Ananda Cottages has beautiful gardens and both the grounds and the Deluxe Rice Field View room we booked were aesthetically delightful. We had stayed here about 25 years ago when there was less accommodation on the site (I don’t recall having an adjoining room/neighbours. Except for the frogs at night, it was so quiet).
Seeing on the web the amazing upgrades they’ve made since, was very exciting.
There are many positives to this property, including the lovely staff, beautiful and clean room, excellent air-conditioning, comfortable bed and the sustainable option of deciding when linen and towels are washed. The buffet breakfast provided excellent tropical fruit choices and otherwise was satisfactory. We ate in the Restaurant one evening and our meal of mie goreng and a salad was enjoyable.
Nevertheless, all was not perfect…
We would love to be able to give a 5 star rating, however the huge negative for us was that our room adjoined another and had extremely thin walls, with little or no sound-proofing!! Hence, we could hear our neighbours talking, laughing and coughing when we were attempting to sleep. When informed of this the following day, the staff kindly offered us another room, however they had exactly the same setup, so we declined. Unfortunately, it appeared to us that all or most of the rooms were set up the same and this alone would stop us from returning to Ananda Cottages.
I’m also sure the squeaking from the wooden floors in our room would have disturbed anyone who happened to be staying below us.
There were two Retreats being held at Ananda whilst we were there (a Women’s Retreat of 30 and a Yoga Retreat of 45 members), however they mostly attended meals away from the normal hours, so that wasn’t an issue.
There was also some building work going on whilst we were there, however we were out most of the day, so it wasn't an issue for us.
A shower curtain to keep the water off the floor would save having foot mats replaced regularly.