This was our third trip to Ko Mak and our first to the Cococape Resort which is just wonderful.

We booked in for 3 nights R&R after a testing trip from Sihanoukville and ended up staying for six nights. We love Ko Mak because the "five families" who have owned this beautiful island for the last 100 years try so hard to keep the worst excesses of tourism out and this also applies to CocoCape.

If you want a soul-less high-rise corporate hotel with 24hr room service, disco bars, jet skis and fast limousine transfer to the nearby airport - try somewhere else. This is not Ko Mak and hopefully never will be.

Dont be surpised to bump into doctors, lawyers and financial types from Europe and Bangkok but you will not see any suits or Gucci handbags. This is a very laid back venue.

Cococape is about as plush and fancy as Ko Mak gets but it still more shabby chic than slick uber luxury, which suits us fine. We found it charming, relaxing and superb value. There is something Robinson Crusoe style about the place, particularly if you stay in the Baan Talay thatched bungalows for about 1300 BAHT per night, perched on stilts above the sea. Close your eyes as you swing in your hammock on the small private deck and doze of to the sounds of waves washing around you. It really is that good.

There is a substantial wooden pier and at week-ends they open a small cocktail bar at nightfall and throw some floodlights on the sea so you can sip drinks and gaze at the stars above you and fish beneath you. After a three week tour through Cambodia in derelict buses, this worked for us very nicely.

The hotel also throws in a lot of complimentary services- boat trips, bus transfer to the village, kayak hire, snorkels, WiFi so you never feel you are being ripped off or trapped.

The staff are great and the food is helped by the addition of "Geppy's Diner Hut which offers good quaity western cuisine as an alteranive to the resort kitchen's Thai and Asian menu. It sounds ridiculous to recommend a pizza in Thailand but you have to try Geppy's. Even Italians go back for more.

The beach is very small but there are so many fabulous beaches nearby, a nice pool and easy swimming off the pier so this really is'nt a problem even for beach lovers like us.

A university team from Bangkok is rebuilding the reefs off the beach and stay at the hotel several times per year.

On the last night here we upgraded ourselves to a Suite which really was luxurious (but more expensive of course). Four poster, sea view balcony, jacuzzi, stylish decor etc. Fabulous treat for those that like a little luxury with their escape.

If you want to escape for a few days as a couple or as a young family and prefer Thai charm, tranquility and natural beauty to corporate loyalty points, escape to Cococape.

As they say around here, "arrive as a guest and leave as a friend" . It may sound corny but in Ko Mak, at least for now, it is still true.

The hotel is beautifully built and decorated, with wide price range from shared bathroom cabanas to stilish big rooms and villas, including one made from an ancient boat. All rooms are different and well integrated in the beautiful surroundings. Our room was one of the most expensive, it had full sea view, very nice private verandah, hige bathroom, mosquito nets everywhere. The hotel is located on the northern side of the island, the beach is tiny and not sunny and it's very windy (which is from my point of view an advantage since it's never too hot). Free transport is provided to the more attractive Southern beach (15 min. uphill - downhill walk). Your sleep may be disturbed by extremely noisy little frogs, apparently protected species, which have found a home in the little decorative ponds in front of the rooms (we had them one night on three).
Staff was nice and helpful. Only negative point the breakfast, poor and not varied, if you don't want egg you are left with bad toast and poor quality jam. Coffee particularly bad (soluble). We did not use the restaurant (many nice places available on the Souther beach). Place ideal for families and those looking for quiet.

We looked at a few places on Koh Mak and found that the Cococape Resort really was the most beautiful place to spend the few days we had on the island. Cococape is made up of several different huts and lodges, we stayed in one of the tree house style huts which was wonderfully rustic (and really quite cheap) - just what you look for when travelling around Thailand. We were initially booked into one of the water side huts (hut on stilts partly in the water) but it was quite windy for a couple of days and the very helpful staff upgraded us as they thought we would get a better nights sleep in one of the tree house huts. The Thai food at the resort was also amazing. We cant speak highly enough of the staff and the resort as a whole.

We stayed at this resort for 3 nights in one of the 3 Baan Thai Suites. The view over the bay is great, but to have the view you need to climb many steps to get to the room, which leaves you out of breath at the top. The staff had surrounded outside the room with ant powder and this kept them away.
The Thai food was very good much better than the western breakfast and quite good value for money for being on an island. We walked to Koh Mak resort just around the bay they had a more extensive menu but they include service charge where as Cococape do not.
The sandflies where not to much of a problem although we did get bitten once.

We hired a kayak and visited the nearby island Koh Kham, you have to pay 100 bht each to land there, but you do get a free can of drink. The sea is really flat and great for snorkling here. We then kayaked to koh pee (ghost island) which had some fantastic coral surrounding the island..

The walk into the centre of Koh Mak from the resort is up a very steep hill and took around 15 mins but there was a shop to buy drinks half way. In the center there are 5 or 6 restaurants available although we where there in the low season and only 3 were open.

Next time we visit we would hire a motorbike to tour round the island

Remember when you visit the island that they do not have any ATM's to withdraw money from.