We had a magical stay at Ko Tao Cabanas this winter. We booked an Ocean View Cottage which had the most wonderful views. It looked as beautiful as it does on their website (see pics) and lovely touches as mentioned before: fresh flowers, a pretty bucket and scoop to rinse your feet before stepping inside your hut, a seashell curtain, free mosquito repellent and even earplugs for those who are sensitive to the music you occassionally hear (yes, you can hear a beat across the water on some nights, but not very loudly). The bed was comfortable, the room clean, the outside bathroom great (with sunshine coming in and lovely plants) and I loved our private swing the size of a double bed that hangs under the veranda.

The cabana 'boys' carried our luggage up and down the steps, the restaurant staff were amazingly friendly and the reception helpful when we wanted to book a boat to another island.

Breakfast was nice, there are 4 choices (one is Thai breakfast with rice, one muesli and fruit, there's toast and jam and fruit, and an 'American' breakfast with bacon, egg and sausage) which was enough to keep us happy for the 7 days we were there.

I loved everything about this place: it's at the end of the beach so secluded and quiet, yet you're only a 5-15 minute walk away from other beachside restaurants, bars and the main town with a fantastic spa, internet cafes and all that. Spoilt for choice.

Snorkelling and swimming at the Ko Tao Cabana beach resort is good, the stones and boulders right in front of the resort are surrounded by coral and lovely fish. The beach beds are great too and there are airbeds and snorkelling masks for borrowing. The only thing that could be better was the dinner in the restaurant - it didn't taste as fresh and zingy as other Thai places we went to. We only dined there on our first night as a result. They do do great cocktails though, for around the same price as other places along the beach, and the restaurant has great views.

Ko Tao Cabanas is without a doubt the most magical place I have been to so far and I hope to be back one day.

Just stayed here for one week and so happy we chose it. From what we saw it was the best hotel/resort on the island. My fiance and I stayed in a beachfront cottage and enjoyed amazing views from our balcony, the room was lovely room, lots of attention to detail. The staff were wonderful, we are both Vegan and they were happy to make up some veggie dishes for us.

I had read about noise from a club in a review before and not sure if it applies to all cottages however as ours was on the shoreline the music from the adjacent shore carries straight across the water till about 5am each morning which I could imagine really frustrating some people.

All in all though was a beautiful place and we are now thinking about returning there for our honeymoon

Wonderful place to stay! We stayed in a beachfront cottage. It's builded on the rocks, so we could see all the Sai Ree beach as well as boats on the far side from a higher point. Very beautiful and broad view! The room is also special and clean. What you can see from the pics at this website or at Cabana's is the real real scence. The restaurant, Riam Lee, serves good dinner. You can also see a good view when eating there. No doubt. My friend and I rode around the island, and are very sure that this is the best place to stay while you are in Koh Tao. It's also suitalbe for families to vacation here. We would stay there again next time!

Koh Tao Cabana was slightly disappointing for us having come from Rocky Resort on Koh Samui which was amazing and the Oriental in Bangkok which is really something else. When we arrived there was a misunderstanding about the booking, other guests received a welcome cocktail - we didn't and we had to carry our own bags to the cottage as there was no-one around to do it for us. So not a perfect start.

The resort itself is beautifully crafted into the cliff face. It is a lot more rustic than anywhere we had stayed on our trip so far. The puffer-fish key holder and electricity switch are a great touch!

The idea of an outside bathroom really appealed to us but in reality it wasn't particularly idyllic. The pictures make it look better than it really was.

We didn't mind the geckos in the room at all. We had become quite fond of them having experienced them everywhere in Thailand. The huge beetle/cockroach on our headboard was a little more disconcerting though! One evening we were escorted back to our cottage by three stray dogs. You will see many of these on the Thai islands but they all seem very friendly and rarely bother you. Certainly not like the rabid strays you get around Europe!

For us the main problem was location. It is situated right at the north end of Sairee beach and well away from the bars and restaurants. A fairly easy walk along the beach but if the tide is in and you don't want to paddle then the dark road takes a lot longer.

Also we booked cottage number 27 (as recommended by someone here) and it was a long walk up into the cliffs, although some accommodation was even higher up. Not ideal after a days snorkelling or trekking around the island. If you are staying here ask for accommodation as close to the restaurant as possible!

If we were to go to Koh Tao again then I think we would choose to stay at Sensi Paradise. Friends of ours stayed there and we had a couple of cocktails and a massage and the place seemed even more idyllic and a lot closer to the night life, yet still secluded being on the south end of Mae Had beach.