Eco Valley Lodge, Pak Chong (Khao Yai National Park), Thailand

Inquiries:

You can visit the hotel's website at: www.ecovalleylodge.com or check out Hotels.com for the best deals on other accommodations in the Khao Yai, Thailand area.

Location:

The resort is located a few minutes drive off highway 2090, near Pak Chong, which is the main road that leads to Khao Yai National Park. Khao Yai NP is approximately a 20-minute drive from the resort.  Pakchong is about a 10-minute drive from the resort and is a great place to try local foods at their daily night market. The hotel sign located on Highway 2090 is in bad shape and can be hard to spot especially if arriving at night; however, once you turn off highway 2090 there are many helpful signs to lead the rest of the way to the resort. The resort is set in a very quiet and relaxing area that we found to be a good base to explore the beautiful surrounding area.

Room Comfort:

We stayed in a bungalow which was nicely decorated with simple but tasteful Thai décor and wall photos of some of the surrounding attractions. The bungalow was small but still comfortable. We were placed in a bungalow as far away as possible from the restaurant because there was a potentially loud school group from abroad hosting a good-bye party at the restaurant the night of our arrival. In an effort to make our stay comfortable, the owner strategically placed us as far away from the group as she could which was a very nice thought. However, since the bungalows are split into 2 rooms and the wall separating the two rooms are thin, our neighbours with their young crying child proved to be louder than the group. This is something that's out the control of the thoughtful owner, so just be aware that the walls between the rooms are fairly thin.

There are no mosquito nets over the bed; however, there is a screen door that helps keep the mosquitoes and other insects out of the room. We still recommend that you spray yourself with mosquito spray before going to sleep as some mosquitoes do manage to get into the room. The bathroom was big enough but we found the shower head to be very ineffective. The shower head was old and clogged which caused the water to squirt in all direction, making the entire bathroom wet while we showered. Furthermore, there was poor water pressure, making showering more difficult than we would have liked.

Finally, the resort has several games set-up on it's grounds, like badminton nets for example that you can take advantage of. Alternatively, you can borrow one of their books.

Cleanliness:

The room including the bathroom were very clean. The resort grounds, pool and restaurant were also well maintained.    

Service:

The service was good but could have been better. The responses to our email inquiries and booking were slow and scarce. We had to follow up on a couple of occasions to confirm our emails were received and the reservation was made. However, the owner did apologize for the delayed responses and was present to welcome us to the resort on our arrival. We didn't like that the staff who checked us in did not inform us about breakfast or about the safe in our room that was built in the wall behind a photo. We were simply asked to fill in a registration card and then shown to our room. Nevertheless, the staff are friendly and maybe it was the lack of their grasp of the English language (or the lack of our Thai dialect) that caused the lack of disclosing some vital information during check-in. Some staff did speak English well, while others had trouble communicating in English. Furthermore, the owner allowed us to check-out well beyond the usual check-out time so that we could rent bikes and explore the area which was very kind and helpful. This was only possible because they were not expecting any guests to that room that day. Nevertheless, the late check-out was very much appreciated. The hotel can book tours for you or provide information about things to do in the area. We didn't use their tours as we had our own transportation and prefer to travel and explore the area independently. In addition, we also felt the tours were priced a on the high side, but hopefully that's because they provide excellent tours. Internet is available at the resort but is not free and we found it fairly expensive for Thai standards.

Food:

We only ate breakfast at the resort which wasn't bad but wasn't great. We chose to eat elsewhere for lunch and dinner as we felt the prices at the resort were high for Thai standards.

Overall Value:

We enjoyed our stay here and think the resort is beautiful. Although we feel the bungalows are a good value, we do feel that the tours, food and internet are overpriced. The bungalows are a nice place to come back to after a long day of outdoor activities (as long as your neighbours aren't too loud). We recommend this place to others, but only if you have your own car to explore the area and Khao Yai National Park independently. We should also mention that the owner is professional and very nice and accommodating.

Other Notes:

The activities that we were able to do from the resort on our own included, biking to the Big White Buddha, exploring the surrounding farms on foot and by bike, visiting the night market in Pakchong, seeing the bats leave the cave at sunset (see our review of Ban Rai Chay Khao for more info), hike at Khao Yai NP, and so on.

We rented bikes to explore the area and managed to ride to the Big White Buddha. The bike ride was nice and finding the Big Buddha on our own was very rewarding. If you want to bike to the Big White Buddha from the resort, here are the directions:

• When exiting the resort go right and make the first 2 possible left turns that you come across. Continue biking and take the next right. You will reach a Y intersection where you will take the left road. Eventually, you will reach a chicken farm, (that you will recognize by the smell), where you will make a left. (There is only one possible left at the chicken farm, so don't worry about getting lost.) Continue biking until you reach an intersection where you continue going straight. At the end of this road make a left and then make a right at the end of that road. At the end of this road make another left. Take this road all the way to the end and then make a right. From here you should see signs to the floating art market, follow the signs. You should start seeing the Buddha in the distance. Pass the floating market and at the end of that road make another left. The big White Buddha should be sitting straight ahead of you. Enjoy the views from the top! We know that these directions sound complicated, but they are not. If you get lost, the locals are very friendly and will guide you along, so don't worry too much about getting lost.

Finally, be beware that there are ticks and leeches at Khao Yai National Park. When you finish your hike, take the usual precautions and check your body for ticks. Don't forget to shake out your clothing (and wash them) as ticks can sit on them until they find something else to latch on. Although we were informed about the ticks at the park's visitor center and took some preventive measures by wearing long sleeve shirts and trousers, we still managed to contract a tick as we didn't shake out and wash our clothing right after the hike. 

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