Railay Village or Railay Bay? Help!

Hi,

I%26#39;m having a terrible time deciding between Railay Village and Railay Bay for my trip during the first week in December. At Railay Village, I%26#39;d stay in a pool villa, and at Railay Bay, in either a privacy cottage or a delux cottage.

The reviews of Railay Bay seem to be better, but it looks more like a 3-star resort than a 4-star one. Railay Village looks nicer but there are some unflattering reviews, mainly about exorbitant prices and unprofessional service. The last review on Railay Village seems to be from March, though...is there anyone who has stayed there since then and can give a more recent review?

Please do not comment if you work at one of these hotels. I%26#39;m trying to get unbiased reviews!

Can anyone help?! Thank you! :)

Railay Village or Railay Bay? Help!

I was at Railay Village in January. Honestly I don%26#39;t understand the negative reviews. The resort is gorgeous and there are 2 fantastic pools. We thought there was nothing negative about the service. Our room was kept impeccable, in fact, I%26#39;m quite certain they spent at least 1/2 hr in our room a day. The only thing I would say is they charge a lot of laundering, so all we did was simply bring our clothes over to Sand Sea to get them done much cheaper ( 2 min walk).

As for Railay Bay, we walked through the resort but didn%26#39;t stay there. The resort is a mix of anything between a 2 1/2-3 star and a 4 star depending on which room you choose. There are cheap rooms on the east end that are lower star, and it goes up from there.

The restaurants at both places were very good.

We really preferred the look and the feel of railay village. So much that we are going back again in December ourselves. I would highly recommend it. Though I%26#39;m sure railay bay is good too.

DO note though, that Railay Bay does charge a mandatory transfer fee to the hotel, whereas Railay Village does not.

Railay Village or Railay Bay? Help!

Halilee,

Thanks for your response! You said that you preferred the look and feel of Railay Village to Railay Bay. Could you elaborate a bit more on that?

Also, we would be staying in a pool villa, not a spa villa; I%26#39;m concerned about noise given that the rooms overlook the pool. (At many hotels, staying near the pool means hearing kids screaming a lot of the time.)

A couple of people have mentioned that the spa is very expensive. Did you find that to be the case? If so, is it easy to go to other hotels to get more affordable massages?

Thanks!

Twhufc

What I mean by saying I preferred the look of Railay Village was that it was more intimate and not as spread out as Railay Bay. To me, Railay Bay looked haphazardly thrown together since there are SOOOO many different type of rooms including standard hotel rooms. The privacy rooms, which I%26#39;m sure are great inside, make the resort in areas look like giant blocks of concrete. It just didn%26#39;t look very nice imo. Though the restauarant was great!

Railay Village was beautifully landscaped. The pool villas are gorgeous, and when we were there in January, very very queiet. In fact, it was kind of weird, no one ever used that pool. We used it every day for 5 days usually around 4pm till 6pm. We only once saw another person in it. The many times we%26#39;d go to our rooms for something, there was rarely if ever anyone in them, not sure why. We loved the pool. Beautifully landscaped as well, very very clean, and huge. The other pool is closer to the beach, but even that one wasn%26#39;t used much either. Maybe everyone was on the beach? LOL. We didn%26#39;t find many kids on Railay either. I think we might have seen a dozen total if we were lucky in the 5 days there. It was very relaxing.

I can%26#39;t comment on the spa as we didn%26#39;t use it at all. In fact, I didn%26#39;t even see it till the last day as it%26#39;s kinda tucked away in the back of the resort ( behind the pool and to the right). Maybe someone else can comment on the spa. :)

Feel free to ask anymore questions. :) Have fun!

Oh yeah, to give you an idea of how Railay Village is set up. In the back is the pool villas with the large pool. You walk towards the beach and pass the spa villas, all beautifully landscaped with little ponds and bridges leading to them. ( small but pretty bridges/ponds). At the end of the spa villas to the right is the smaller pool.. very pretty. Over to the left is the open restaurant ( all of west railay restaurants are open air and right in front of the beach). I have some pics up in a review of railay village here on tripadvisor too. :)

Halilee,

Thanks for your thoughtful responses! Just thought I%26#39;d share that over the weekend I booked a pool villa at Railay Village for my trip in the beginning of December. The rooms, grounds and beach setting all look stunning. I can%26#39;t wait!

Thanks again for your help!

Twhufc

I%26#39;m so excited for you! I hope you enjoy your stay as much as we did! You%26#39;ll have to update us. :) I know I sure can%26#39;t wait to go back there again. We stay at Railay village again from Dec 16-21st. :)

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