Spent a night at Sri Trang. Great location. Next to night market. Love the food. Too bad I didn't spend much time in Trang. But I would defnitely come back in future.
The hotel is suitable for family too. But have to bear with thin wall. I could virtually hear what's going on in the next room.
We used the hotel twice just on overnight stays when we were using the airport. I rang and booked direct and that was no hassle as the guy has good english, they also arranged a tuktuk for us. The location is great - next to the night market (eat here for good cheap local food) and also where the main minibus is to Lanta. The building is a really nice example of the older architecture. I like the small cafe next door, good food,and well priced. the wifi was working in the room (always a bonus). We stayed in a couple of different rooms and both were fine - good shower. pressure, and a couple of bottles of water. I think it is good value for the price.
This small family-run hotel is located directly opposite the train station. The homey decorative touches give it a bit more personality than the average small hotel/guesthouse. Staff at the front desk were always very friendly (whether they spoke english or not). The young man with the fluent english was very helpful and pro-active with his information (unusual in Thailand). He showed us places of interest on the map, told us about the night markets (one next to the hotel),where to get transport and even sorted us out with a (very reasonably priced)day trip to the islands, when we asked.
The room we had was a nice size and clean. It had airconditioning, a fridge, TV and ensuite bathroom. It overlooked the area in front of the train station so we had a view of the market that was help there on Saturday night. You could get great food and listen to live music. It was over by 10.30, so you could get to sleep. Only negatives about the room were: The bed in the room was quite hard and there was gaps around the windows and door so insects, heat & noise could get in (not that I saw any mozzies). You could hear vehicles driving around outside and people talking in the corridor, but it wasn't too bad.
The have a nice little coffee shop on site but it didn't appear to be open for breakfast or in the evenings. Fortunately there is a really nice place that serves breakfast right accross the road. Trang itself has many nice coffee shops. The hotel also had free internet in the lobby. Overall a good place for a stopover. Tip: there are many travel agencies right near the hotel so you can easily make arrangements for onward travel to the islands (Trang town is 40km away from Pak Meng pier)
Sri-Trang Hotel is a hotel with character. Fish pool on the ground floor, steep wooden stairs, bookcases and cozy little hangout places are hidden within this little building with homely decor. Their motto is "You'll call it HOME" which is a tough sell, but this place just pulls it off.
It's not a flashy 5 star hotel, but rather a cozy home away from home. Our rooms with double beds cost 550 bath per night and were very clean. There's air-con, a tv, a fridge, two complimentary bottles of water per day and an ensuite bathroom. The rooms differ - mine was more spacious than my friend's and had an extra table, but there are no balconies in the hotel. The mattress is firm. There are two computers that are free to use downstairs and free wifi, but unfortunately the wifi wasn't very reliable. That's pretty much my biggest complaint about the place - and that's not much at all. Oh there were a few stray ants in my room, but so few I hardly noticed them.
The service in Sri-Trang was the best we had during our month in Thailand. The young Thai man was an amazingly helpful receptionist. Mind you, not all of the receptionist speak English well. At night there was a guy there that we had trouble understanding, but at daytime I think they all did. In the morning I woke up to the cleaning lady singing. Don't worry, she wasn't too bad.
I wish we had had more time in Trang mostly because of the awesome, awesome hotel we stayed in. A big thank you to Sri-Trang for making us feel completely at ease and at home.
The fish pond at the lobby gives perfect relaxing vibes. The whole decoration makes you feel almost like home...well,only if the staff will be a bit friendlier. The room is okay, cant complain for the price though. One thing i cant deny, its location is perfect-just right opposite the train station. Across the street from the hotel on Friday and Saturday evenings, you will find a night walking street which is such a good place to explore all local delicacies.
