely spacious apt with a lovely pool - unfortunately , first few days weather did not cooperate but that cannot be helped . The staff are absolutely amazing - always there to help & nothing too much trouble whatsoever - every single one of them . Great reasonably priced restaurant with tasty food - nicely presented . As my husband had had a stroke & found the steps quite tricky the staff went out of their way to help him - even delivering our meals to our room . Mr Yod our driver superb too . We loved it here & are so grateful to all the staff for making our stay exceptional.

Really just the steps due to my husband’s walking problem & they re quite uneven in height . But , with the help of the staff we managed very well .

1. Privacy and views, specially if you are in the Malee villa. 2. Food at the Blue Ginger restaurant. Actually surprisingly good, quality, portions sizes, presentation, speed. We had dinner twice there in 2 days. 3. Room was spacious, good mattress, clean plunge pool.

1. It’s not a resort, but a group of villas. The common areas are non existent, the resort pool is a plunge smaller than the villa private pool in front of the reception. Apart from that, nothing else makes it a resort, you have your own villa and the restaurant, that’s all. 2. The spa: 1000baths for a massage that’s not worth it at all. If you really want a massage, go to the number 1 place in the island that’s 10’ away, called Tamarind Spring. 3. The location: the road to reach the “resort” is the steepest road I have seen in my life. Even with the scooter, either you’re a good rider or you’re putting your life at risk. And if you don’t drive a scooter, you need a taxi for absolutely everything. Not worth it if you’re planning walking around.