Exclusive island paradise - Review: Cape Fahn Hotel, Koh Samui, Thailand
Quite possibly one of the most memorable properties I have visited, Cape Fahn in Koh Samui, Thailand offers a genuinely unique experience that is quite unmatched elsewhere on this tropical island paradise. Samui is full of resort options including luxury brands such as Ritz Carlton, W Resort from Marriott, The Intercontinental from IHG or local hotel groups like Anatara. Cape Fahn is operated and owned by Cape & Kantary, a smaller local luxury hotel chain that offers differentiated experiences across Thailand in key tourist hotspots such as Koh Samui. This property is their most luxurious and unique - which you will soon discover.
Getting to the hotel
The hotel is situated around 15 minutes’ drive from Samui Airport with most stays and packages including a private transfer in a mini bus - all standard stuff. Where it gets unique is actually getting from the taxi to the property itself - less Planes, Trains and Automobiles instead more Planes, Automobiles and Boats! Once out of the taxi you will be escorted to a slightly rickety looking boat which is purely to direct guests from the main island across the 2 minute journey to Cape Fahn’s private island. The boat can be accessed for travel between the main island and Cape Fahn between 05h30 and 23h00 - just be aware in case you are out late at a bar or restaurant.
Arrival
We were greeted by the excellent reception staff who guided us across to the open air reception which is clad in light coloured wood and utilises a lot of natural materials. Throughout the Cape Fahn property emphasis is placed on being environmentally friendly whether that is via the use of reusable water bottles, no single use plastics or electric vehicles (golf buggies) around the island. This was even shown through the Christmas tree which appeared to be created from discarded plastics.
In the reception area, we were served some tasty biscuits and cucumber infused coconut water whilst I had to sign some forms before being guided to our rooms - on the aforementioned golf buggy.
This is completely unnecessary since it was just a 2-3 minute walk to our villa - but it was nice not to have to carry my heavy baggage through the hilly island. I’ll also note that you can request a buggy on-demand if you can’t make the walk downhill or just feel too lazy to do so.
Before I go on, we had paid a media rate for our villa - which was the regular Tropical Pool Villa that are located towards the centre of the island - however we were subsequently upgraded to the second highest room dubbed the Horizon Ocean View Pool Villa. This may have been down to a number of factors:
Them knowing I was going to review the property
Advising them that we had just got engaged
Low occupancy rates due to Thailand’s entry requirements
A combination of the above
Either way, I was extremely grateful for this experience. I should note that the standard villa is still of fantastic quality but the increase in price is primarily down to the improved ocean view you will get an increase space.
The villa
Stunning. Breathtaking. Gorgeous.
There are simply no other words for what Cape Fahn has done with their villas. Starting with the first impressions after being dropped off from the buggy, you’ll enter through a wooden door into a rainforest-like environment and path that leads you towards your front door.
Walking into the villa, you’ll first notice the impressively sized living room featuring comfortable seating for four people with a centrally placed table (which included nice gifts from the hotel such as a cake and sparkling wine). This is an airy space with lofty ceilings and windows on three sides - two of which open onto the pool space and allow the sea air to enter. There is also a reasonably sized television in this space with access to satellite channels and a Blu Ray player (!) but I doubt many people will watch it with the facilities on offer. Air conditioning is available throughout the property but I would encourage you to instead use the ceiling fan and have the windows and doors open instead - at least during the day time.
The bathroom space sits between the living room and bedroom with sliding doors to segregate each section of the villa. As you would expect, the bathroom is equally impressive to the rest of the hotel with couples sinks, a freestanding circular bath (pre-filled with rose petals) as well as a shower and toilet. The bathroom also plays host to the wardrobe and dressing area which is a nice concept as it reduces mess or visual distraction in the bedroom whilst not impacting your experience.
Amenities are available extensively but also with the previously mentioned eco-friendly angle. This included:
Soap with their own signature scent (Vivid Summer)
Bath salts and rose-scented soak
Shampoo, shower gel and moisturising lotion in dispensers
Insect repellent which is needed in this environment
Sandals, dressing gowns were also available
Interestingly, in a bid to increase reusability of items, the hotel proactively displays the cost of the in-room items to encourage people to not wastefully take them if they’re not going to reuse them. I assume that they will charge you for them, but I didn’t attempt to find out because I already have plenty from other hotels.
