Stayed here last week and I also agree with the last two reviewers! This place is surely a gem standing out from the crowd of resorts on Koh Lanta! We really enjoyed staying at Ancient and would definitely recommend it to other travelers. If they had any teething problems in the beginning, which most hotels do, they have all been ironed out now! The staff always had smiles on their faces, they went out of their way to please us everyday, kept the rooms spotlessly clean and really gave us an overall good feeling and impression of Thai people. The management was also great. Clint & Suki talked to us a lot about everything – the history of the place (lanta and the resort), helped us with activities, helped us with some minor issues when we had a small accident on our motorbike, and also took the time off to have a few laughs in the bar.

The rooms were great value, always clean, fridge always restocked, hot water was great, bed was marvelous and all round top knotch. You definitely get more than what you pay for. The new restaurant they are working on was open and the food tasted good and at good prices. We also enjoyed the swimming pool and spa tubs late at night, as they don’t mind you going in if you don’t make too much noise. They were not heated, but the water was warm enough anyway.

I consider myself a seasoned “middle price range” traveler, and in my opinion there are not too many resorts where the facilities AND the service combined are both great. Ancient Realm is one of them. We are now in Bangkok and wish we could go back….

We stayed here in March 08 for 5 nights and really enjoyed our stay. We did not book the room and were driven here from the pier by a tuk tuk driver that recommended this place. They were full except for one seaview room, which was a good price so we took it. The rooms were a good size and they had a big garden around them with a fence. I had never seen this done before and it made the room and garden very personal. Kind of like a cottage or home feeling. The bungalows came with everything we needed including a dvd player and free internet which was nice too. The bed mattress and pillow was the best of our trip. The area around the resort was always kept clean and tidy, along with the condition of the room. One of the nights we stayed we got to try the aussie barbecue which was very good. The weather was perfect and the beach was great during our stay. There were many restaurants and bars around too so we never got bored of exploring up and down the beach. The management here was very friendly and introduced us to a speed boat snorkel trip to koh rok which we also enjoyed. We would have liked to stay longer, but they were full. This place was one of the best resorts of our trip to Thailand.

As I write this review, I am actually sitting in one of the suites of Ancient Realm. We have been here for three weeks now and checkout tomorrow, heading to Krabi. We have a computer inside our room, with free wireless internet, which is also good as my husband can use his apple iphone thing without the expensive network fees that he tells me we will have to pay when we get back home!

The suite is a good size for a family, but probably too big for just ‘us’. I recommend couples to take the villas over the suites as they are cheaper, smaller and are same standard. We are using the extra beds for a closet at the moment. The BIG TV, sofa and big fridge in our suite is great though! The in room facilities were what we expected as we had emailed to the manager about every little detail many times before we booked. The reservation process was one of the best I have experienced. The rooms are always kept impeccably clean, and I will surely give our lovely Thai housekeeping lady “Oi” a tip on checkout tomorrow.

The movie cinema has been taken down now due to some wind and rain over the past week or so, which is a bit of a bummer, but we have a DVD player in the room which is good, as they provide the new DVDs for free. The swimming pool is meant for children, like the sign says, but I can still float around getting a tan in the morning, and we mainly sit in the Jacuzzis drinking gin and tonic anyway. Beach is also good to swim. There are not many people here at the moment, but I was informed that most of the Europeans leave the island around this time, when the island enters the low season after the Thai water festival, which is today. The Thai hotel staff tried to explain to me that there were “big-many-many-people” here in the resort before over the high season.

‘Suki’, the reception girl has been lovely during our stay, and told us last night in the bar that they had a hard time in the beginning of the high season when they had an accidental fire. This left a few bungalow roofs, gardens and furniture damaged and was not at a good time as they were still finishing off the resorts last minute details. No one was hurt, and it only lasted a few minutes. Apparently someone let off some unauthorized fireworks on their beach on a windy night. Bad luck to happen to a new resort, but everything looks good now like on the website pictures. Everyone is still smiling. They said everyone from everywhere came to help them, especially from the restaurant next door, and the joint effort saved what could have likely been a disaster. It would have been a shame to lose such a lovely place. I actually have noticed that they do now have fire extinguishers in every corner of the resort!! LOL!

