The River Retreat Koh Mak

The property's prime beachfront location near shops and restaurants provides privacy and convenience. Guests lauded the attentive new owner and praised the spacious, comfortable rooms and bathrooms.

Lovely place, very clean and very comfortable, absolutely great WiFi in the room and in the common area, I was able to comfortably work remotely :) we slept so well as the bed and pillows are very comfy! Really love this place and would deffo come back! Would be great if the common area eventually served coffee and breakfast as it’s such a lovely space!

The hotel was a Covid casualty and reopened under new ownership in Dec 23. Rooms have all been refurbished and in Feb 24 they were just about to open the bar/restaurant again. We found Ko Mak to be very busy and expensive when looking for accommodation. The price of around 1400 THB per night was higher than we usually pay but seemed one of the cheapest in the main village. Upon arrival we were met by Reuben one of the owners and he told us the history of the place. He and Tatiana who helps run the guest house are US/European heritage so obviously speak perfect English, plus French I believe. Our room was one of 4 set around a fairly stagnant river, cottage style, very large with ac, fans, fridge and a patio with chairs and hammock alongside the river. The bed was large and comfy with crisp clean sheets but the mosquito net was a little too small to cover it so we ended up using our own. The bathroom was large with separate shower/wet room so the whole floor didn’t flood. We never managed to get hot water but that wasn’t a problem in the heat of February. The location is excellent, minutes walk to bars and restaurants and a nice beach but quiet too. The rooms are set amidst woodland so there’s a constant soundtrack of birdsong which adds to the peaceful ambience. Being situated next to a river is obviously going to result in a lot of mosquitos and that’s one area I think they need to improve on. There was a small sachet of repellent provided but that wouldn’t be enough for one person for one day. As previously mentioned the mosquito net was a little small for the bed and there were a lot of mosquitos in the bathroom. I asked one of the staff if they had an insecticide spray but he said they didn’t so I had to buy one. I understand not everyone agrees with chemical insect sprays and prefer a natural approach but maybe the hotel could hold a stock of spray for guests who request it. Maybe also a plug in device would be useful too. In summary, its a well run place with nice rooms in a good location. It’s early days but the signs are this will become a really nice place to stay when initial teething problems are overcome.