The bedroom follows on with the winning formula of the villa - high beautiful ceilings, plenty of natural light and lots of space to move around. With a king bed and the best view to wake up to, this will be one of the best night’s sleep and wake ups you will ever receive.
Behind the bed is a large desk which faces towards the sea view, with a comfortable chair sandwiched between the fridge and tea/coffee making facilities. This design is effective since it makes effective use of what would otherwise be a dead space whilst also giving a very large surface for you to work at. I am quite a messy desk user and spread my items out all over the place, so the surface area was a perfect size for me.
Speaking of working, the internet was fast and effective with an average of around 30 Mbps upload and download speeds in the villa. This is quite necessary because 4G connection does drop since there doesn’t appear to be a cellular tower on the private island. The only minor annoyance is that there is a login page when you connect which requires you to only connect three devices per villa. This is irritating but I understand why they have implemented it as the connection to the main island will be limited in capacity and they will not want the link to fail completely from over utilisation. My recommendation, if possible, would be if you could name the device when you connect so you can easily identify which device you are going to kick off the network when you reach your three-device limit.
The fridge features a selection of free drinks, which included soft drinks and beer, as well as snacks like crisps and biscuits above - with the only paid drink being imported wine. This is a good feature because you are so secluded here, you can’t just nip to the local 7-Eleven or Lawsons to get some cheaper snacks. Coffee can be served from the Nespresso-like machine whilst the tea is complimented by the British-necessity - a kettle.
Now for the part you are going to most admire about this property - the outdoor space. Starting with that view across the ocean - I have quite simply never stayed at a property so close to the ocean as this and the constant sound of crashing waves is simply mesmerising.
The hotel has a variety of seating outdoors to embrace this - including two beanie bag-like chairs (but with a little bit more support than a regular bean bag) and two traditional sun loungers with toppers. These both provide comfortable seating options depending on what you want to do alongside the option to have some shade with the available umbrella.
And finally, onto the beautiful infinity pool that simply is impressively large for a private villa. Whilst not Olympic-sized, you can do a bit of swimming up and down or sit on inbuilt lounge area where you can turn on the pool jets to almost massage your back. It’s a great space to relax, get some exercise or to simply take in all of your surroundings.
Interaction with the hotel staff can be done via the Cape & Kantary app on your personal device. This can include room service, paid drinks, more of the free drinks and water, towels, amenities as well as ordering the buggy service. It’s effective, works and allows you to easily interact with the hotel staff. I used it to reserve space at the gym in the morning, make a hotel reservation and ask for help in finding a hairdresser. It goes one step further than what was offered at the Four Seasons Bangkok at Chao Phraya River allowing you to contact the team on your device, rather than an in-room iPad.
Cape Fahn have cleverly designed the villa space between the four distinct zones - living, sleeping, bathing, and outdoors. Between the three indoor spaces you can easily subdivide with sliding doors which can create a nice amount of privacy for guests in different parts of the villa. For example, I was working remotely during my trip and so I shut the doors off from the desk in the bedroom from both the outdoors and the bathroom areas allowing me to concentrate and work.
Facilities
If the villa isn’t enough for you, Cape Fahn has plenty of other activities and facilities on offer to make your trip complete. We used the fitness centre whilst staying and have to say it is a pretty good option if you want to at least stay a bit healthy whilst visiting. With a selection of machines, weights and even a yoga studio - it is far better than your average hotel gym.
Cape Fahn is host to a dedicated and large spa called Cape Spa which looked excellent however I did not have time to make use of it. Prices are more expensive than regular spas but the quality, as you would expect, looks far better and the surroundings nicer than what you would otherwise find in Samui.
Other pool options are available at the hotel alongside the primary beach area. This may be more suitable if you’re looking to do longer swims than the one in the villa or just want a change of scenery. Alongside the pool includes a bar and restaurant area, activities pavilion (which would be perfect for children’s activities) as well as a reading room to unwind in.
The beach offers white sand for those Instagram worthy pictures or just a location that is beautiful to relax at. It is not open to public use.