The spa is well priced, very professional and they are always running a promotion or special here and there. I payed for a Chinese style facial, which was something different, and I received a free neck and shoulder massage for 30 mins, while getting a manicure and my nails painted. Total bliss….!

They run specials in the resort too, as we had been given cash vouchers for the bar, and also discounts on tours around the island. We also received a free pickup from the airport in our package deal when we booked, because we booked so long ago, which was an added bonus. We changed the pickup to our return drive to the airport tomorrow as we came here by ferry from phi phi. They didn’t mind the last minute change.

We did not find the beach disappointing at all, like the other reviewer here had said. There were rocks in the water, but a very long way out from the shoreline. This was similar to other beaches here and Phi Phi Island, where we were before here. The resort in Phi Phi was more expensive, and absolutely nothing at all compared to here! In the morning the sand and the color of the water was amazingly clean and clear. In the afternoon at low tide the local fishermen would climb all over the rocks in the distance searching for what I think would be fishing bait. We have a lot of good photos from this resort. There is also no construction noise anymore, as the houses they are building next door are nearly complete. I was worried about waking up in the early morning. I am happy to say that we have been sleeping quite well.

The food here is also good, but we normally don’t eat in resorts, as we go out to eat more often when on holiday. We did order room service last night though, and the food came to the room still hot. Nice. The bar atmosphere is done quite well, however if they had more hammocks on the beach like in the website pictures, and not just around the bar it would be more cosy. Maybe this is due to the high tide?

Overall, I would recommend this to everyone looking for a resort with an “island feel”, and also with enough facilities to make the holiday smooth and stress free. The resort has an easy relaxing “away from it all” experience, with many features to be happy with. This is was what me and mainly my husband were looking for, and up until the time of writing this, we are very, very pleased. Another thing we liked is that when we go outside of the resort, there is a lot of noise on the roads, bright lights, motorbikes, loud talking in markets and noisy restaurants, but when we come back to the resort it feels like we are in our own little oasis. The place is quite romantic…

We highly recommend the place for everyone, as the prices are good, staff friendly, rooms are unique and impeccable, the place is quiet and natural, and especially now not much tourists!! Rooms, spa, bar, restaurant, beach and swimming are all above average. We came at a very good time, and we will be coming back!

We booked two beachfront bungalows staying four nights in January 2008. The view from the bungalows was beautiful and I believe it was worth the extra money compared to the other bungalows which had a view of each other.
The beach itself was disappointing there were many rocks hidden under the water and the sand itself was not white. However the pictures form the website are accurate of the beach. We hired motorbikes and found some nicer beaches further down the island. I can understand why they do not want to post pictures of their pool on their website as it is like a child's paddling pool.
The rooms were very clean and they were cleaned thoroughly everyday. The outside bathroom proved to be annoying at times as the other reviewer said sitting on the toilet in the hot sun is not that enjoyable. Toilet paper must be placed in a bin which I do not mind doing however with it being outside in the sun it is not a good combination. Also to have a shower you need to stand on this little rock.

There was a DVD player in the room and DVD library available at reception which was a thoughtful extra.
The restaurant at the resort served good food at good prices in a nice atmosphere in the little huts just next to the beach and we ate there everyday for lunch. The menu was extensive for lunch however we found there was a different menu which was quite small for dinner. You are probably better walking down the beach to one of the many other restaurants.
The staff was helpful and we received good service throughout our stay. I had a massage and facial at the resort which was a reasonable price and was very relaxing.
It was annoying to wake up every morning to construction right next door as our bungalow was the last before the next property. I would have liked them to advise us on the construction ahead of time or at least apologize for the inconvenience as our main aim of coming to Koh Lanta was some peace and quiet. Also there was a few times when the power went off as well as the water without warning. The island itself is a nice getaway from the busier tourist areas of Thailand. We still had an enjoyable stay at the resort but there are some things that need improvement.