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We (a group of 4 families, kids aged 9-14, from Hanoi and Manila, nationalities: Canadian, Australian, German, American, Philippine, English) just spent four very happy nights in Cococape. We were in the fan cooled rooms which are simple but overall well-designed, and comfortable with firm beds, priced very reasonably from 800-1800 Baht per night. There is an unusual range of accommodation (from 500 Baht to 10,000 Baht per night) so there’s a nice mix of people. The fan cooled rooms should be thought of as various steps above camping, with the Baan Rim Haad sneaking above that level (the bathroom is attached and private, but you physically leave the building to reach it), the Baan Shay Haad opening out onto the water in the front and the coconut grove on the back for lovely breezes (bring a hammock!). Way up on stilts with a main bedroom plus loft, the Baan Phu Khao has magnificent views. Our one caution is that some of the roofs did leak during some heavy overnight storms.
The setting of the resort is lovely, with nice views out over the water with a number of small nearby islands in the foreground and Ko Chang in the distance. Partially set in a mangrove forest, the “sandy beach” is a 5-10 minute walk from the restaurant area of the resort, but it was not dirty (on White Sands Beach in Koh Chang even though they cleaned twice a day, there were still hypodermics lying around). In fact, it’s a fairly shallow, wild beach, with trees dipping their branches into the sea at high tide, local fishermen busy out in the water, plentiful seashells. The island itself isn’t particularly exciting (some original forest, but largely coconut and rubber plantations), but is friendly and approachable with very little development, which suited us perfectly. One of our number arrived in a full leg cast, so we ended up eating all meals in the hotel restaurant -- and were delighted to do so. The menu is a fairly standard selection of classic Thai dishes, but each dish was excellent – every single time (with the exception of the American fried rice which didn’t appeal to us at all). The steamed lemon fish (don’t worry, comes with LOTS of garlic), the squid with smoky and spicy sauce (it’s grilled, the sauce comes separately), the red chile dishes …. It was the first time I, personally, ever liked Paad Thai. Everything was simply consistently excellent, and certainly not “falang” spiced (as in one critique). You can get everything just as spicy as you want – just tell them.
Several reviews complained about unfriendly staff. The staff we encountered was, down to a person, friendly, and all together they really went out of our way for us. Not only did they do everything they could to help with our “invalid” friend, but we suspect that they even brought on extra staff to deal with us (a young man arrived into our second day who spoke excellent English and seemed largely dedicated to us). They accommodated our kids’ finicky eating AND the grown-ups’ love of Thai food. And, they ALWAYS had enough ice and COLD beer. We’ve driven more than one restaurant to its knees in these areas in the past. On the other hand, they are not necessarily fast with serving. Order 7 pancakes in the morning, and they will come one after the other over the course of the next 30 minutes. Occasionally, something took so long that we suspected that a dish had been forgotten, but in 13 meals for 13 people, only once or twice was something actually forgotten. But we were on holiday, in a big group and it didn’t matter at all. The staff volunteered the suggestion that to avoid this, we should order in advance and give a time we wanted to be served. We did do this for the kids, but for the adults it didn’t really matter.
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