Varinda Garden Resort ★★★

Gorgeous views from the hill down into Lamai from the specious veranda. The staff were lovely. The resort was amazingly colourful with lots of plants. So much effort had been put in with the bright colours. It must have taken years and years. It had a super relaxed vibe. Good food and drink. The apartment was very spacious. Great aircon.

The rooms were quite dark which was less desirable at night. The steps down to Lamai are very steep so not for someone with limited mobility although you can easily get a taxi. The bed was super hard. All the details were clear about the location on the top of the hill, but for us we decided we want to be by the sea.

Friendly, helpful staff, a great breakfast, very clean rooms, and an interesting place to look around.

We loved the decor, so colourfull and authentic , very special. The room was spacious and the pool, restaurant had a super cool view. The whole resort had a super nice vibe.

The room was a bit dated, but for us ok. And we missed one item in our laundry, which was not compensated…

Large and comfortabel rooms, beautiful surrounding and nice people. Set on a hill top

Loved the art and decor!

Breakfast was great. The beach is accessible in 3 minutes by bike, or 15 min walk, hotel is close to a large grocery store. Most of all I liked that the cabin for 4 has a bathtub.

the slide in the pool was cracked and a couple of us got abrasions.

We loved how rustic and rural it was even being so close to the centre of Lamai. The hotel has many unique wooden villas set out randomly over the property. Each walk way is an adventure. Positive quotes are painted everywhere. It has a hippy vibe. This isn't luxury but we didn't want that. We had a 2 bedroom villa. AC was good enough. There's a few little bugs around the place (just to warn you) but what do you expect living in the jungle?! The views from the hotel are amazing!! This hotel is not pretending to be 5 star. It offers you an authentic Thai style holiday. We live in Dubai and we loved this hotel. But please be prepared. It's very green. Animals live there. Bugs live there. It's the same all over Thailand. We'd use this hotel again. Olive on reception will also help with anything you need. I stayed with 6 year old and a 10 year old boys, if you have small babies and buggies it would be a bit more difficult with the steep steps but not impossible. My kids loved the slide from the upper pool to the lower! We had a great time. Thank you! The food is also good here. It's just a few minutes walk to the beginning of the main street in Lamai and a couple of minutes walk to the beach.

The things you would moan about we already were prepared for. It is rustic. It is designed to be old school and authentic. You will see the odd bug in Thailand. The beds weren't 5 star luxury. The decor is more 1960 then 2023 but we wanted it. My wife said this is the happiest hotel in Thailand.

i really impressed us lot with its character. not everyday you get this beautiful looks and character of hotel. i highly recommend anyone looking for serenity and peace and real beautiful resort full of character. Not just another boring resort. nice breakfast compared to 3 other 4star resorts we stayed

jungle never came clean as 5 star, so do expect few insects but by no means its deal breaker. Beautiful place to stay

Great location, close to the main street with many bars and shops, but resort itself is very quiet place (or our apartment really was). Helpful and nice staff. Rich breakfast, everyone can choose. Very tasty meals in restaurant at evening. Rooms were clean and regulary maintained.

Restaurant is a little bit expensiver than restaurants in the streets, but the cook makes his work really great.

The resort is SUCH a beautiful and cool place. We felt like living in a huge art gallery. No matter where you look. You see creativity and art everywhere. The kids also enjoyed it. There are many funny and cute figures around, a fish pond, a fun pool etc. The only thing that bothered me a bit was the amount of "wildlife" in our livingroom. There are no screens on the windows and you are surrounded by beautiful nature so... yeah... we had a few guests. But the appartment was kept really clean and nice in general. We would love to come again one day. All the best to the kind owner and staff!

Staff was super nice and attentive! Property is one with nature - a one of a kind beauty - a symphony of colorful mosaics and positive messages - with fantastic lounging and pool area with lamai beach views.

Plumbing and Mattresses could use improvements.

A calm and peaceful setting over Lamai Beach with beautiful views from the pool and restaurant. Delightfully eclectic and not like any other hotel we’ve stayed. Art, colour and words of wisdom greet you from every corner. Set in lovely gardens, the cabins are comfortable and spacious. Good selection of food and drinks in the restaurant. Staff very friendly and helpful, a warm and welcoming family.

Things are a little worn in places but that adds to the charm. It is a 10 min walk to the beach and town and a very steep slope back up to the hotel, but of a struggle if your not very mobile in the heat.

I have already visited the Varinda for the third time in the low season. For me the perfect place to relax after a long backpacker trip in Southeast Asia. The resort is certainly not the cheapest, but it has a great atmosphere because it welcomes the visitor with a lot of love and joy for detail and you really have a nice place to relax. The resort is not in the city but you can walk to it in 15 minutes. Those who know Kho Samui will know that this is not necessarily a disadvantage, but perfectly between nature and place. The owners of the resort are extremely friendly and always have an open ear for questions and are happy to help. The accommodations hide over the whole area in a huge beautiful garden - so one has the feeling to be undisturbed in nature. I love to be there.

