We stayed 7 nights at Thande Beach Hotel commencing March 11th 2019. During our stay we walked all of the beach many times looking in at other hotels along the way.
In short we were delighted with our choice. The hotel is about a third of the way down from the north end of the main Ngapali beach which is the most southern of the 3 bays.
It is by far the longest beach, about one and a half miles long, and has the most hotels but it always looked virtually empty and there was never the slightest hassle from any of the few beach vendors to buy anything.
The hotel is ideally placed, at the end of the Rocky section and crucially virtually next door to an excellent beach bar, The Original Sunset View Bar & Restaurant with another crop of beach restaurants about 200 yards further on.
There are only two other restaurants on the entire beach, both at the south end a 35 minute hike away. One has copied the name, hence the Original in the title of the real one, but is basically a shack and the other is on a nice islet poking out from the beach but is owned by the Pleasant View Hotel which is reflected in the prices.
The importance of the Thande Beach Hotel location near the beach restaurants cannot be overstated unless you are happy to pay hotel restaurant prices at a massive mark up.
The hotel has 61 rooms. The front row comprise 6 units of bungalows with two per unit - 12 rooms. They are spacious, good bathrooms, great air con and wi fi with very nice balconies that easily take two fully reclining quality sun beds with a drinks table and a clothes horse to dry stuff.
They are less than 25 yds to the beach and a view of the sunset into the ocean.
For a modernist they are a bit dated with dark wood floors and panelling but very well maintained with decent lighting and huge front windows facing the ocean.
Largely in the gaps between this well spaced front row are 5 further double bungalows, same rooms but the sun loungers are bamboo and do not fully recline. Behind these are 6 blocks of 2 up 2 down apartments, pretty much in line with the front row, designated garden view as the bungalows are between them and the sea.
They also had large balconies. Lastly there are @ 20 standard rooms of almost half the size and much smaller with poor views. For the week we were there the rates for the week were 9,8,6 and 5 hundred dollars respectively.
The layout overall is very well done with trees and greenery making it attractive. The restaurant is a fairly simple one and all outside at this time of year although there was an indoor one where the kitchen was, presumably for use when things turn sweltering and wet. Breakfast was adequate but not good.
A limited choice of fruit, no cold meats, one choice tea or coffee, poorly cooked bacon and something called ham on alternating days, background music and no designated area for or ban on smokers.
Given our breakfast experience we never ate dinner at the hotel but at the beach bars instead, which would not have been an option without a trek in the dark or a tuk tuk ride if staying at somewhere further down the beach.
Whenever we looked in at the restaurant in the evening it was empty. Staff were great, not unusual for Myanmar, but changed currency for us at the airport and booked our flight back to Yangon without any charge.
In summary we would thoroughly recommend the Thande Beach Hotel unless you want a private pool and / or a smart restaurant.
The location is unbeatable and the front row rooms excellent with some decent alternative choices. We would certainly stay here again with the hope that breakfast might have improved.
