Stayed at the Panviman for the first 4 nights of our honeymoon. The hotel was great and we had a fantastic time there. It's located right between the two beaches but only has direct access to Thong Nai Pan Noi - have to walk the road to get to Yai.

Service is excellent. This is definately a higher end hotel on the island. Great views (particularly from the breakfast restaurant), food was terrific (maybe pricey) and the pool is lovely. They provide lounge chairs and towels on the beach which is a plus.

We definately enjoyed Ko Phangan and the Panviman.

Only tip is that if you take the public ferry from Ko Samui - the ride to the resort should only cost about B500-700. It's a 45 minute ride across a very bumpy dirt road (we thought it was fun). The songthaews will try to charge much more if they think they can! Not sure if the resort can arrange for transport. Worth inquiring about with them though.

What an amazing place, pure paradise basically sums it up.
The resort is out of this world, beautifully done up and the rooms were spectacular. We booked a deluxe cottage and requested a sea view, we were not disappointed. The rooms were stunning and had the most amazing view. We had a bath on our balcony which we made good use of!

The staff are so friendly and will do anything to help you whatever your request. The food at the resort is a little bit costly and to be honest not that great but if you walk for a few minutes down to the beach there are a few bars and restaurants there which are cheaper and the food is fab! We ate at the Beach Bar pretty much every day, they also have a happy hour from 5pm - 7pm and 10pm - 12am where all cocktails are about £1.50.

There is not alot to do at the resort, we stayed for 5 days which was perfect and we will definately be going back to the resort next year.

Ok now for the less positive parts; the drive to the resort is awful, it takes 45 mins and you are literally driving up a mountain which has no proper roads, it was not great but it is worth it when you do get up to Panviman. If you can afford it what i would suggest is to book the hotels speedboat which is a fairly new service. One way from Samui direct to the resort costs £100, it takes about 45 mins door to door and cuts out that drive and also the sea ferry which only goes twice a day i believe. Also at the pier (cant remember the name!) there is a new speedboat service which leaves every hour on the hour and costs about £7.50 per person but only takes 10 mins to get from Samui to Koh Phangan, again this would be worth booking instead of the ferry which although only takes 30 mins goes only a few times each day.

This hotel might not be great for those who find it hard to walk very far, it is on a mountain and there are pretty steep steps to get to and from the beach, also all accommodation is on a mountain to expect steep paths! Certainly kept us fit!

I hope you find this review helpful :o)

We stayed at the Panviman for two nights while on honeymoon. Someone had recommended it after staying there about 3 years ago. The prices have since been hiked up CONSIDERABLY (i.e. up around 150%!!!) I'll try to make this easier to read by using bullet points!

Positives:
- beautiful pool area
- gorgeous views across the bay
- some nice staff (well... one in the shop)
- the area was more what I expected of a Thai island, in that it was remote and fairly undeveloped, which was a plus to me
- some cool bars and restaurants in the area, with nice people
- lovely star-gazing in the evenings

Negatives
- booked hotel via their office in Koh Samui - the woman who worked there was not there at 10am although it was meant to open at 9am. The neighbouring shop called her, and she arrived in 10 minutes, clearly just out of bed!
- when we arrived at the harbour, the people on the hotel courtesy bus had no record of us!! Finally they agreed to take us there!
- even when we arrived at the hotel they did not know who we were - the woman in Koh Samui just hadn't booked us in!!
- Got a ''deluxe villa'. Smelt a little mouldy, but nice enough UNTIL we found biting ants on the toilet seat, lots of mosquitoes and a CENTIPEDE in the bathroom. Discovered the bathroom was partially open air!
- Husband couldn't stand this, so we asked at reception if we could move rooms. We were told 'please come back tomorrow' accompanied by a large smile.
- Came back in the morning and were told to come back at 3pm!
- they did move us to a normal hotel room, which was better, but, as others have pointed out, there were gaps in the door, and anything could crawl in!
- came back that evening and I had left my keys in a bar - it didn't matter, as the door slid open easily, although it was locked!!!
- when I went back to get my bag from the beach, we chanced our arm and asked if we could have a lift in the buggy down the hill (it is really steep). There were about 4 people sitting a reception. They said the battery was dead. On our way back, we saw them driving the same buggy about!! Battery seemed to work well enough!
- upon leaving, we were politely told with a large grin that we had broken ''some glass'' in the room and had been charged 1000 Thai Baht!!!!
- looooooooooooong back and forth discussion about this as we had broken nothing. We were finally told that we would not be charged ''this time''...........errrrm thanks!!!
- 45 minute ride from harbour to hotel VERY bumpy, but would have been worth it for a nice hotel and helpful staff
- there ARE a lot of wild dogs in the area, and we had to borrow a broom from the friendly security guard in order to fend them off on the steep road from the beach to the hotel!!

OK maybe the bullet points didn't make it easier to read, but we were sorely disappointed that there were so many negatives to the last couple of days of our honeymoon.

If you do go to the area, go to the the Luna bar on the west side beach - it's beautiful, good value and run by a lovely couple.

This resort was so pretty and picturesque! they have done a great job of building the landscape of the resort into the natural surroundings and keeping the natural beauty. The cheapest rooms ( “superior” ) in the 300-series have an amazing view and are really charming and clean. The staff at the hotel are really nice and laid back: if you ask for special requests they will certainly accommodate but will not dote over you- perfect for me as I don’t like high maintenance staff and hotels. The resort is on a beautiful beach that is pretty isolated, so it is great to relax at for 4-5 days, but after that, one might get a little bored. The “town” close by doesn’t really seem to be a proper town, more of a place that sprung up as a result of tourism. This is not a place to go to experience Thai culture; rather it is a place to go to experience a beautiful beach, beautiful resort with great staff, a romantic peaceful get away and all at a very reasonable price- even in high season. I would definitely recommend it to friends and go back again!