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

The entire stay, facility, pool, cleanliness, and overall satisfaction I give it a 9 out of 10. Food is also great if you don’t feel like going out to eat. Great view from the main pool and most rooms have beautiful million dollar view from the top of the hill where the Villa is. It is a bit challenging walking up the hill, but it’s worth the view and peace. Renting a scooter/bike could be challenging going up this steep hill unless you are strong rider. We had a little trouble with AC not cooling, but works better when we turned it off and back on. It wasn’t as cold as it could be especially it is super hot out. Staff was great, friendly and helpful. The Villa has taxi service wherever you want to go, but it gets expensive if you are in-out a lot. Love this place, will go again. They have done Yoga Retreat out by the pool, it is easy to set up with front desk team.

Little trouble with AC not as cold.

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.

I personally loved the professional work of the workers at this hotel. Very kind, very reliable, professional and helpful in every aspect! I also read the reviews and I can't agree with the bad reviews. People write it's a bad way up. It's steep but fast to reach and until now 1 out of 10 drivers couldn't accept my grab drive up there so no problems actually. Just book another one. Prices are also very very very ok in my opinion for what you get here. Also it's not too old like people claim. Of course not the newest renovation but they keep it in a very good shape. All in one there is nothing to complain about the price you pay compared to the accommodation you get . It's still very good in my opinion

Nothing at the end !!!

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.

Very large and comfortable 2 bdm apartments, with a lovely view. It was good to stay for a few days to adjust to the climate and to get over our jetlag. It’s best to rent a car if you want to explore the island, as the hills are super steep.

You’re kind of trapped and totally dependent on taxi service here. The hotel provides free lifts only as far as Crystal Beach from 8:00-17:00 so going out in the evenings we used inDrive. The hotel drivers would be more expensive. There’s a big taxi-mafia on Samui and for 5 minute ride just getting from the hotel down to Crystal Beach/Lamai will cost you THB 300, whereas in Bangkok that gets you a taxi ride for an hour. So we paid THB600 every night to just to go for dinner. A big negative for the location. Plus the driver never greeted or spoke to us, even though we said hello in Thai and English. Very strange.