As you can see from the reviews..., the Chandara is an amazing place, but not the best place for everyone.

I just returned from the Chandara and will hopefully help you to decide if the Chandara is the place for you.

The staff is wonderful and very helpful. The food is good but given the location and lack of nearby dining options you might crave some additional options after a few days.

You will not like the Chandara if:

a) YOU ARE LOOKING TO RELAX ON A BEACH
It doesn't have one. In fact, walk 100 feet in either direction and you will encounter broken glass and garbage on the rocky beach. The view of the beach and water is amazing...you just don't want to get too close.

b) YOU INTEND TO SPEND MUCH TIME IN PATONG
It is very far and the resort makes a killing on the fee for the car service. They refuse to call a regular taxi so I recommend that you get the number of a cab driver when you are at the airport who you can call directly. I have been to Phuket before. I find Patong to be very low end and full of drunk folks on discount package tours. It is not relaxing at all. I went to Patong one evening and was very glad to return to the Chandara after a few hours.

c) YOU INTEND TO WORK OUT AT A GYM
equipment is limited to 4 pieces of cardio equipment near the pool. No weights or machines

DO stay at the Chandara if:

a) YOU ARE LOOKING TO RELAX IN A BEAUTIFUL QUIET PRIVATE SUITE
I booked at the Chandara because I have been to Phuket before and just wanted to just relax in the privacy of my suite and cool off in the jacuzzi on our private patio. I just love the outdoor shower. I read and borrowed a few movies from the library.

There were young children at the pool but I didn't care because I just returned to my suite.

A few additional tips. The Chandara is located in what has become the new hot area for resort development. Over the next year or so, there will be a lot of construction. Please check ahead of time if that is a concern.

I brought an old unlocked mobile phone and bought a prepaid SIM card at the bangkok airport for about $3 US. Using that for both local and calls home was a fraction of the price of using my phone from home with roaming charges.

We booked through a travel agent. We know Phuket. We assumed that although it was near to the airport, it was certainly not as far out from the town as it proved to be.

The Chandara website shows a glorious white sandy beach.
We therefore 'assumed' one could both use the beach and swim in the sea. Wrong! Misleading.
The beach was dirty, very dirty. It had a small area of 'sand' but the majority of the beach was predominently shell and stone.
The sea was dirty - ie oily and littered with debris and very rocky.
There have their own jetty from where you can take their speed boat to other island beaches (because you can't use that of the Chandara.)
The hotel is far from the town - ie Phatong. Over 30 minutes and 800 Th baht each way. If you want to stay in town late or travel around Phuket it is very expensive therefore to do so.
We are experienced travellers in Thailand. We were blessed to find our own driver we had known in Phuket from the previous year. Without him we would have been very stranded and virtually held to ransome financially with the need to hire taxis. He collected us daily, stayed with us/waited for us wherever we wished to go and then returned us in the evening, sometimes very late. We were therefore free to negotiate our own fares with him so that all parties were more than happy.
I can't imagine how we would have been able to get back to the hotel had we not had our own driver.

There is the facility of their day shuttle bus to Surin Beach - but you are then restricted to their timetable and times are limited and you are also dependent on the wishes of others.

The hotel restaurant closes at 10. The bar closes at 11pm.
We found this very frustrating. There is 24 hr room service.

On a positive note, the food was good. The staff were helpful. The bar staff especially were exceptionally attentive and caring.
There are some areas regarding hygene and cleanliness amongst the staff and kitchen area I had issue with and felt that needs to be addressed.
The female assistant manager was highly professional and nothing was too much trouble for her.

We were upgraded to a villa ; a two room pool villa. This was delightful, clean, comfortable and modern. The housekeeping staff were exceptional in their service and willingness to help and please.

I have to say that it was our villa and the fact that we had our own driver that prevented our last nine days of our four week trip around Thailand from being a serious disaster.
I was very upset that I had no beach or sea to avail myself of.

The pool was pleasant but when busy with other guests, too crowded to have a decent swim.
The poolside shower did not work. It consisted of two very weak trickles of water with a broken handle.
The poolside toilet (one) was not clean and needed a new toilet seat.

The two 'very small' glass areas which each house two items of fitness machinery were not as clean as could be. They need to be sprayed regularly to prevent mosquitoes and for hygenic purposes when used by so many guests.

We hired a private boat for the day which we boarded from their jetty, to tour islands and to snorkel. We planned our own itinerary and the service was perfect as was the day and the trip.

The spa was very pleasant. The staff were as always, helpful and caring. I found the treatments however very average.

If you know Phuket then this hotel is just too far away from the centre. There is just too much to avail yourself of in this wonderful island. I would recommend that you hire your own car or scooter.

This is a place for couples and honeymooners. It is a place for those who don't need a beach or the need to swim in the sea.
It is a place for writers and painters and people who delight in tranquillity and silence and a spectacular view.
This is a place for people who are perhaps new to Phuket and perhaps don't realise how much there is to see and enjoy.

