The Waters Khao Lak by Katathani

Great hotel, location good, everything you need is nearby, except the beach! Had a lovely room on the upper floor with pool access. Breakfast good, plenty of options and of course the friendliness and helpfulness of the staff was outstanding. Would definitely return.

This is our second stay at The Waters and it definitely won’t be our last. We stayed in a Pool Access room this time, which was required as I am recovering from a broken leg which impacts my ability to climb stairs. We stayed in one of the newer rooms, which are amazing, however, are quite some distance from reception and Amici (restaurant and breakfast venue). This was never a problem, though, as the hotel has golf carts that can pick you up at any time. A special mention to JJ, who was often the one to pick us up or drive us back to the room. What an absolute credit to the hotel. In saying that, all staff are so attentive and pleasant.
The location of the hotel is fantastic. Close to many restaurants, spas, shops and bars. Our favourites are Tuk Tik (lunch/dinner), Be Bob Bar, and of course, Amici.
Can’t wait to return again when I am fully recovered and can experience a few more delights of Khao Lak.

Our stay at The Waters Khao Lak was an enjoyable experience with some genuine highlights, though there are a few things worth knowing before you book.
The rooms themselves are lovely and were kept spotlessly clean by the housekeeping team every single day — a real credit to the resort. The staff throughout were consistently attentive and friendly, always greeting you with a warm smile, and this was undoubtedly one of the best parts of our stay.
The resort is clearly popular, which speaks to its appeal, though this does mean the main pool “Bubble” gets busy and sunbeds tend to fill up early, so arriving before breakfast gives you the best chance of securing a spot. Similarly, breakfast was a lively affair with a fantastic spread and plenty of choice to keep everyone happy, even if the bustling atmosphere means it’s worth heading down with a little patience.
One practical tip for light sleepers — we’d recommend bringing earplugs, as the external air conditioning units on the outside wall of the rooms can be noticeable at night.
The restaurant’s position near the main road means it’s not the most tranquil setting, though the quality and variety of the food more than make up for it.
The staff warmth and exceptional cleanliness are real strengths here, and guests who enjoy a lively, sociable resort atmosphere will likely have a wonderful time. For us personally, we prefer something a little quieter and more intimate, so while we had a pleasant stay, it may not be our first choice to return to.
This keeps all your points but frames them as helpful tips rather than criticisms, and softens the ending so it reflects your preference rather than a firm rejection.

The Waters is a hotel with super nice big pools, rooms and the staff is the best ever!
Pool access rooms are clean and very comfortably, housekeeping every day.
Only short walk to the beach, but instead the hotel i s near all other services as restaurants, shops and the evening market.
And if you wishes to visit some beaches as Memory-, Coconut- och Whitesand beahes, you can book the cheap tuk-tuk from the reseption and it takes only about 15 minutes to this beaches.

Lovely adult focused hotel right in the heart of the action, step outside the gates to a multitude of restaurants and bars, very close to night market and only a short walk to the beach.
Swim up rooms are a delight as is the plentiful breakfast.
Drinks are reasonably priced.
I travelled here with my elderly father (86), we had a room each in the wing behind the massage area, the location within the resort was perfect for my father as it was within an easy walk to bars, restaurant and the gates to the resort. We had a rooms with shade all day on the balcony and found this to be a blessing given the heat.
Sai at the pool bar was a delight, extremely professional and a credit to the resort. We loved it so much that we will return again in 4 weeks time for 10 nights - can’t wait.
Having no children and a previous stay at The Little Shore with my wife, I found this property comparable but in an easier location.

Excellent service from JJ and Pun! Both very friendly, helpful and attentive during our stay.

