Guest Reviews

Mie Cafe: "Splendid dinner … best yet in Siem Reap"

Lovely setting, great menu, and food was perfectly cooked and presented .... Crab Bisque, then Curried Langoustine ... All outside seating, fans no A/C, but fine for us ... Give it a try !

Locavore: "Lives up to its reputation"

Fine food, delicate flavours, perfect preparation, beautiful presentation, impeccable service. We had 5 courses with matched alcohol (note not wine but you could have wine if preferred). A must for those who love fine food.

4 Rivers Floating Lodge: "Amazing"

"My husband and I stayed at the 4 Rivers Floating Lodge in October for 5 nights and it was simply not enough! We loved the resort, its surroundings, tours and people working in it so much, that we felt like staying there forever! It was superb! The journey to the resort is spectacular! Nature surrounding the lodge is simply magnificent! Real paradise! We truly loved it! The lodge itself is wonderful, very well laid-out and well-decorated. Rooms are really spacious and the shower wooden cabin is fabulous! Tours are fabulous! Really interesting and definitely worth taking. The lovely guides are incredibly accommodating and very friendly. In fact, they were fantastic. We really enjoyed our time with them and we actually wish we took few more tours with them. The wonderful restaurant requires a special praise! It was superb!!!! The food was delicious and really plentiful. We were spoilt and we loved it! And the wonderful and really talented chef is only 17! His food was superb! Gordon Ramsey has a serious competition there! The wonderful young men working at the front of the house and restaurant were incredibly sweet and hospitable! They were true gentlemen! Incredibly welcoming and kind. We will definitely miss everyone at the 4 Rivers Floating Lodge! It was superb! Huge thank you to everyone at the resort for making our time simply magical! With much appreciation, Olga and Alan White from Ireland!"

The Island Lodge: "Great homestay"

We stayed there to do 2 days and one night trip for Mekong river tour. The homestay is on the small island with good secenery and fresh air. The room is well decorated and we had good service. Love to visit it again.

Cheong Fatt Tze – Blue Mansion: "A Truly Unique And Special Place To Stay"

"The Cheong Fatt Tze Blue Mansion is an incredibly unique hotel. Built in the late 1800’s, the mansion was the family home of Chinese businessman and politician Cheong Fatt Tze. The mansion symbolized his wealth and prosperity, with extraordinary detail given to the original building and restoration. In modern terms, it’s one of the most “Instagrammable” buildings I’ve ever seen! Keep reading to find out why I highly recommend staying at the famous Blue Mansion. THE HISTORY The original version of the Cheong Fatt Tze Blue Mansion was built with 38 rooms, 5 courtyards, and 7 staircases, and is one of the largest buildings of its kind outside of China. Feng Shui played an important role in the design of the mansion, and each part of the layout had a specific a purpose. For example, the number of open air courtyards is because water is seen as wealth, so the more rain you have naturally coming into the house the better. Once that water was inside, there are winding drainage pipes to keep the water underneath the house as long as possible before flowing outside. There is so much history behind the building that the Mansion runs daily tours several times a dat so you can learn about the Mansion even if you are not staying there. However, I would still highly recommend booking a room because the tours only cover the common areas and not the guest rooms to maintain guests’ privacy. While the tour is still worth it if that’s your only option, staying in the hotel itself allows you to have the full experience and get better pictures! THE ROOMS The Blue Mansion has 18 rooms, each with its own name and backstory. I was in the Escoy room, named after an old smelting company in Penang. Located on the ground floor, the room had beautiful tall ceilings, detailed gold carvings, and plenty of space to spread out. In addition, there are little heirlooms and authentic 19th century furniture scattered throughout to give it even more personality. The rooms all have amenities that would have made Cheong Fatt Tze himself jealous, including a large HDTV, speedy wi-fi and a heavenly rainfall shower. It was truly a unique experience to stay in a place with such history, while still having full access to luxury amenities! THE FOOD Breakfast is served each day in the central courtyard, which is where the “Feng Shui” is strongest. The staff does a great job transforming the beautiful open air courtyard into a wonderful breakfast spread. There is a self-served area for pastries, toast and fruit, as well as made to order hot dishes from the waiter. You can also choose local flavors to be ready for your day! There is also a wonderful on-site restaurant called Indigo which was also great. Located upstairs above the central courtyard, Indigo fuses Eastern and Western culture in both the food and the ambiance. The in-house chef creates wonderful dishes each night, with each dish looking like a piece of artwork itself. The lamb and fish were especially good, so be sure to make a reservation during your stay! THE LOCATION Once you are well fed, you’ll see the Blue Mansion is perfectly located to many walkable sites. Given that Penang is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, there are countless beautiful buildings and little areas to visit. These include the Clan Jetties, Little India, and Red Garden, a great night food market which is literally next door! One of my favorite parts of the location was is the short walk to many of the famous works of street art dotting the alleyways of Penang. Be sure to grab a map and ask the concierge for the locations of the art because some of them can be tricky to find but worth the effort! CONCLUSION Staying at the Cheong Fatt Tze Blue Mansion was one of the highlights of my entire trip to Malaysia. The history behind the building itself is extremely interesting and the hotel itself was beautiful. Be sure to bring a spare memory card when you visit because you will take countless pictures of both the Mansion itself and all the amazing sites nearby. The Blue Mansion is a very special experience and I highly recommend staying with them next time you are in Penang! Stayed January 2017, traveled as a couple"