Internet in the bungalows cost extra. This is not necessarily up to date. Good WLan has become a reason for decision. But I think Varinda is already working on a solution.

The "magic" of the resort itself, as it is placed upon the hill of Lamai beach. Some may thing it has an esoteric touch, but we loved the warm and welcoming style of the place. The staff was very kind and helped us in almost every situation. The room was cleaned every day (which was not needed), but we really appreciated that service. There is also free water and coffee for self-making available in the room. Close to the city and nice view over the beach! Lamai beach itself is a great place to be on Kho Samui.

The welcome was okay, but nobody asked about the travel. We had to pay immediately after we've arrived - that didn't felt like having holiday in first place. The pool especially and all other parts of the resort need an update. So it was fine for sleeping, but not for feeling very comfortable. Also beds were very hard (take care if you have issues with that!). The most dissapointing this was the breakfast: our booking confirmation showed "breakfast buffet" and what we got was an "a la cart" breakfast where you are not allowed to order even another coffee (!). That is a shame.

The food was ok, quite expensive but acceptable.

Unfortunately the room was very dirty and we found many cockroaches in the bathroom. They were going everywhere, so you could not leave anything in the bathroom or any luggage open. You are asked to remove your shoes in the restaurant area, nothing strange for the region, but there were many dirty dogs walking around were you are asked to walk bared food.

Bright, colourful and very hippy like. Loved the decor of the place and the owner Yindy was lovely. Swimming pool and restaurant were nice. Like the fact that you are given beach towels and bath towels but could have done with a bath mat and hand towel.

Internet was only free near reception, given the price of this hotel and the modern era, should have wifi everywhere and shouldn't have to pay extra! The steps and floors can be slippery if it has been raining. Also not a fan of the wandering dogs either! Take plenty of insect repellent, my legs and arms were covered in bites after the first night!!

Varinda is like a hippie child’s dream, extremely colourful and fun accommodation, just like in the pics! It’s great fun to explore the premises! The staff is very friendly and sweet and the breakfast very good. They have a few very friendly dogs that I had fun petting!

It is a bit far from Lamai beach and it is on a hill with lots of stairs to go up, so getting back to the hotel is tiring. I rented a motorbike to avoid that. Also, there is free wifi in the reception and restaurant but not in the rooms. For wifi in the room you have to pay extra. Last, for the price, the rooms need a bit of improvement as the mattress was a bit old and the toilet flush didn’t work properly.

The pool was fun. The style is like an old school bungalow which is nice, the dogs are treated well

Incredibly overpriced, over hyped. Very disappointed & awaiting a refund. Owner really unhelpful, very fake Vibe. I should have listened to my intuition when we arrived & was asked to pay the total upfront:( Felt wrong from the start.. the family room is decoratedly nicely but don’t try to plug in the kettle or microwave - because there is no electricity socket (or maybe move the fridge?) Or pick up the microwave & move it into another room? The bathroom tap is where you should fill up the kettle, but be careful because the tap is loose & pretty dirty, like the mirror above it. Take mosquitoe coils (because they won’t give them to you..obviously the rate per night for the room can’t cover everything!) because the gaps in the floorboards & door frame, and bathroom window give many entry points. When you’ve worked out that the wifi isn’t avail in th rooms, just the reception & restaurant..you might put the tv on, don’t! Unless you want to watch kids pro golf with terrible reception. Maybe go to ask at reception (you’ll be treated like your a bit of a hassle but with a smile).. or if it’s after dinner time, don’t bother - no one is around, no one, not even guests. The place felt deserted, however I was assured while trying to negotiate a refund that it was peak season & no one else had problems like mine. In fact the owner said ‘it’s your problem not mine’ when I explained we wanted to leave after a night of no sleep - mostly because of the insanely hard beds. We walked down the Main Street at night, not really our thing as it’s mostly bars that were empty & depressing. Definitely felt like low season, but maybe just an off night? If the family room was half of the rate that is being asked, it is still more expensive than what many other hotels/bungalows are charging .. so the expectation is high. If they charged a good price then most of what I’ve written would not have been a problem ...

Amazing staff, beautiful resort – we ended up spending a lot more time in the resort than anticipated – too good to give it a miss. Beautiful views from the swimming pool looking over Lamai beach. Uniquely, they rescue abandoned cats and dogs and take care of them – great work guys. Amazing if you love to play with pets.

A very nice relaxing place to stay. A more authentic setting for staying in Thailand. Not a plush high end hotel but a very nice family run business with very helpful staff.

The bed was very hard and uncomfortable.