Panviman was our first hotel in the trip and i must say its was also the best.
The hotel is located in a beautiful and relaxing bay beside little village with a lot of good restaurant. the room was comfortable and satisfying ( we took a DELUXE room) and the view was outstanding.The pool is gorgeous and overlook the see , there is a couple of a good restaurant at the hotel although the restaurant at the beach is very expansive.
At the hotel you will find free internet and WIFI but dont count on the wifi because it singal very weak.
TIP-there is a beautiful road (like a bridge above water) that surround the hotel .
I will definitly come back to panviman!

We loved this place. We spent 4 weeks on Ko Phangan, and after bouncing around for the first two, we settled here for the rest of our stay. It's definitely pricey, but we got a really good deal through a third-party site during low season.

It's beautifully set up, so even our cheaper room felt nice and private. It is spread out, and there are lots of hills and stairs to climb, so be prepared. But it's a nice wander, not an excruciating climb. There are multiple restaurants with decent food, but pricey. The pool is gorgeous and large, and overlooks the ocean. The room was spotlessly clean and beautifully appointed, and came with plenty of nice amenities, like coffee and tea, a balcony, a bathtub, good air conditioner, and a super comfy bed.

The front desk staff were very helpful with arranging tours and transportation, but not as helpful when our internet refused to work half the time. (Be aware, though, that this will happen at even the nicest places in this area.) There were a few staff members who went above and beyond; we especially loved the housekeepers, who folded our clean towels into fun animal shapes more than once.

I would definitely stay here again.

The 4 star rating seems to be about right in our opinion. Yes it has its faults and is not up in the proper luxury league, but you could certainly do a lot worse for the price we paid ($100 per night in low season). We stayed in a deluxe cottage room. To quickly summarise the pros and cons from our experience:

THE GOOD
The location - right between Noi and Yai
The view - be sure to catch a sunrise from your private deck!
The room - very spacious and tasteful, with large private decks
The walkway around the rocks - a fantastic ocean walk, just head down from the pool
Lovely breakfast location with greats breads and the usual selection of fruit
The pool looked really nice - clean, aqua colour and well designed layout
The poolside restaurant overlooks both pool and ocean - sometimes the food and service is great, other times it is quite bad, so you have to be lucky
Room service available (although the menu is very limited)


THE BAD
The stench from the polluted river/lagoon thing next door is strong and pervasive
The polluted river thing flows right into Thong Nai Pan Noi beach - so we didn't swim there
Having to climb an extremely steep hill to get to our room
Shower is a bit dodgy - water pressure is good but the holes are few and far between so you have to really aim to hit the right spot
Wifi is dodgy too - they tried to blame the weather but it was patchy the entire 5 days of our stay - always quite slow and sometimes couldn't connect
Pillows are hard and too high - give you a sore neck
No scooter rental available so you are subjected to the scammers in town
Beach towels not in the rooms, only on Noi beach and the pool
The 'fitness center' looks like it is from 1950's North Korea - count it out
English is very basic - you have to go through several layers of automated responses to get to someone who can help you (ask for an extention cord, receive a wifi password... ask for a plate, receive a can of sprite, etc...)
They won't accept extensions for the same price you paid unless you can find it again on the internet - they quoted us $300 per night to extend, we got it for $100 on the net

All in all we would stay there again only if we got the same deal. The dirty river/lagoon really put a dampener on the entire experience for us - you have to walk right over it (there's a bridge) to get from the hotel to Noi beach, so there's no escaping the smell. I don't know how anyone could eat at the beachfront restaurant, which is located right next to the stagnant smelly water... do they not have noses!? This really needs to be cleaned up, not just for the sake of the guests, but the environment also.

If you do stay here - we recommend hiring a jetski at sunset from Noi beach... gorgeous pink/silver water to cut through, we really enjoyed it. Also be aware that you can get a private taxi to Thongsala jetty for a similar price to the group shuttle which leaves ridiculously early.

All I can say is WOW what a beautifully located hotel. And more, friendly helpful staff, rooms with amazing views and a beach of my dreams. We spent 2 nights and 1 full glorious day. It really is paradise. The beach, clean and quiet, the drinks cold and the view, spectacular. All the food we ate was delicious, we will so be back, soon.