Let's go for the pros: the fares are reasonable and you have garden lodge tours just two minutes walking from the place where you can book your 1,5 day trip to Khao Yai Forest. Cottages are decent and you have wifi. Cons: staff does not speak English, don't have even info about the area, breakfast is not good and starts late if you want to do the trip to the jungle, don't have a single beer in the bar and in general terms the place looks abandoned. AC wasn't working in our cottage and they did not prepare the room for our second night. Simply, nobody came, and we were the only guests in the resort.
As a summary, if you plan to visit the natural reserve and have a cheap accommodation that might be an option. A real shame as this place has a great potential but needs some investment.
Hakuna Matata is not a hotel. They have many kind of house in their area - A cottage for 2people - small house for 4-6 people - big house for 10people
So you can choose & book any that suitable for your group. It’s located at the main street to Kao Yai National Park (Thanarat Road) when you pass “Smoke House” a famous restaurant in Kao Yai, you will see “Hakuna Matata
We (me, my sister, mom & dad) stay at Panorama Suite. We got a private area, big living room, 2 en suite room & pantry. Feel comfortable.
If compare their room with other hotel & resort that we used to stay (Bonanza Khoa Yai & Village Farm Wang Nam Keo) price is much more cheaper.
Wi-Fi service provided only in a lobby area.
Price is include breakfast. There is only 1 choice, everybody has to eat the same: Fried eggs with sausage, toast & instant coffee.
They have a small swimming pool in center area (open air in a yard) it seems like they cleaning once a month.
Overall, we enjoyed our stay here because breakfast & Wi-Fi is not a big deal for us - Location & accommodation: very good - Other services: Average
Hakuna Matata is a small resort, very quiet and peaceful. It's located on the way to Khao Yai National Park (Thanarat Road), you'll see it on your left hand side before PTT gas station.
I found this place on the internet and thought it would be a nice place since some local magazines wrote about it in a positive way.
I booked a cottage for 990 THB per night (rate for August), had to transfer 50% of it for guarantee. I tried to get there on Friday, somehow the resort is impossible to find at night because they don't have a light sign.
The only staff there when we arrived was an old security guard. He showed us two cottages and let us choose which one we want to stay. We chose the first one because it seemed to have a bigger bed, but NO, they put two single beds together.
The air-con worked properly, the TV is small, the bathroom is outside has a roof made of hay with some geckos showing their tails. The trick is you have to make some noise when you go to the bathroom, then they will hide themselves or runaway. There are two shower in the bathroom, I saw that one of them is connected to the water heater machine, but too bad it doesn't work, so I had to use the cold one instead.
The resort looks very nice in the morning when we can see everything clearly under the nice warm sun. We walked around in the resort, found the swimming pool which has a little bit too greeny water.
The breakfast is served at 8.30. Only one set per person, not a buffet.
I would recommend this place if you come with a family or a group of friends. You can cook and prepare your own food in a bigger villa they have, but there is not much to do here but relaxing.