Very nice and clean hotel, good breakfast, nice rooms / we have pool access and it was outstanding. Nice personals and staff.
Near beach and restaurangs. Highly rekommended

This was our first time in Khao Lak. We chose The Waters as it seemed to be more adult orientated, and it's central location.
Pros:
The staff - every member of staff we came across were friendly, and nothing was too much trouble. Special mention to Joe, predominantly at the Bubbles Bar, but also present at breakfast too. He had a very pro-active attitude, nothing was a problem, only solutions 😊
Good choice at breakfast, and a great egg station. Always a choice of Western and Thai options.
We had room service when we arrived as it was late and we were tired. The service/food were excellent. We didn't eat in the restaurant in the evening, but we did enjoy a few cocktails during happy hour, which were excellent.
Pool areas were clean, and well maintained. Never any problems with sunbeds.
Cons:
The reason for 3 stars, was our room. We had a ground floor pool access room. The space was adequate and housekeeping kept it spotless. However, it was extremely tired and worn out. It's obvious, that the rooms had once been amazing, but definitely now in desperate need of a major upgrade - chipped flooring, rusty mirrors, chipped furniture, just generally very tired and 'tatty looking'. This is a shame, because we loved everything else about the resort.

Food selection and staff very nice, room nice and spacious loads of beds and space for all. Lots of nice restaurants literally on the doorstep.
TV in the room wasn’t digital and despite retuning the TV all channels were very grainy and really unwatchable. I only stayed for a few days so I never complained or questioned. However all the 3 other resorts I stayed in ( I am still in Thailand) had digital TV!!
Come on Waters ….. sort it out 🙌😉

love this hotel and location. we are in a direct access pool room which is absolutely idyllic. the hotel is well spread out around several pools and is walking distance to the beach, many restaurants and the night market. All the staff are friendly and so helpful especially the tour desk lady. we are due to leave in a couple of days to continue our holiday in Phuket. I did make enquiries about changing our itinerary and staying here but unfortunately the hotel is sold out for next week. its a shame but just means we will have to come back another time.

fantastic staff acomation fantastic location all staff go above and beyond even a friendly smile from behind the scenes staff rooms comfortable beds 🛌 externally clean caunt wait to spent my birthday again mike@tom st helens

We have had a fantastic week here at The Waters. We were pleased we paid the premium for a swim up ground floor room. Our communal Swimming pool was 50metres long! Room 1331 was perfect as we had the sun all day whereas some of the other room balcony’s opposite seemed to be in the shade for longer. The rooms were large with a huge 8ft wide bed. I found the bed firm even with a topper on so requested a second one which arrived quickly and made it perfect. Air conditioned rooms worked very well and most welcoming after a sun bathing session. Rooms were cleaned daily and bottles of water replaced if needed. All the staff were so friendly and helpful. One of the reception staff made a phone reservation for a recommended beach front restaurant for me. Great service. Considering the hotel is located in the heart of the vibrant town of Bang Niang it had such a calm serene feel about it which was lovely. Didn’t really use the beach but it was only a couple of minutes away if you wanted to see the sunset. All the fabulous restaurants were a short walk away serving up a wide variety of menus. So reasonably priced! Could have a full blown meal with cocktails for £20/£25 per couple! My only issue with the hotel is the canteen culture of breakfast time which has been mentioned by others. At peak times you had to wait a long time for a hot drink and queue for the buffet food. Something I didn’t experience at the previous hotel. Quality of the breakfast was ok but nothing to write home about. Didn’t find it a pleasurable relaxing experience even when we left it much later to eat. Drops a star for this but I would still return because everything else was first class.

As my wife and I near the end of our 3 weeks stay at The Waters in Khao Lak, we look back on another fantastic stay. This is our third visit in three years and we are planning to return next year to escape the British Winter.
The staff here are wonderful, under the leadership of the resort manager ‘Chita’ and the Reception Manager Fon.
We book an upper pool room, which is very spacious and has a massive bed. I particularly like the large balcony that easily fits two sun loungers and gives private access down to the pool, of which there are several at the resort.
Whilst I highly recommend this hotel, I feel if you have older children, their sister hotel The Sands, is a better fit as it has far more family focused utilities.
The Sands Hotel also has a beach front that the Waters lacks. However, that is made up for by being in the centre of many excellent restaurants and bars.

