We spent 9 nights at Layana after a stay on Koh Jum. This is a lovely adults only hotel, offering quiet understated luxury in a gorgeous location right on Prae Ae beach.

The restaurant was pretty good and reasonably priced. Unlike a previous reviewer we never experienced any problems with the staff understanding our orders and they always repeated the order back to us to ensure they had taken it correctly. Service was a little slow at times but this is Thailand not London. Throughout the hotel, staff were always eager to please, very courteous and welcoming. We found the service throughout the hotel to be discreet and charming.

There was an excellent selection at breakfast and the chef was always happy to cook banana pancakes for me, on request.

Sunloungers on the beach were either white pvc or wooden framed but both types were covered with a comfortable mattress cover, so no complaints there.

The rooms were lovely; classically understated Thai style but also spacious and very clean. The only minor complaint I have is that I found the bed mattress too firm and the bedding could be improved. some of the sheets seemed badly fitting and not of the best quality but all in all this is just a minor issue. I had originally tried to book beach villa but left it too late. Nevertheless, I was very happy with our room and would happily book a room again.

We had a bit of a glitch on our first night when there was a problem with the air conditioining and water started to come through the ceiling near the bathroom, but staff came to clean up and carry out the repair within minutes and were very apologetic, so no harm done.

We never experienced any noise issues in the room or throughout the resort. The pool area was beautifully laid out and very peaceful and the gardens were lovely.

We visited the spa a couple of times. It is not the most luxurious spa I've visited but it was quaint, typically Thai and spotlessly clean. The therapists were great, they checked pressure during massages to ensure we were happy and with some of the special offers available, it offered a good experience and great value.

The beach area was clean, the pale golden sand and the sea was blue and crystal clear. It is quite hard to leave the hotel but we hired a car and toured around the island which was very enjoyable and we also got a taxi into Saladan a few times.

An excellent restaurant a short taxi ride away from the hotel is Time for Lime, but I've written a separate review about that. If you are an animal lover, do try to visit. All their profits go to Lanta Animal Welfare. They also offer Thai cookery classes and although we didn't try these, they seemed very popular.

Despite the glitch with the air con and the bedding, I have still given the Layana 5 stars which shows how happy we were. All in all we had a great stay at Layana. I would definitely return to this hotel like a shot.

It is worth for the money . Peaceful location and excellent service. It is great experience for New year vacation.

Ok where do I start? There are many positives about this resort and they are :- GREAT location, lovely beach (but sunloungers on beach need upgrading)! Lovely quiet pool area (NO kids, adult only resort). Service generally very good apart from service in the restaurant which can be slow at times and the Thai waitresses can not always understand/speak english so therefore sometimes make mistakes! However the management are fantastic and go out of there way to rectify any problems and make sure their guests are happy! The food is of a good standard and quite a good selection! We ate here 7 out of the 9 nights we stayed! Kho Lanta is lovely and quite quiet not over developed like Phuket for example!

The negatives for us were the rooms! At the time of booking none of the beach villas were available so we had to go with a regular room which are in blocks of 4. We asked to be in a QUIET room. However given the design of the rooms/blocks you can hear the guests in the next room when they move around, close the curtains, have the tv on, move the chair around (LOUDLY), doors opening/closing etc etc. For most part of our stay it was not too much of an issue as most guests seemed to be in bed by 12pm but for the second half of our stay it became noiser with people moving around/making noise from around 7-8am! For us this is TOO early to wake up on holiday given that we dont generally go to sleep before 12pm/1am. We like to lay in until at least 9am! One morning our neighbour left/checked out at about 7am which woke me up but then I started to go back to sleep but then at around 8am the cleaners came and made SOOOO much noise cleaning the room that it was impossible to go back to sleep!! Also you could hear the people on the ground floor moving around and coming and going so obviously these rooms were not built with ANY sound instillation at all! I am sure though that for a lot of guests it may not be an issue if they are early to bed and early to rise! Another issue was that the curtains are made of cheap material and are not Blackout so would wake up by 7am every morning anyway and have to put on eye masks! ALso the bathroom blinds even when closed let in a LOT of light!

We had massages one day in the spa which were not great! Both my husband and I have regular massage every week even at home and I am myself a trained massage therapist, so am very critical when it comes to massage! We booked for the swedish 90 mins and the pressure was not great even though we both asked for strong pressure plus the technique was not good!

All in all even with the lack of sleep we enjoyed our stay given the great location, management, food etc. But we are used to luxury when it comes to hotel rooms and peace and quiet therefore not sure if we would go back! Maybe if they addressed this issues with the rooms or maybe try one of their villas if available but they only have about 4 villas so may be difficult and even they may not be up to the standard we are used to!

It must have been 10 years since we were last on Ko Lanta, this time we chose Layana .... excellent choice . From the reception at the airport to the departure assistance at the same airport this hotel was outstanding in the level of service; personal, discreet, timely and I could go on and on, just perfect. Everybody there from Mr. Stefan , the general manager, down to the gardeners make you feel welcome and they try to create a homely atmosphere, it works, it’s the first time I am at a seaside hotel and not feel bored, we did not leave the hotel grounds except for a beach stroll, the outstanding restaurant did help of course (they had our favorite Italian wine!). Nothing is too much asked and most of the time does not need asking! The place is stunning, the gardens immaculate, the rooms cozy and spacious. I usually find something to moan about, here it was very hard to find, but one thing was not up to standard and that was the bed sheets and the pillows (they have a pillow menu); ok but like I said just not up to the high standard of the place. Overall : great place keep up the good work.