A small point however: They are beginning the development of the island directly opposite the Chandara. This is to become a 7 star hotel/resort/villa development from Dubai. It is already becoming noisy and sound carries considerably.

To sum up: The hotel view was worthy of 5 stars as was our personal accommodation. However overall i would only aware 3 stars for facilities.
We will return next year, but this time we will either rent an apartment further south of Phuket or stay in a hotel far more central to the island. This way we will retain our tranquillity but have access to more of Phuket.

We enjoyed our stay there, but i was travelling with my mother for her 60th b'day and she is a beach lover and i prefer the pool, so firstly we were quite disappointed to see how far out it was, away from Patong etc, although it says 30 minutes to phuket town, on their website, it seems alot further and getting to other places, plus their website says they have a private sandy beach with watersports avaliable, but on arrival, we were told that their beach was not for swimming, as it was rocky and the sea wasn't that clean or good for swimming on that part of the coastline, so they ran a speed boat service to another island, which wasn't ideal as that would mean my mother and I spending time apart in the day, so we felt that they are currently selling something that they can't provide and so being able to charge more for a hotel on a beach and use beach images alot on their website, creating the impression that this hotel has a beautiful beach area!!! It is true that they have a bit of beach, but it is not very clean at all and no-one sits down there at all. With regards them having watersports, i never saw any on the beach and only saw one guy taking out a kayak!! We felt that the hotel should give exact and correct details of what they offer, so that customers can make the right and informed choice, as if we had known we would have booked somewhere else with a proper beach and sea to swim in, as this resort especially over Christmas is very expensive, more top end than some others and they actually don't really offer very much. There is bascially a nice pool area, which if you like to swim, is good as it is very quiet in the mornings and during the day, a small pool bar area, a main dining area, a restaurant and small spa. We both felt that it was very pricey for what they actually offered. The staff are nice and helpful, especially the evening pool bar waiters and the house keeping staff, but i feel that they can charge this price as they call it a Boutique hotel. A nice place for couples, if you don't lke the beach and just want to chill out and not go anywhere, as it quite pricey to get around by their taxi service, so best to find a local guy to drive you around, otherwise if you want to see parts of Phuket it is going to cost you a fortune!! It is a very quiet place and everything shuts down early in the evenings, good if you are a couple or family with young children, but there is not enough to do if you have older children and isn't great if you are friends travelling together, as its more of a chill out place. There is also two small rooms by the pool with some fitness equipment in, but again felt that a place charging these kinds of prices, should have some kind of fitness facility better than this. In one room they had a treadmill and cross trainer and in the other, a treadmill and bike, all new and at least a few pieces to use if you like to keep a bit active on holiday, but I had to ask them to clean the equipment on a number of times, as it was dirty and mend the air con in there, as otherwsie it was like trying to work out in a sauna, which i thought was not great for such an expensive resort. Overall it is a pleasant resort, a good place if you don't like to holiday with too many other people, but not a resort that will really impress you, like some of the others in Phuket, it is very average and the pool area is probably the best bit about it!!

The moment we stepped into this Resort, we were mesmerised by the ambience, the view, the staff and most importantly the serenity of the place. Our van took us for a 30 mins ride from the airport as Chandara is all the way in a remote village.

We got ourselves the Jacuzzi suite and were amazed by how big the room was. Look at the pictures we posted to see for yourselves. Since we are honeymooning, we feel that this room is just nice for the both of us. And yes, there is a private outdoor jacuzzi overlooking the sea, private ourdoor shower, huge bathtub in the huge toilet, huge living room and bed.

One point i'd like to highlight is that the staff are so so so friendly and go to all lengths to serve us. They know when we are out of the room. They know when we are coming back. And every night, we received complimentary chocolate balls with 'Good Night' card. Every time we came back to the room after a day's out, the room will be prim and proper again, with fresh towels, filled-up soaps and shampoos, free bottled water in the fridge, made-up bed, arranged toileteries, and fresh orchids placed nicely around the room. The sunrise is breathtaking. If you explore the compound, you'll discover a helipad where you can take good pictures.

We went for the spa session too and that itself is magnificent. Massage was great. Service was excellent. The food at the hotel is also very nice. The library is always filled up with good free DVDs to watch or free internet access to surf to or good books to read when you get bored. Ps: you can borrow as many DVDs as you want and return them anytime you want, No hassle at all.

Tip: You can take a day trip to Patong to buy back some groceries/snacks to eat or munch on if you get hungry at odd hours.

Stay at this resort if you are not keen on the nightlife of Patong. Stay at this resort if you want secluded privacy to just relax and enjoy the sea breeze. Time really really really stops at this place. We will sure come back here for one of our next honeymoon.

-Sheikha & Zaini from Singapore