Worth a visit if you are coming to Khao Lak!

We had a brilliant stay at The Waters Hotel Khao Lak and would highly recommend it. It’s a great newer hotel with spacious, well-designed rooms and excellent facilities throughout.

If you’re booking, we would absolutely recommend choosing a poolside or swim-up room. Having sun loungers and day beds on the balcony was a real highlight and made it feel extra special – perfect for relaxing during the day and early evenings.

Breakfast was very, very good and offered everything you could need, with a generous mix of Thai and Western buffet options. Plenty of choice, good quality, and something for everyone.

This isn’t a quirky, traditional Thai-style hotel, but if you’re looking for a polished, modern 4–5 star style hotel with great amenities, professional service and attentive staff, this place really delivers. Everything felt well run and comfortable from start to finish.

The atmosphere was relaxed and international, with most guests being German and Brits , which suited us just fine. The staff and service were excellent throughout our stay.

Overall, a fantastic hotel in Khao Lak – comfortable, modern and great value for the quality offered. We would definitely return and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to others.

The Waters in Khao Lak is such a beautiful and peaceful place to stay , if you are looking for a relaxing holiday . The grounds are lovely , main pool with swim up bar , there is no loud music and no entertainment in the evenings since bars , clubs and restaurants are found a few minutes walk from hotel . The staff are helpful and friendly . Amici Restaurant is Italian and the only one in the hotel but meals are much cheaper outside and just as good .
The Beach is a few minutes walk away , but there are no sun beds for hire here ( policy) but there is a restaurant overlooking the sea
( cheap as well )
If you want to sun bath go to White Sands Beach but be aware the trees shade the sun until mid day or go to Coconut beach which has sunbeds / restaurants etc
Travel to beach mentioned is 15 mins by taxi costing 350 Thai Bhat one way ( £1 = 40 Thai Baht in Dec 2025 )

This hotel is one of the best I have stayed in anywhere in Asia we were in downstairs swim up room 1751 .. this room had a very good lay out with easy excess to the pool , the splash bar was awesome and the staff very helpful especially Mail who was very knowledgeable and friendly she explained everything we asked of her very well and sure is a asset to the company. ( keep up the good work Mail ) .. it was a pleasure to stay here and I would recommend it one and all … best hotel by far in the area … I will be coming back to stay again for sure …

We stayed here for 12 days in room 1751 this room was spacious and comfortable with pool excess at our door , the staff were very helpful respectful and friendly they are a credit to the hotel , I especially would like to thank the staff at the splash bar who looked after me and my wife when ever we ordered food and drinks from them , Mail was excellent and very knowledgeable when mixing drinks for us also advising us on our food choices she was a pleasure to deal with and is a true asset to the company .. thank you the staff has made our stay more pleasant … we have truely been looked after very well and would recommend a stay here at this resort to anybody looking for a well run relaxed atmosphere … it would be hard to find a better place to stay and only 5 mins from everything you could need

The location of The Waters is near-perfect, particularly if it's your first trip to Khao Lak and you want easy access to beach, markets, bars and restaurants. The resort, as the name suggests, is themed around water and you have access to gorgeous swimming pools across the resort. In fact, the pools are so nice that you don't even feel the need to leave the resort. We spent a fair bit of time lazing around the pool. We had the upper pool access rooms and could directly walk down to the pools. The rooms are well laid out with a large deck that you can laze on, a large comfortable bed. The team at the resort is also very quick to address any issues or concerns. We had some issue with the lack of cooling in our room one afternoon and the service team got it fixed immediately. They also responded swiftly when we managed to lock ourselves out of our room. The housekeeping team does an efficient job and they were happy to clean the room around our schedule.

There're plenty of deck chairs across all pools so getting a deck chair wasn't a problem. We particularly loved the jacuzzis across the pools where you could literally be getting a full body massage in the pool. The pools are easily the highlight of this resort and we found ourselves spending time inside the resort rather than at the beach, which is a few minutes walk from there.

