The Secret Garden Koh Rong

Best place to stay on Pagoda Beach. Hotel is located at the end of the beach which is away from the noise of other hotels. Also, the sand and quality of beach is much better. The staff is very friendly and willing to do what they can to help make your stay better. I asked for local dishes not on the menu and they were more than willing to make them. The staff works very hard with no complaints. Would highly recommend staying here if you want peace, quiet, and a very relaxing atmosphere.

Pros: - the most beautiful beach I've seen in my life. White sand as thin as flour. Transparent water. Fish swimming around, seashells, crabs... - kids love it. There's almost no waves. You can walk 50m into the sea and the water just reaches your waist. Great for little kid. Our 1.5 y.o. kid loved playing in the water. - the restaurant of the hotel serves fusion food. Delicious and not pricey. The neighboring hotel Your and Me has a restaurant that makes more traditional khmer food that is also delicious. - the room is spacious, bright, with an incredible view. Anyway, you will spend the whole day outside. - for 100$ you can take a boat and do fishing, snorkeling, touring the island. - the hotel has free kayaks, paddles. Can improve: - the staff is very laid back. They are very nice but at the restaurant for instance, better go to the bar to order I saw people do that rather than waiting for someone to service you. Everyone seems ok with that. Cons: - the shower is outdoor. So washing outside trying to avoid mosquitoes is not great. One night we had a visitor, a huge spider fell on my wife while she was giving bath to our kid, it was the size of my hand. Not a great experience. But we'll this is nature. Can't fault the hotel. - we staid at a double room the night before. And the only difference was just a few intelligent change in furniture : trash in with a lid, glass door in the restroom so natural light comes in, a bathtub that was not really useful. For these small changes the price difference is huge. Important Note: I learnt unfortunately that the island is infested with sand fleas. All the hotels are facing this issue. A bite is not dangerous but bothersome if you're allergic which was my case. My wife and two kids had no issue. But I was bitten on my back because there was some sand on my bedsheet and the sand fleas had a feast at night. My back itched crazy for one week. The bad thing is it seems hotels have no pharmacy. So be prepared and bring your own topical cream or cortisone cream, and antihistamine just in case. It seems I was the only one in the hotel to have this issue but googling it I found a few bloggers describing having this issue. Note 2: there's a ferry that can bring you directly from Sihanoukville to the hotel's beach, one per day. We took the GTVC to LongSet Beach Pier, then had a taxi, 5$ per person. We did that. It was a smooth ride. The taxi was a great experience