The Andaman is a 5 star family friendly hotel located in a paradise setting with a powdery white beach and a 150 million year rainforest as backdrop. The view of the mist among the tall standing teak trees in the rainforest is truly breathtaking. Go out on a hotel kayak (complimentary) and enjoy this magnificent view from a distance. The scenery has got to be the most impressive highlight of this hotel.

The hotel offers the high standard of service you would expect from a 5 star resort in this part of Asia. The staff are obviously trained to be very courteous to guests. They are very friendly and nice. But my view of the service is perhaps a little distorted after having been to the Shangri-La Tanjung Aru in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo, as in my opinion 5 star service anywhere else in the world pales in comparison. (The staff at this particular Shangri-La resort really tried hard to wow you. There must have been some kind of staff incentive scheme in place to motivate staff in this way. No tips were allowed in this resort and staff would go out of their way to not only meet your expectations, but to exceed them and anticipate them. Guests’ written appraisals were also encouraged to reward outstanding staff. The management at the Andaman could perhaps try to implement a similar staff motivation program if they want to push the hotel to the next level.)

For the facilities, the Andaman has a lagoon shaped pool under lots of trees. There’s a water jet slide for kids and plenty of loungers for guests. The other good thing about this hotel is that the beach is right next to the pool. There are also lots of shady trees on the beach, where guests can lie on a lounger in the shade and toddlers can play on the sand for a long time without getting sunburnt.

The beach at the Andaman end is not so good for swimming as the coral can really hurt your feet. There seems to be less coral and rocks at the Datai end of the beach (the Datai is its sister hotel). I tried snorkeling but saw no fish. Maybe it was the wrong time of the day. I suggest that you bring your own snorkeling gear (the hotel ones let in water and are a bit dirty). Your own rubber plimsoles will protect your feet from the coral and rocks.

The location is both the best part and the worst part. You certainly feel secluded, and in the time we were there (early June – low season) the beach and facilities were largely deserted. However, the downside to this is that you are in the middle of nowhere and there are no nearby restaurants or shops that would enable you to avoid always paying the hotel’s high prices. Unless you are on a diet or you are prepared to pay 6 star hotel prices for food 3 meals a day, this hotel is not for you. At the hotel’s main restaurant, we asked for some scrambled eggs with no frills and a few pieces of wholemeal bread for our three-year-old. We checked the price first with the waitress and she told us that the whole meal bread alone would cost us 30 ringgit, not including the 10% service!! That’s $90HK or £6 after 10% service for a few pieces of bread!! The egg is extra. It was a good job that we checked first. We were so shocked that our displeasure got the attention of the manager who reduced the price for our one scrambled egg for our toddler to 10 ringgit (That’s still £1.80 inc. service charge for one egg). An extra serving of plain white rice to soak up our curry set us back 16 ringgit before service. That’s $44HK or £2.60UK after 10% service for a small bowl of plain white rice! These kinds of prices seem way above any 5 star hotels we are used to in Hong Kong. I wouldn’t pay this kind of price even if I were Bill Gates. But hunger gave in and we had no choice. Each meal, we ordered the bare minimum, starved ourselves the entire holiday and felt really cheap for scrimping on food, but we just refused to pay such ridiculous prices. I mean, the average person would splash out on a really expensive meal on a very special occasion. But really expensive prices for every meal you eat because you are stuck in the middle of nowhere is no fun if you are a food lover. I didn’t even bother checking out prices for the spa, as much as I would have loved to have had a massage. Fortunately, my husband bought his beers at the Langkawi airport on our way in and stocked up the mini bar. Otherwise, the drinks bill would have been astronomical. Managed to get out one day in a taxi and pigged out in the local restaurants on Cenang Beach (a 30 minute drive) where prices are more normal.

For our only day trip into town during our 5 day stay, we paid 200 ringgit for an outside taxi for 8 hours and the driver drove us around the island. (Get a taxi driver who speaks English at the airport and ask for his number on your way in so you can call him later to arrange this kind of day trip. A hotel taxi will cost more.) The driver recommended we try the Mangrove Tour, where we paid 250 ringgit for our own boat and skipper for 2 hours. This was a big hit with our 3 year old. We saw lots of monkeys, eagles, spotted a viper snake in the trees and a monitor lizard in the river, all at a safe distance in our hired boat. We got out of the boat to see fish on the fish farm and bats sleeping in the bat cave. We also managed to squeeze in the Cable Car, where the view was truly magnificent! As I wanted to re-live a previous Bali experience of dining on the sand, to end the day our driver took us to this restaurant called The Lighthouse on Cenang Beach. I splashed out on a lobster meal after having starved myself at the hotel for 2 days. We were told that this restaurant was not the cheapest but it was still very reasonable compared to the Andaman. A T-bone steak only cost $150HK or £10 before 10% service. We had a table on the beach itself. The sand and an empty bottle kept our 3 year old daughter amused for 2 hours while we ate peacefully.