Additionally, if you'd like to explore the surroundings, everything is within a periphery of not more than 10-15 mins.

Beach - the Bang Niang beach is less than 5 mins walk

Bars and restaurants - plenty of options, ranging from local Thai food options, western fare and some Italian restaurants. We tried a bunch restaurants like Siam, Tiewson, Green Pepper, Tom Yung Goong and bars like Lan La, Mr. Chats, Fat Shark, Banana bar etc

Bang Niang market - 10 min walk to a nice market that comes to life in the evening, with a great vibe, food and drink options and good for souvenir shopping

Massages - plenty of local massage options within a mins walk.

Also, for planning any days trips and excursions, there are plenty of travel agents and tour operators that you can access around the main street.

The only things I'd like to call out as areas of improvement would be breakfast. While there's a variety of options, the food could be better. Also, in case you're someone who likes to watch tv in the hotel, i found the options lacking international and English content. But these are minor aspects in the face of overwhelming positives.

Khao Lak is quite laid back and quiet, unlike parts of Phuket. If you're not fussed about being on a beachfront property and want options and walking access to most things, this resort ticks all the boxes.

This was our first trip to Khao Lak and our stay at The Waters played a large part in ensuring it was a great one. If our travels find us coming back to Khao Lak in the future, we'd look forward to staying there again.

The Waters hotel is tucked away behind the main streets of Bang Niang. We were quite late arriving but the restaurant was still open or we could have room service if we wanted to. We had a lovely friendly greeting at check in and everything was done really quickly. We were taken to our room on a buggy. It seemed like a very long way from reception. There are shortcuts when walking.
The room was a ground floor pool access room and it was really good! A lovely big bathroom and a spacious bedroom. There was a kettle with tea and coffee and a full sized iron and ironing board.
We were very lucky as our room had the sun all day. A lot of the pool access rooms appeared to be in the shade all day. If you're planning on staying at the Waters in a pool access room request a room in the sun (if you want to).
We were right next to the Splash bar so very easy to get drinks. You can also eat there at lunchtime if you want to. The bars close early at the hotel. The Splash bar closed at 5pm and the Bubble bar closed at 8pm. There's a bar just outside the hotel if you want drinks in the evening.
The hotel is very spread out with a fair bit of walking if you're in the rooms right at the end of the resort. You can request a buggy if mobility is a problem.
The pools are lovely. I'm so pleased that we had a pool access room but there were plenty of sunbeds dotted around the hotel if you want to go to a different pool.
We didn't do very much while we were there as I'd recently had hip surgery. We walked to the beach which is 5 minutes from the hotel. It's lovely but there are no sunbeds and it's quite sloped. The hotel will get a taxi to Cocunut beach which has sunbeds and bars.
We went to a local temple. The hotel arranged a taxi for us and he took us to the temple and waited in the car park until we wanted to leave. The temple was definitely something to see.
The area is buzzing. There are lots of great restaurants. The food is very nice and not too expensive. There's a 7/11 shop just across the road that has everything you need. There are mosquitos especially at night. The 7/11 sells a very good insect repellent which actually works.
We were half board. We could have either breakfast and lunch or breakfast and dinner. We had lunch as we wanted to eat out at night.
We loved this hotel and this area. The Thai people are so lovely. Always smiling and so polite. The hotel was everything we wanted it to be and more. We'll definitely be back.

We had a really good stay at this hotel. The pool was definitely the highlight – it’s large, and we never had to fight for sunbeds. Even when we arrived around 11:30, there were still plenty of spots available. The whole pool area felt peaceful and spacious.

The food was decent, and the service was fine as well, though the staff didn’t always understand English as well as you might hope. The fitness area is small but has all the basics you need for a quick workout.

If I could give one piece of advice, it would be to book a room with a private pool – we didn’t, and we definitely regretted it. The atmosphere at the hotel is calm, with no loud guests or noisy groups, which made it perfect for relaxing.

There’s also a lot to see and do around Khao Lak, so we’ll definitely be coming back to this hotel in the future.