Hubby and I stopped in Surathani in transit to our next destination. 2 nights which was enough for us to rest after a day travelling and to check out this famous transit point on our way yo Railay. We were pleasantly surprised that the hotel was a street back off the the Ta Pi River Esplanade and a short walk from our bus drop off (Phan theep Transfers) arriving from Koh Tao (we purchased a ferry and minivan combo ticket. Excellent option. We try to opt for easy and not expensive, easy first preference). Hotel is on a corner and has artificial grass in front of hotel entrance. You can't miss it. Hotel is well presented, clean, staff friendly, good sized room and hot water. The bed was a little hard, lets say a coin will probably bounce off it easily, but to our surprise, even though the mattress and pillows were firm, we didn't wake up with a sore back, so pretty much ok. We were on the 4th floor and hardly any noise from traffic below even with all the traffic noise. It was a Thai public holiday as they were celebrating the anniversary of the late kings death( 13th October). Colourful and ornated floats along the Esplanade and down the main street of the hotel. The floats were spectacular with monks showering everyone with water blessings. Heaps of food stalls. The air-conditioning was a pain, as with many in Resorts and hotels. For some reason, they dont work according to the temp setting and fan speed. Turned up to 27 degrees on lowest fan setting and it was still cold in the room. If you turned it off, it too hot. We slept with heads at foot of bed so the cold air didn't hit our face. What do you do, its sane same mostly everywhere. Unfortunately no kettle and tea/coffee facility in room. They do have this available in lobby from 5 to 10am only for free. There are coffee shops outside hotel though especially Mary's Cafe. Another disappointment for us, cause we are veggos and western, they don't provide breakfast and we couldn't find Western food that suited us non meat and Asian palette. Plenty of Thai food but we didnt like that for breaky. We walked over to the otherside of the river to their sister hotel CBD Hotel 2, as they served breaky so we purchased a buffet style for 150 baht each. You can opt to stay here also if you wish. Its right on the river and about 15 minute walk. Wasnt an issue walking there because on the way stopped of at the City Shrine and walked around Koh Lamphu Park ( a health park and well worth a visit. Its an island accessible by bridge. Views of the River also. We are early birds so plenty of time before breaky). Fruit for lunch was enough but there is a little Thai Vegan restaurant (another lucky find. Turn left exiting the hotel and down that road opposite the fire station). But only open to about 1pm we think. There is another hotel that includes breakfast near the River on and sane side as CBD hotel called Harbour Front but no idea what the rooms are like or reviews. We chose CBD due to the reviews
Excellent
112 Reviews