La Vela Khao Lak - SHA Extra Plus

Booked a room in the Oceanside wing, but was not expecting a full view of the ocean! We were pleasantly surprised to have a balcony (and bed!) only metres from the sand. It was an amazing spot to sit and relax while listening to the waves crashing on the beach. Bed was super comfortable and the room size was great. We had breakfast included in our booking, and this was also great. The range of food available is incredible, and could not find any faults. Hotel is only a short walk to shops, restaurants, etc and also markets a few times a week. If it's too hot to walk, there are taxis readily available.

I stayed at La Vela for two weeks during low season. The hotel is directly on the beach, at the end of a street dotted with small shops and restaurants that are decidedly better and much cheaper than the ones inside. The complex is built from stone, wood, metal and immersed in a tropical garden, giving it a minimalist, eco-friendly atmosphere. It has banned single-use plastics and provides two free glass water bottles per day, which you can refill in the public areas. Breakfast is a real banquet held at the Spice Cafe, elbow-to-elbow with tropical birds. It's truly spectacular - honestly one of the best I've experienced at a hotel of this level. There's an entire room just for 20 types of breads, pastries and brioches; two huge buffet lines where they make soups, noodles and every possible egg dish you can imagine on the spot; a sushi corner; a station for hot and cold beverages. In addition to the Spice Cafe there is a bar with a library (which makes great coffee and terrible cakes, even though they look nice) and a restaurant and cocktail bar on the beach. The hotel has two beautiful pools plus one near the beach. It also offers a small gym, a fabulous spa, a skate park, equipment for water sports (for a fee), free beach towels, and a daily program of free soft activities like yoga on the beach, which I highly recommend. The room was equipped with every possible comfort: a beautiful tub on the balcony (not a hot tub), a walk-in shower, a huge bed that was almost as tall as me, a minibar area with a large fridge and kettle, wine glasses and various amenity kits. You can adjust the lighting with a panel. During the day you can hear some noise from the nearby hotel under construction, at night just the music of the waves. Outside the hotel, as I said, there are many shops and excursion stands. I also recommend taking a taxi to the most beautiful beaches, since the one at the hotel is a bit disappointing. The staff is incredibly kind and helpful.

Our 6th visit to La Vela Rooms are well appointed, clean and modern. Large rooms that have a sofa bed, lots of space to store luggage and a full size refrigerator. The breakfast is one of the best we have had . A large choice of hot food, egg station with many choices, sushi freshly made, good variety of breads and pastries and fresh fruit. There is also a dedicated barrister. Staff are amazing and will do everything possible to make your stay memorable. Three pools to choose from and the beach as well. Kokulo Club has a seafood Buffet three times a week which is not to be missed. Also has a bartender show and fireshow three times a week. The location is excellent with many restaurants within a short walk. A number of minimarts a five minute walk away.

clean and easy to navigate

Comparing hotel vs price it is a very good place to stay. We came here from Phuket to change the sourraoundings. There are many good things about this hotel and many small things for improvement. First, the hospitality experience could be much better, the reception employees are not always helpful, but the worst was the man responsible for the towels, who didn't want to give me towers in exchange of cards provided during the check-in. He was literalily arguing with me about it, trying to convince me, that I should use my bathroom (white) towels... this completely ruined the hospitality experience = no hospitality. Anyway, exchanging towels for cards is a stupid idea, in all other hotels we didn't have to do it. The cleaning ladies were very nice, the restaurant people also very nice and supporting. There is a nice beach with good equipment. Also, the swimming pools are nice. Food in the restaurant was very good for fair price, they have a lot of choices and we didn't have to go outside to eat. The room was nice and quite big, however I suppose the size of it on the booking.com takes the balkon under consideration in this calculation. We had a bathtube on the balkon and shower in the bathroom and this is the best combination. The breakfast was good, a lot of choices.