To sum up, we enjoyed the rainforest / beach setting at the Andaman but we were quite put off by the hotel food prices. For this reason, I will not stay at this hotel again. Even though I had read lots of reviews about the Andaman, and I was prepared for the kind of 5 star prices we’d paid at many other resorts in Asia, the high prices in the hotel restaurants still really caught me by surprise.

We didn’t hire a car because we both like to relax on holiday and not worry about drink-driving. However, after our 5 days there, I would say that a hired car is a must if you want to truly enjoy Langkawi and the Andaman hotel. There seem to be many interesting areas to explore on the island, and you will also have a wide choice of reasonably priced eating places. One final tip: book a hotel / flight package that includes the hotel’s buffet breakfast, as it’s 83 ringgit before service per person if you have to buy it separately.

We would like to visit Langkawi again, but next time we will definitely choose one of the 5-stars closer to Cenang Beach, where we’ll be closer to the local restaurants.

We currently live in malaysia and my husband's fellow co-workers who are locals recommenede this place to us. We looked it up on tripadvisor and its own site. We have 3 little toddlers so it's important that the place is child friendly with a great pool and a shaded quiet beach.

When we arrived via airasia we rented a car because we knew we'd be going out to eat or visit other sites via our own transportation. We drove to the resort which took about 20-25 minutes. the car rental was about 200RM for 3 nights 4 days. once we got there we were greeted then seated by the open lounge where you can see the pool. we were wowed by the pool!!! great for sitting babies to toddlers. it's all integrated in to a big pool under a lush greens! shaded at different areas at different times during the day. there's swimming slide which my 3 year old really enjoyed. i've seen few audults come down as well. there were about 10 kids at the time (we went during the memorial US weekend) .

They have childrens menu for restaurants and for in room service. they also have highchairs. there's out door areas in the restaurant so the kids were able to run around be messy or whatever it is they do best. it was quiet and relaxing. even with little toddlers. they have a great kids club. looks just built. very clean, new and colorful. the staff are great. my son loved the only male staff (farouk) there! so he didn't mind staying with him while i was able to go around the resort and do some photographing. this is great for when it's rainy out.

the beach is long and you can walk to datai resort. i think that resort is more for honeymooners. when we visited we just felt out of place... i'm glad we chose andaman for our family purpose. andaman has great lush greens. the grounds are well designed. there's a huge greens right on the beach so when my kids were playing right under it, they were able to enjoy the sand without getting burned from direct sun.

i would defiantely rate this as a 5star. the entrance is very grand (size wise) and the decoration is very tasteful and the wood trims everywhere is very high quality. you can tell that they used ver good quality materials.

we got the room 419 on the fourth floor (which is the lobby floor) which was i think one of the updated rooms. i'm not sure but you can confirm if you talked to the hotel staff. but the room was again very nice with wooden trims and clean. modern but traditional. i loved it! there was a corner soft which was turned into a twinsized bed. we brought our own playpen for my youngest to sleep in. (not sure if they have it. but we just like to travel with our own.)

we visited the fishingfarm which was great for the kids. we also visited the croc farm for 30min to see the show right before we left for the airport. if you have a car, you can drive to the area where there are alot of shops and restaurants. we ate at a japanese restaurant by the west northern tip of the island. it was noted best jap restaurant and got the info on the free map that the island prepared. the food was awesome!!!

The hotel was very nice. Rooms are spacious and clean. The pool is lagoon style and is really nice, and just a few steps from the private beach which is shared with The Datai. The Gulai House restaurant is the best of the Andaman restaurants, and it was also better than the main restaurant at The Datai. This hotel is not as luxurious as its neighbour, The Datai, but overall it was a good quality 4-5 start hotel. Staff are friendly and helpful. No complaints really.

We stayed here on our Honeymoon, the service was average and hotel was ok nothing speacial. It is located in area where this is nothing,