This resort seems to be rather the 'Cinderella' of Samet Resorts - the company that seems to have tourism on the island of Koh Samet pretty much stitched up (quite a large number of the island's resorts, ferries and diving schools as well as other activities seem to be run by them).

The Baan Ploy Sea is situated away from most of the more popular resorts on the north coast of the island, next to the jetty where one of the regular ferries comes in. There are two sections to the resort - one by the beach, where most of the rooms are; and the other built on stilts in the water about 100m from the beach, which consists of the restaurant and the posher rooms. You reach the 'offshore' part of the resort by a flat-bottomed boat pulled by a cable (you ring a bell then you need to cross and the boat gets sent over - all rather quaint!).

Things did not get off to a good start, however. We'd booked a package, which specifically included a room with a sea view. We were actually given a room at the side of the building where you had to crane your neck for any chance of seeing the sea - all other rooms being occupied we were told (but the lack of people at the place belied this). The resort offered to change to room the next day, but frankly the alternative room wasn't much better - very dark and only a small balcony overlooking the pool (beyond which you could see the sea). We asked about availability on the 'offshore' section: there was no difficulty with that as there seemed to be no guests there at all. However the rooms were nearly double what we were paying. After some haggling, we managed to get a discount, and decamped to a much larger 'offshore' room, with a very nice view (we were right over the sea after all) and a large decked area outside with tables and benches, which we had all to ourselves for the whole stay.

One disadvantage of the 'offshore' rooms is the proximity of the jetty, which means you may be woken up by the revving of the ferry and assorted motor boats from about 7.30am and the evening peace can be disturbed by luxury yachts being hauled ashore (for what reason we weren't sure....).

The rooms are spacious, and we had a separate dressing room and bathroom, which was a plus; but only two coat-hangers were provided (which seemed to be standard issue in all the rooms) and there were not much in the way of cupboards to store things in.

The restaurant provided good food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with live fish swimming in large plastic basins, from which you could choose you preferred catch for your meal. If you don't like fish, there's not much else on the menu; but it was very well cooked!

The tables in the restaurant at first looked very low indeed and we wondered how we were supposed to sit at them; until we found that the floor under each table had been cut away, and you ate dangling your legs over the sea, where you could watch shoals of fish swimming about through the table's glass top as you ate. The fish devour any scraps of food that happen to come their way!

Service at the resort was friendly - we were served at dinner by a rather statuesque lady-boy who was very attentive and helpful. At breakfast (which seems to alternate between a buffet and ordering off the menu, depending on how many guests are in), we did encounter some communication problems with a couple of the waitresses who seemed to speak no English whatsoever. Fortunately the receptionist was there to interpret!

Being at the 'wrong' end of the island does really mean you need transport if you are going to get to any of the other beaches - unless you want to rely on the 'bus' service (actually open-backed trucks which looked very uncomfortable!). There is a scooter hire place at the resort right next door (300 Baht a day), but be warned, once you get beyond Samet village and into the nature reserve, the road is a very bumpy, potholed and gullied dirt-track, and you need to be fairly adept at avoiding the worst crevasses and staying upright. A better bet - though a fair bit more expensive - is to hire an ATV (All-Terrain-Vehicle or quadbike) which deals quite effectively with the road's worst excesses, especially in the south of the island, where it becomes less road and more assault course. But the beaches in the extreme south are well worth having your bones shaken up a bit! The resort charges 1,700 Baht for hire of and ATV, which is quite a bit more than you'll be charged in the village, (where you can hire the most basic model for at little as 800 Baht), but then they do bring it to the door and take it back for you!

Overall, we enjoyed staying at Baan Ploy Sea, if only because the other resorts looked quite crowded and noisy. At least we had the place pretty much to ourselves, apart from the odd invasion by parties of Chinese tourists, who mysteriously vanished after staying just one night, it seemed! The place could do with sprucing up a bit (some of the decking is becoming quite warped), but that didn't spoil our enjoyment. There's nothing much basically wrong with this place, the staff are friendly and try hard to please, and altogether it makes a good base from which to enjoy Koh Samet.

From the first impression arriving at the pier, the staff at Samed resorts were friendly, attentive and welcoming. The transfer by ferry took about 25 minutes and unlike others who then had to travel further to their resort, Baan Ploy was just a 3 minute walk down the beach.

It may not seem like the most convenient location as the beach is not the prettiest on the island, but the motorcycle hire is right behind the resort and is very reasonably priced with fuel included £300 baht per 24 hours) which allowed us to make the 5 minute trip up to the main village to get access to the main beaches and restaurants. Personally we prefer the quieter more laid back vibe at Baan Ploy as opposed to Sai Keaw. There is also a little store and laundry shop next to the hotel.

The place itself is stunning, we loved the original design and the rooms were always immaculate. One complaint - the sun loungers really should be changed, they do not fit in with rest of the hotel and look cheap for what your paying, but that's a minor point! But saying that, we spent little time at the hotel during the day for this reason and because we wanted to explore the other beaches which got more sun later in the day. Ao prao bay accessed by taxi is stunning and quiet, just watch out of the sea urchins!

In regards to food, we only ate at the restaurant one night and a lunch time but the food was excellent. Deep fried squid and the green curry soup were highlights - and all reasonably priced. As others have mentioned, you ring a bell at the main land for the boat to take you to the restaurant. It sounds like an inconvenience, but was always quick and the end view you get while you eat your breakfast on the ocean is worth it.

We couldn't recommend this place highly enough, but think it should be an adults only resort - it does not seem fit for young children.

Baan Ploy Sea was a resort we opted to go after failing to get accommodation in our first choice the Ao Prao resort on the western side of Koh Samed. Despite this we had a wonderful two days at this quiet resort, a world away from the noisy party resorts on the main beach at Koh Samed. Although our room was not directly on the water we still had a pretty good view of the sea from our room and tiny balcony. The staff were kind,. efficient and helpful. We were picked up at Rayong by the resort staff and transported by their own boat after resting in the ac waiting room. All very smooth and relaxing. For most of our stay we mostly had the resort to our selves including the swimming pool and beach chairs where i lay contemplating the beautiful view of rain clouds on the horizon over waves gently lapping near my feet. The rooms with wooden walls were comfortable, As we were a family of three they made up an extra bed beside the window which was great for looking out to sea. You had to walk to the restaurant over the wooden bridge and the sea food was adequate if not spectacular. As the restaurant was set over the water each glass table had an opening underneath where you could see barnacles and shoals of fish swimming about. The resort arranged a four hour speedboat excursion to outlying islands which included a chance to snorkel and feed fish as well as a visit to nearby fish farm where we saw lemon sharks and a variety of other species of fish. The only downside was the expense about 7500 BHT although we were told that we could pay half as much if we took our chances with the local speedboat operators. I decided to stick with the resort as I was traveling with my family and conscious of standards of security and safety while out at sea.