Cape Dara Resort

“peaceful respite from crazy Pattaya”

Lovely respite from the absolut craziness that is Pattaya. Best bathroom view I've ever had! Manageress Gam was absolutely amazing, brilliant, kind, and so,SO helpful! the best! Pool area was lovely. free welcome drink was strangest purple soft drink ever! the shuttle-bus guys were also amazing! s… more

Lovely respite from the absolut craziness that is Pattaya. Best bathroom view I've ever had! Manageress Gam was absolutely amazing, brilliant, kind, and so,SO helpful! the best! Pool area was lovely. free welcome drink was strangest purple soft drink ever! the shuttle-bus guys were also amazing! so friendly and very very helpful!

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“A great week with a few ‘buts’…….”

We stayed (couple plus 15 year old daughter) for a week here. Being just after Chinese New Year, 80% of the guests were Chinese with a smattering of Germans and Scandinavians. Usually our holidays are very social affairs with other families but this one not so. The hotel itself has amazing rooms wi… more

We stayed (couple plus 15 year old daughter) for a week here. Being just after Chinese New Year, 80% of the guests were Chinese with a smattering of Germans and Scandinavians. Usually our holidays are very social affairs with other families but this one not so. The hotel itself has amazing rooms with views of the sea unsurpassed in their drama. We could see Pattaya lit up at night and the boats and leisure craft during the day. Spectacular. The staff are on another level compared to Western Europe with attentiveness and humility we can only dream of. There are two swimming pools, (we only used the main one) but both are well looked after and idyllic. Pattaya is close by and we spent a few days and evenings touring the shops and bars, though why a taxi driver took us down one particular street we still don’t know. Finally, we had a Thai massage that was part of the package and I really recommend it. So, why 4* and not 5*? The beach is small and rocky and not really an option while the lower pool is down 70 odd steps. The main pool also only has around 20 or so sun beds, and there must be over 200 rooms in the hotel. There are 8 egg chairs at the end of the pool where sun beds could also be placed, though these are unusable anyway as there is no shade there. True - we always found three sun beds as culturally many of the Chinese guests seem to prefer sitting in a large porch type area. Had this hotel been full of Western Europeans, I think there would have been a lot of frustration. There is also one semi open air restaurant where the food is very good but the menu doesn’t change during the week. There is also an excellent Chinese restaurant inside, but that is not really where you want to go when you are there for the sun. Finally the room did not allow for my personal favourite thing to do on holiday. Whilst the mini bar was complimentary, the balcony is too narrow to be usable. There is no chance to sit together outside with a beer. There is only one chair anyway which is pointless. To me the architect has failed miserably here, the balcony is pointless. Finally the hotel shop is dreadful and does not show that any particular effort has been made to stock it with anything interesting. I don’t know why they bother with it. So, great staff and at its best a great hotel, but it misses too many chances.

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“Should be 5 stars but…”

This was such a lovely resort, with beautiful, relaxing pool areas, amazing views and an absolutely memorable breakfast buffet. Unfortunately the stay was severely let down by a booking issue and poor response to it. I was travelling with a friend and paid for a twin room with 2 beds over 6 months … more

This was such a lovely resort, with beautiful, relaxing pool areas, amazing views and an absolutely memorable breakfast buffet. Unfortunately the stay was severely let down by a booking issue and poor response to it. I was travelling with a friend and paid for a twin room with 2 beds over 6 months ago. On check in I was informed there were no twin rooms available (what was the point of booking it then I wonder?), but not to worry, we had been given an 'upgrade' to a higher floor spa room and they would arrange a separate bed to be added. I was happy with this until the extra bed arrived and was essentially just a cot. We enquired again if there were any other twin rooms available but told there were none. I then endured an absolutely horrible night's attempted sleep on the very hard, far too short bed, and after a total of about 2 hours sleep, spent the next day very achy and tired. In retrospect I would have been far more comfortable sleeping by the pool in a sun lounger! Reported this issue to reception on check out, who apologised but made no move to compensate me through reducing the bill. Would not stay again due to what I consider very poor customer service and a disorganised booking system, such a shame.

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“Great views”

This hotel is in a great location, has great views and good facilities, but it seemed to struggle at new year with the number of people. The staff seemed to struggle to keep up with the demand - but it could also be there weren’t enough of them rostered on. However, the staff were all friendly an… more

This hotel is in a great location, has great views and good facilities, but it seemed to struggle at new year with the number of people. The staff seemed to struggle to keep up with the demand - but it could also be there weren’t enough of them rostered on. However, the staff were all friendly and welcoming and they did a good job.

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