Food at Cape Fahn
Our first experience of food at Cape Fahn was Afternoon Tea at the Hue restaurant on-site. This is the restaurant and bar situated next to the pool and beach. It was beautifully made with a selection of cakes and desserts - but it was just a bit of a sugar rush considering we also had a big chocolate cake in the room as a welcome from the hotel. The afternoon tea was served on natural materials and was sat between two quirky monkey characters carved into coconut rusks that would have otherwise been thrown away. Further burnishing their eco credentials was the young coconut-niyog served which Lloyd loved - and took him back to his childhood in The Philippines. I’m less of a fan of coconut water but maybe that’s just because I’m no used to it
Outside of afternoon tea, Hue offers all-day dining options including Thai and Western foods - it is likely to be your go to place if you are looking for a bite to eat during the day.
The other main restaurant on the island is Long Dtai, created in collaboration with Thai-focussed Australian Michelin-starred chef David Thompson. This restaurant plays host to breakfast and evening meals (beside Wednesday night). I’ll start first with the evening meal at Long Dtai. Despite being a Thai restaurant, it offers food that you don’t find at your Thai on the local high street. We opted for a fish paste serve on orange (nicer than it sounds), grilled Tiger Prawns, ground Thai meat skewers and grilled local fish. The latter three disheswere grilled in the outdoor cooking area which fills the air with the moreish food scent and really allows you to see how they are cooking the food. The quality of the food was excellent and flavourful without being too overpowered by Thai spices as some establishments do. This high-quality food is further improved by the impressive and dramatic surroundings of the restaurant with a stunning view across the sea and towards the main Samui island. The only improvement here would perhaps be improved lighting as there are only makeshift lamps that are put out at dusk, this could be made better by having lighting chains overhead to improve the night-time lighting. Indoor seating is available for people eating at the restaurant, but I would advise you to embrace to unique outdoor setup. Non-hotel guests can also make reservation for dinner at Long Dtai.
Breakfast is also held at Long Dtai and I’ll be honest I was initially disappointed at the offering. After having been spoilt by the epic breakfast at the Four Seasons Bangkok with their huge buffet, my expectations had been adjusted and the buffet at Long Dtai was tiny in comparison. I was, however, very wrong on my initial impressions. The buffet was of decent quality featuring Siomai dumplings, pastries (gold leaf topped, no less), breads, fruits, bacon and more. It was only after getting our first plate of food did we realise that there was the opportunity to order breakfast items from the menu, included in your room rate. Again, a mixed menu of Western staples like Eggs Benedict and Pancakes through to the excellent Thai options like Mud Crab Meat Yellow Curry or the Stir-Fried Noodles. The selection and variety were brilliant, made even better by the fact a different menu was given on the two days we had breakfast - which will make your stay far more varied than it otherwise would be. Drink options included barista-made coffee, tea, fruit juices and coconut water (of course!). The breakfast here will set you up for the day, so much so I expect that you won’t have to eat any more until dinner time!
Conclusion
Now if you’ve read this far, congratulations! This is a very lengthy read but any less and you will not understand the beauty of this property - even this review does not give Cape Fahn justice for the brilliant experience they deliver. Every aspect of this property is carefully considered from the emphasis on being environmentally friendly through to the minimalist beach-inspired design that inspires relaxation and serenity. I cannot say a bad word about this property because it is so stunningly gorgeous and with excellent staff. Cape and Kantary have created an experience that is unique on Koh Samui. With the lack of large corporate overlords, they have created a hotel that is like no other with excellent villas, tasty and unique food as well as splashes of personality across this little island. Within a heartbeat, I would stay at Cape Fahn again. If you stay and can afford the prices (which are similar to other premium resorts), you will need to stay more than one night and spend all your time at the property to get the most from it. Don’t go out onto the main island during your stay because you will be missing all that Cape Fahn has to offer. Do yourself a favour and dedicate time here, give the chain properties from Marriott and others a miss and you will not regret it.
Cape Fahn sets the bar high for other island beach resorts - one so high and so in line with a minimalist design I love that I suspect very few hotels will be able to beat. Good luck to the hotels during my visit to the Philippines, I have very high expectations after my excellent stay here.