Rachamankha: "Calming, beautiful botique hotel"

Beautiful abbey turned hotel in the middle of the city. Nice amenities, superb sevice, plus scrumptous breakfasts included. Centrally located with only a 15 minute max walk to wherever you want to go in the old city.

Cheong Fatt Tze – Blue Mansion: "Historic hotel in Georgetown"

Lovely example of a restored historic building. Now a boutique hotel. It feels like you have stepped back in time. Rooms lovely, staff friendly and helpful and little touches make the difference. Well priced, good greakfast included. Great location for exploring Georgetown. Thoroughly recommended.

Misool Eco Resort: "Paradise Found"

"After learning of Misool almost four years ago, we had a dream come true when we visited in June 2015. Misool is one of the few places on earth where the natural world has largely been untouched by man and is now being protected from any further degradation. It is as close as any of us can come to paradise above and below water. It is worth every minute of the long journey to reach it. This resort is primarily focused on diving because of the unmatched marine diversity in the Raja Ampat islands. But there is excellent snorkeling on the house reef (which is very accessible and teaming with fish) as well as at sites very close by. We were very fortunate to have Bram as our dive master on all dives. He listened carefully and did an excellent job on finding the pygmy seahorses, nudibranchs, crabs, giant clams and a wide variety of fish we hoped to see. He was always patient and always very helpful. We were very fortunate to have dived with only the two of us on every dive. In addition, we had to opportunities to snorkel with Herry, Ferry and Daddy in the house reef and other reefs nearby with our non-diver family member and other guests. Each was an excellent guide always attuned to our requests. Among the many positives to this resort is the quality of the Dive Center staff which helped our stay exceed our expectations for our dives and snorkeling excursions. (...) We are very honored to have visited Misool and will always carry great memories of the location and the staff. We hope that we can return to Misool again. It is paradise and is the most peaceful place that we have ever visited."

MesaStila: "Colonial-era dream"

This place is probably the most beautiful original place where we stayed in Indonesia. The location is just wonderful, surrounded by volcanoes and the forest, the villages around are also nice and authentic. We were based here while visiting the temples in central Java and although you need a car it's so worth it! We had booked one of their plantation villas but they upgraded us to a bigger room which was basically a house with a wonderful wooden terrace overlooking the jungle. The decor is simply amazing, it includes some antiques and follow the traditional Java style. The whole complex has been carefully renovated so that it maintains its Colonial era character and it truly does. We also had a nice walk in their coffee plantation and enjoyed the restaurant. The spa is really something else, not cheap but absolute luxury, definitely worth trying! We also found the service outstanding in every aspect, including room service. Wi-fi was also working well in the room.

misool: "Beyond beautiful"

"As a long time diver in the Caribbean and the Great Barrier Reef, I was amazed at the diversity and abundance of the: soft and hard corals, the fish, sharks, nudibranchs, clams, starfish, mantas etc at Misool. The colors are amazing. I had to remind myself that the reefs were real and not computer generated. Everywhere you looked there was a different coral and an unfamiliar fish/animal. We stayed in a Water Cottage built above the water on stilts. Each night we slept to the sound of water rippling against the pilings, in a very comfortable king size bed surrounded by a canopy of mosquito netting. There were few mosquitos near us though others reported some. Food is abundant, delicious, amazingly varied and served family style so you get to know everyone there. You walk along boardwalks surrounded by flowers to diving, presentations and the dining area. We felt pampered our entire time at Misool, by the diving staff, the kitchen and wait staff, house staff, the management and the astounding beauty of the place. Equally impressive is the work the owners of Misool do protecting the reefs, providing jobs / job training and education to the community. The beauty and health of the reefs at and around Misool is do in large part because of the work that Misool does in protecting the reef with it's ""no take"" zone, employing local men to patrol and monitor fishing, as well as the recycling programs that keep the waters clean and also teach the children about the value of their ocean. Misool is a very special place, most of the people who were diving with us were returning because they love it. We also hope to return. "