Samloem Laguna Resort

Very friendly staff and great facilities

Location was a little bit far from everything but that was the only bad thing

INcredible staff, and in a perfect location off the beaten tracka. Eco friendly and a great menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Le calme, le cadrage et le paysage était parfait

Rien

There is some wildlife to look at if you’re lucky. Birds like the hornbill, reptiles like the speckled golden tree snake (harmless – was more scared of us than we were of it), lizards, frogs, fish, even monkeys. The resort has some dogs to help control the monkeys, a cat, and two horses. The gardens are beautiful with statues, and a variety of trees and flowering plants. Some of it is quite wild. It was nice to listen to the pitter-patter of rain through the canopy in the early mornings. There is a tennis court, but it is strewn with leaves and mostly unused. It costs $10 USD per hour to use. There are two pool tables, books, and games in the restaurant/ bar, which are free to use. I had booked a Studio with a Sea View but were upgraded to a Villa. We sacrificed the ocean views for a larger room. The villas had bean bags and hanging basket chairs, which were fun to use. The place does have a certain charm of its own and offers a unique jungle experience instead of the beachfront offered by others. I will go back to Koh Rong Samloem, but I don’t think I will stay there again. The four days that I was there were enough. I’d try one of the other places closer to the beach. But if I had a hippie friend who wanted to get in tune with nature and was more interested in forest than beaches, I would recommend it to them. It was a fun experience.

As soon as you book this resort, you’ll get a message telling you about the resort and what to expect. You should go in with your eyes open; this is a secluded area. There is no aircon, no TV, spotty Wi-fi, and not all rooms have hot water. No hair dryer or shelf in the bathroom. No wardrobe, chair or desk. There is no beach either. You have to walk for about 5 to 10 minutes to get to it and getting there involves going through another resort or two. There is no swimming pool or beach front, so having a swim involves a hike, unless you want to brave the rocky beaches nearer to the resort. You need to get a ferry to Paradise Pier (Soon Noeng), and then a boat taxi or walk for 10 minutes across sand or through jungle paths to get to the resort. The boat taxi is reasonably priced at $2.50 per person. They say it’s free if you book the taxi through them, but they did not really offer much help booking a ferry. We ended up relying on the resort where we were previously to help organize our trip there. You cannot prepay for this resort, which is something I wish Booking.com would tell you before you reserve your room. You pay when you arrive, and you can use credit card, so that is good. In the rooms there is no kettle or coffee, no fridge (one outside but it smelled and I was not sure if it worked). There is no chair or desk area to work on your computer either. I improvised with a bedside table and a bean bag, but combined with the unreliable Wi-Fi, this is not the place if you need to work online. There is no safe/ security box either, which I was not keen on. Even if you lock the door, you have to close the windows otherwise people can easily climb in. There are big problems with the restaurant here. The Khmer person I was with dreaded going to breakfast and did not really want to eat there unless we had to. A few times, we ordered something but were given something else. There were other issues with the food, but I would rather not go into all of them.