Last updated on May 14th, 2020 at 01:32 pm
Nestled in a backroad on the hills overlooking Ao Nang, Anana Ecological Resort is a breath of fresh air from the busy Ao Nang center in Krabi, Thailand surrounded by karst mountains. An eco resort that was built to give back to nature, its modern design incorporates both sustainable elements and thai designs that’s perfect for those who seek to lessen their carbon impact on travel. From their permaculture art farm to the electric car and tuk tuk, I adored my stay with Anana Ecological Resort and here’s my full review:
I was hosted for my stay at the Anana Ecological Resort but all opinions are my own
Nam
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About Anana Ecological Resort
Less than 10 minutes drive to Ao Nang main town, Anana Ecological Resort opened in 2019 and is one of the first ecological accommodations in the area. It is awarded by World Luxury Hotel and certified by Green Globe, one of the highest sustainable certification worldwide.
All the materials and furniture used in building the hotels are sourced locally and with ecology in mind, such as bamboo chairs by local craftsmen. They have 59 rooms in the hotel: Thai Studio, Thai Spa, Spa Suite, or Family Rooms, all equipped with a balcony except the Family Room.
I stayed at the Thai Studio and the design is one of my favourites from all the hotels I’ve stayed with a raised platform for bed, a thai-seatee, and table.
Best of all, they provide a beach bag for you to use and it’s big enough to fit all my gears and then some. While there’s no bathtub in the Thai Studio, I love the rainforest shower. They minimise the use of plastic too with refillable shampoo and bodywash bottles.
Eco friendly measures in Anana Ecological Resort
Permaculture Art Farm
Across the road from the hotel is their Permaculture Art Farm. They started planting 6 months ago (September 2019) and the garden flourished with herbs, fruits, and vegetables. Even on a quick tour around there are mint, dill, gooseberry, thai eggplant, papaya, dragon fruit, mango, lemon, butterfly pea, chilli, long beans, basil leaves, and they even have a small area where they farm rice!
What they grow in the farm depends on the season, and whatever they need in the kitchen are sourced from local farmers in the village who they collaborate with. 90% food is local and organic, and compost used is made from food waste from the hotel.
Swimming Pool
The beautiful swimming pool in Anana Ecological Resort does not use chlorine to clean it but a salt solution. Normally, I don’t like swimming in a hotel pool because of that! And did I mention it’s beautiful?
Gym
They have a comprehensive gym next to the swimming pool where you can also schedule classes for Muang Thai boxing, and Pilates. Or just simply gym.
Restaurants at Anana Ecological Resort
Cooper’s Specialty Kitchen
The only vegan restaurant in Ao Nang, Cooper Vegan Restaurant sits next to the Permaculture Art Farm and has a range of salad, vegan burgers, and juices with most ingredients fresh from the farm. A main costs around 250 baht and I had their signature bean burger made with bean, lentil, sun dried tomato, and beetroot.
Instead of fries on the side, it was a healthy salad – which I must admit is needed. I also had their ice tea, which comes with coconut syrup and lime juice!
Opening times: Close Sunday, 11:00 – 20:00
Streats
Where breakfast is served, Streats offers both Thai and western food outside of breakfast hours.
They have a great buffet spread for breakfast as well as an egg station, where you can get omelette or eggs any ways you want. Other quintessential breakfast staples like cereals, yogurt, bread, cheese, and cold cuts.
The best part is that they have a ‘fresh from farm’ section that has dishes made from ingredients from the farm, usually vegetables. The staff will ask if you want tea or coffee and bring it to you.
Nui’s Tex-Mex Mexican Restaurant
Next to the swimming pool and hidden behind the bushes is a Mexican Restaurant. I didn’t know I was missing Mexican food until I got there. It’s not as cheap as a Thai meal, but I got three beef tacos that are delicious for 250 baht, so not bad at all! They also have burrito, quesadilla, nachos, basically all your Mexican favourite.
Note: it’s not part of the hotel’s restaurants so you’ll need to pay by cash here
Opening times: 12:00 – 21:00
Pool bar
Just want to relax at the pool all day without leaving? It’s totally possible since Anana Ecological Resort has a swim up bar! Moctails, cocktails, snacks, you can also get a full meal here without migrating over to the Streats restaurant!
Sky Garden Bar
There’s no better place to watch the sunset than at the Sky Garden Bar. as the tallest building in the area, the rooftop bar has an unobstructed view of the karst mountains and directly west towards the setting sun.
A mocktail starts at 150 baht and you can also order food and stay to see the sun disappear completely and the sky dance in different hues of red.
Anana Spa
The Anana Spa has a comprehensive line of treatments from traditional Thai massage to facial treatments. But the crown jewel is their Himalayan Salt Grotto that promotes healing. Spa, meditation, and yoga are all possible inside the room that has a therapeutic warm glow.
Aside from the Salt Grotto, there’s also Thai massage rooms, normal massage rooms, sauna, and foot spa room.
Treatments can be booked at the reception or by directly calling the spa floor.
Opening times: 8:00 – 20:00
Activities in Anana Ecological Resort
Sunrise Yoga
Anana Ecological Resort offers daily sunrise yoga for free from 6:30 to 7:30. Being surrounded by nature often encourages me to get up early, so I attended it twice during my three-night stay. The class takes place on the top floor where you can see the majestic karst mountains as the resident instructor Sasa leads the class. It’s a great way to start the day as most day tours start around 8:00 to 9:00.
Free electrical shuttle
There are two shuttle lines, one to the Andamana Beach and one to Ao Nang center (opposite Starbucks). They run roughly every 2 hours and you can get the schedule from the reception. This is the schedule from my visit March 2020:
Andamana Beach
Although not exactly a beach club, Andamana Beach is on the other side of a headland from Ao Nang and still far enough from Krabi Town that it doesn’t seem many people. So it’s basically a private beach!
While it’s not suitable for swimming with large expanse of shallows during low tide, it’s a beautiful place to tan and the staff will bring you a beach mat. You can see the famed 4 islands of Krabi from here, even the Chicken Island, and there’s a small restaurant that you can get food at.
Lady Ana Mangrove trip
Longtail boats are the symbols of Thai islands but they all run on diesel engines that emit a black cloud and are very noisy. But Anana Ecological Resort’s very own Lady Ana longtail boat runs on an electrical engine fed by solar power.
You can embark on a 4 hour day trip to cruise around the mangroves of Ao Thalane for 1950 baht per person, including transfer, lunch, and refreshments. Bonus point: the transfer is done in their electrical car making this truly carbon neutral!
Thalane pier is about 40-59 minutes away from the resort. The area was once a big charcoal factory district with many fishermen but after the 2004 boxing day tsunami, this became a mangrove area with only a few households remaining.
We were greeted by the captain warmly and boarded Lady Ana – who can sit up to 6 – for a leisurely cruise around the mangrove forest.
The captain explained to us about the seeding and the area before we entered into a gorgeous canyon with only a few kayakers out and about. We each got a flash of water and some coffee along the way, no plastic involved.
Lunch was served on a deserted sandbank, a feast of fried noodles, rice, chicken, fruits, and Thai desserts completely plastic free as well!
After some free time, we got back on Lady Ana to the hotel.
Jungle tour with electrical car
They also offer a jungle tour to the emerald pool, hot spring, and tiger temple on their electrical car, which is a popular day trip option !
Krabi night market
A carbon neutral shuttle is also available from Friday to Sunday to take guests to Krabi Town for the night market. The trip is only
Other possible excursions include sunset romantic dinner at the gazebo with live music, ecological cooking class at the farm, as well as motorbike options and yoga retreats.
