Ubonburi Hotel & Resort — Garden Cottages and a 50-Metre Pool Under ฿1,000
If you'd rather stay in a small standalone cottage surrounded by garden than a square block in town — stepping out your door to trees and red ixora flowers — Ubonburi Hotel & Resort across the river in Warin Chamrap is the name budget travellers keep landing on. The detail guests mention again and again is the 50-metre swimming pool, far longer than what most hotels at this price offer, paired with rooms around 35 sqm that feel wide for the money. The honest caveat up front: the resort is old and shows wear. If you can accept that, the value per baht is genuinely hard to beat.
Ubonburi Hotel & Resort reads as a garden resort rather than a city hotel. Of its 110 rooms, most are small standalone cottages and single-storey garden wings with pitched tiled roofs and dark-wood trim in the classic Thai folk style. At roughly 35 sqm, the rooms run wider than typical hotel rooms at the same rate, with air conditioning, a flat-screen TV, a work desk, and a balcony that on many units faces the pool or garden. Past guests tend to agree the real draw isn't the room itself but the feeling of being in a garden — something a block in the town centre can't give you.
The headline feature is the 50-metre outdoor swimming pool. At that length it's a proper lap pool you can actually swim in, not a splash pool, and that's rare at a few-hundred-baht price point. A poolside bar handles drinks, and mature trees throw shade around the edges. Plenty of reviews name the pool as the main reason they came back, families with kids especially. One straight note: the water isn't maintained consistently every day, so if you're planning a serious swim, check the condition on the spot first.
Guests tend to land here for a few nights in the low season — many on the way to Wat Nong Pah Pong, the forest monastery of Ajahn Chah, wanting somewhere quiet, affordable, and close enough to the airport to arrive late and skip a long transfer. It's the name Ubon regulars keep passing on to friends. Check-in is described as smooth. Front-desk staff come across as warm without being over-the-top, will help pick a cottage that's been repainted more recently, and hand over a clear map of the grounds. The property is bigger than photos suggest — it takes a minute or two to walk from the lobby to some of the further cottages, which guests actually like because it means their part of the garden feels calm and private. The cottages are genuinely wide for the price. Reviewers put them at around 35 square metres, more floor space than city-hotel rooms they had paid three times more for elsewhere in Thailand. The air conditioning runs cold and quiet — no rattling — the bed is comfortable, and the hot water runs strongly in the morning. Yes, the rooms show their age: a hairline crack in the paint in one corner, a towel rail that's a bit loose, a TV remote that needs a firm press on some buttons. Guests say none of that bothered them — they weren't there to stare at the furniture, they were there to use the pool and visit the temple. The pool deserves its own paragraph. Fifty metres long and genuinely clear, by most accounts. At that length you can do proper laps, not just float around — guests describe doing twenty lengths before breakfast in water that felt clean and cool. There's nobody in the pool before seven, which makes it feel almost private. The poolside bar isn't open that early, but cold drinks are available from a fridge near the pool entrance, which most find fine. Breakfast is the surprise of the stay for many. Plenty book room-only, then switch to the hotel breakfast after the first morning. The spread is Thai and Western — rice porridge, eggs, fresh fruit, toast, a small selection of stir-fries — clearly freshly cooked rather than sitting in bain-maries for hours. The dining area overlooks the garden and pool, so eating there in the morning light is genuinely pleasant. A couple of caveats guests flag before you book. The Wi-Fi signal in the cottages is weak — usable for messaging but not for video calls — so most fall back on mobile data for anything work-related. The road outside is a local residential street, and in the early morning there's some motorbike noise. Earplugs solve it. Wat Nong Pah Pong is about fifteen minutes by motorbike taxi from the resort gate — guests describe going at dawn and again in the late afternoon. The abbot's quarters and the main hall are open to respectful visitors, and the forest grounds are beautiful. Having a quiet, inexpensive base in Warin Chamrap rather than central Ubon makes these visits much easier. Would they go back? Most say yes. For the price — around 750 baht per night — getting a wide room, a real lap pool, decent breakfast, and a peaceful garden setting is not something you find everywhere. Just go in with realistic expectations: this is a well-loved older resort, not a new build. The value is real; so is the wear.
Breakfast is another point guests bring up in a good way. Several reviews say the morning meal punches above the room rate, and it's sometimes brought to the room. The main restaurant runs lunch and dinner, with a bar lounge and a karaoke room for anyone who wants to carry the evening on. The overall mood stays quiet because the property sits inside its own garden rather than on a busy main road, which suits travellers who actually want to rest more than be in the middle of the action.
The location is over in Warin Chamrap, across the Mun River from central Ubon Ratchathani. The standout advantage is being only about 4.5 km from Ubon Ratchathani Airport — under 15 minutes by car, very handy if you fly in and want to drop your bags straight away. Central Ubon, Thung Si Mueang park, and the National Museum are roughly 10 minutes by car. And for anyone here on a spiritual trip: Wat Nong Pah Pong, the forest monastery of the late Ajahn Chah known to practitioners worldwide, sits in Warin Chamrap too, a short drive from the resort.
The overall score sits at 8.0/10 on Trip.com. What earns praise: room size, how cold the air conditioning gets, the hot water, the pool, and breakfast. What you have to accept before booking: the buildings and furniture are old for their age, and some rooms show peeling paint, a dripping tap, or tired fittings. In-room Wi-Fi is reported as weak in several rooms, and hot water can be inconsistent in some units. Put plainly, this isn't a luxury resort — it's a value stay that sells space and a garden setting.
On price, rooms start around ฿700/night on weekdays, with promotions occasionally dropping to roughly ฿600. During festivals — above all the Ubon Candle Festival in July — rates climb and rooms fill fast as crowds pour in for the carved-candle processions, so book several weeks ahead. With 110 rooms, availability is usually easy outside festival season, though the rooms in better condition tend to get reserved first.
Bottom line: Ubonburi works best for travellers coming to Ubon on a tight budget who want a wide room, a real swimming pool, and don't mind that the rooms aren't new. It's a strong fit for families with children, anyone landing at the airport who wants to check in quickly, and pilgrims heading to Wat Nong Pah Pong. If you need a brand-new room or city-hotel-level service, this probably isn't it — but measured on value per baht, finding a rival at this rate is tough.
Summary from Booking & Agoda
- ✓ Rooms wider than the price, nicely cool, plenty of hot water
- ✓ 50-metre pool that kids love
- ✓ Breakfast better than expected for this rate
- ✓ Close to the airport — under 15 minutes by car
- ! Buildings and furniture are old for their age
- ! In-room Wi-Fi signal is weak in places
- ! Hot water inconsistent in some rooms
- ✓ Quiet garden setting — standalone cottages, not a block
- ✓ Free, spacious parking — easy if you drive in
- ✓ Front-desk staff friendly and helpful
- ✓ A few-hundred-baht rate that still gets you pool, garden and a wide room
- ! Some rooms show peeling paint, dripping taps, tired fittings
- ! Pool water not maintained consistently on some days
- ! No lift · some cottages mean a walk into the garden
- 💡If room condition matters to you — ask to see photos of the actual room at booking, or call and request a more recently refreshed cottage → some units are clearly older than others, with peeling paint and dripping taps showing up
- 💡If you need internet for work — in-room Wi-Fi is weak in several spots, so bring a mobile data backup → signal near the lobby and restaurant is stronger than out in the cottages
- 💡If you're visiting during the Candle Festival (July) — rates rise and rooms fill fast, so book several weeks ahead → outside festival season you can usually just turn up and check, given there are 110 rooms