A Perfect Place: Baan Moon Villa, Koh Chang

After a brief two-night whirlwind visit to Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon), yesterday we embarked on a full-day trip to our new long-stay home in Koh Chang.

This trip involved a flight from Saigon to Bangkok (Don Mueang) and a six-hour transfer in a minibus which, inclusive of tolls, ferry, and fuel, cost us 5300 THB (150 USD).

We chose to do the trip this way because the cost was less than flying to Trat Airport (plus arranging for a ride from Trat to our Airbnb) and because it was easier and less taxing than dealing with multiple flights and separate taxi and ferry transfers. After we arrived at Dong Mueang and cleared customs, we simply jumped in our comfortable air conditioned private bus, and we did not have to touch our luggage again until we got to our new place.

We arrived at our new waterfront “fisherman’s house,” Baan Moon Villa, just after sunset yesterday evening. In the dark, we couldn’t truly appreciate its defining characteristic: the incredible waterfront views. But upon waking up this morning, we were absolutely blown away by the remarkable vista from our open air living room.

This rental has two large air-conditioned bedrooms (one with an ensuite bathroom and an indoor work desk and TV area), a small kitchen, a small throne room and separate shower room, and a massive covered outdoor living area, which is phenomenal.

Families should be aware that the stairway up to the second floor (where our two children are sleeping) is very steep, and that the bathrooms are all on the main floor. Little Miss and Young Mister WorldSmith (ages 5 and 7) can handle the stairs on their own if they need to use the bathroom at night, but younger children might have an issue.

Also, the bedrooms are separated between the first and second floor and, if using AC in both rooms, it might be tough to hear your children in the night. We got around this by using a free baby monitor app downloaded onto our devices.

Finally, the house is built on piles right above the water, so there are obvious risks anytime you’re near open water like this. The risk of children falling in from the main sitting area is likely minimal as there are lots of well-placed gates. It would, however, be easy for a kid to fall off the gated covered porch area, which does have a railing, but with large gaps big enough for even older kids to fit through. Obviously, anytime you’re going to have kids around water, you’ll need to ensure that you monitor them closely, and this place is set up well enough that it’s easy to do so.

We honestly chose Koh Chang as a destination mostly because of this accommodation, and so far it has not disappointed. The setting is out-of-this-world beautiful, the house is amazing, and the island is super chill, but with everything you need at your fingertips.

The owner lives near the house and is a local expert, so we have plenty of support to plan our time here. We also have a canoe for our private use, which allows us to get to two local beaches just off this estuary in under 5 minutes. And we get breathtaking views of both the sunrise and sunset every day.

The one downside for us is that the local grocery stores are a 20-minute walk away, but we if we don’t feel like walking we can simply jump in a songthaew on the main road and it will only take a few minutes.

Overall, we think Baan Moon Villa is just about as perfect as you can get for a long-stay vacation. At under 1800 USD per month, it’s also a great bargain.

You can check out the listing here.