Speak to your 360 Private Travel Designer to decide which of these expressions of Thai island life best suits the way you travel. From booking your hotels to ensuring any bespoke needs and extras are taken care of long before you arrive, we will create a Thailand journey tailored entirely to your needs.
Anantara: Thai Islands, As They’re Meant To Be
Thailand is a country best understood through its beguiling landscapes and its contrasts. Mornings spent on warm white sand, fishing boats bobbing just offshore. Afternoons slipping between worn jungle trails and the solitude of remote bays accessed only by yacht. Cool evenings spent tasting fiery spices at tables overlooking blissful aquamarine waters.
It’s in this spirit that we highlight four of our favourite resorts from the beautiful Anantara collection, a brand founded in Thailand, that interprets Thai island life through a luxury lens and a distinct clarity born of local expertise and cultural identity. Rather than imposing a uniform aesthetic, each Anantara resort responds to its setting: immersive architecture, both modern and traditional, gorgeous landscapes with space to breathe and explore, and service shaped by intuition, tradition and warmth.
Matched with the unique character of the setting, these four thoughtfully curated properties each offer something different: social or secluded, elevated or elemental. Whether wandering the tropical gardens of Koh Samui, finding quiet in Phuket’s northern coast, gazing over Layan Bay’s dazzling panoramas, or finding a slower way to travel on an island only now being discovered, they offer four distinct ways to experience the contrasts of Thai island life.
Anantara Bophut Koh Samui Resort
A Hidden Gem with an outstanding spa on Koh Samui
At Anantara Bophut Koh Samui Resort, a collection of villas arranged around an idyllic tropical garden spills onto the stunning Bophut Beach — a smooth curve of sand between Big Buddha and Maenam beaches, on the northern shores of Koh Samui. A few moments away, Bophut village has a convivial atmosphere, with streets lined with Chinese-style shop houses, restaurants and bars spilling onto beaches, providing a more typically Thai background to life in the resort. In the evenings, the local night market, bars and restaurants fill up substantially, making this an ideal destination to dip into Samui’s nightlife, with a convenient escape close by should you yearn for serenity.
Anantara Bophut is classic Anantara, with Thai cultural references throughout. The central pond in the gardens is filled with lotus flowers, and close by, its main pool fans out towards the long, honey-coloured beach.
The garden spa is a highlight, with an impressive scale marking its design: tall copper walls and heavy wooden doors, leading to a whisper-quiet courtyard with treatment rooms and steam rooms ensconced by pretty flora. Guests hoping to improve their wellness regime would do well to book here, in order to take advantage of multi-day health packages available alongside dietary programmes, and treatments utilising legendary moringa oleifera — one of the world’s most nutrient-dense plants.
The Rooms and Suites at Anantara Bophut
The rooms and suites at Anantara Bophut are finished in a laidback luxe style with natural woods and soft, light-coloured fabrics creating a deeply serene sense of island calm. But our most requested of the collection are the Luxury Beach Front Pool Suites. Each is flooded with natural light flowing from bedroom to living room, from ornate bathrooms with deep freestanding baths, to serene gardens with a plunge pool and a daybed offering an elevated view of the glittering expanse of ocean set against a horizon of distant mountains.
Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas
Serenity, 15 minutes from Phuket airport
Set along Phuket’s northern shoreline, with long, golden sands backed by national parkland, with little of the density found further south, Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas is an ideal choice for those seeking convenience and privacy. The resort unfolds with delightful Thai charm across the landscape: traditional villas, palms arching over sun loungers, all connected by lantern-lit pathways winding through the beguiling lagoon, lush gardens and private pools, creating a setting that feels purpose-built for instant relaxation. Mornings here are wonderful, beginning with an in-villa floating breakfast in the pool. Afternoons are spent between shaded terraces and spa appointments. And evenings are defined by exquisite dinners: southern Thai cuisine in La Sala, an omakase in the treetops at Tree House, or signature ‘designer dining’ in a romantic location soundtracked by the sound of sea and breeze.
The Anantara Spa at Mai Khao, with its couples treatment rooms surrounded by lush foliage, and outdoor baths elevated by its natural surroundings, is a sanctuary within a sanctuary. Treatments draw on Thai wellness traditions with an emphasis on restoration and relaxation, and there’s sustainability woven into treatments with things like Kala massages that utilise locally grown coconut shells. Like Anantara’s other resorts, there are various other sustainability initiatives too — from environmental safeguarding to responsible waste management and a marine turtle conservation project.
The Suites and Villas at Anantara Mai Khao Phuket.
A fabulous selection of both suites and villas is available at Anantara Mai Khao Phuket, with suites leaning into more of a contemporary aesthetic than the villas. For families, the Three Bedroom Pool Suite offers a mix of privacy and space, and is able to accommodate as many as six adults and two children. For couples, 360’s Travel Designers usually recommend taking full advantage of the sublimely romantic location by booking the Sala Pool Villa. The villa boasts a generous pool with wooden steps leading to a tranquil Sala overlooking the romantic lotus-speckled lagoon.
Anantara Layan Phuket Resort
Signature Residences with sweeping Andaman views
Anantara Layan Phuket’s location in Laguna allows it to feel both remote yet connected enough to avoid feeling isolated. Set above Layan Bay on Phuket’s west coast, the resort is arranged across view-laden hillsides and enjoys a more contemporary mood than other Anantara resorts. Architecture and design lean into orderly lines and clean composition, with well-placed touches of Anantara’s signature Thai aesthetics. Landscaped terraces, punctuated by impressive two-storey residences, cascade towards the beach, where you’ll find things like paddleboards and kayaks waiting for your use, as well as a glittering expanse of the Andaman captured in a picturesque bay protected by forested headlands — sublime at sunset. There’s also an expansive beachside swimming pool, a climbing wall, a tranquil spa area, and a kids’ club, making Anantara Layan the most dynamic of Anantara’s Phuket resorts, ideal for families who want to stay active, healthy and connected.
The dining highlight is the Age Steakhouse with its vast wine list and cuts from both land and sea seared over a Josper Grill. But the unapologetically unconventional setting of Dara Cuisine is a close second, serving southern Thai dishes enhanced by local ingredients…. and an observatory deck with a telescope for after-dinner craft cocktails inspired by star constellations, with an unobstructed view of the night sky.
The Rooms, Suites, Villas and Residences at Anantara Layan Phuket Resort
While the rooms, suites and villas at Anantara Layan Phuket are beautiful, the residences are exceptional. Each is positioned across the verdant hillsides, designed to take advantage of the endless views, with striking infinity pools set into extensive terraces, proving particularly spellbinding when the bay is draped in a candy-coloured sunset. Interiors are filled with light, via striking floor-to-ceiling windows, and the contemporary palettes of the interiors allow the landscapes beyond to seep into the living spaces. Available with everything from two to seven bedrooms, residences are a superb choice for group getaways where space, privacy and first impressions are a must.
Anantara Koh Yao Yai Resort & Villas
Untouched, wild island bliss
Elegantly carved into the rural coast of Koh Yao Yai, afloat in Phang Nga Bay, Anantara Koh Yao Yai Resort & Villas offers a sublime retreat from Thailand’s crowds. The island is largely untouched by tourism, with quaint fishing villages, empty white beaches, and wild jungles lush with tropical trees. The resort expertly channels its stunning coastal locale, with low-slung, curvaceous buildings, tiered gardens, and infinity pools reflecting arching palms, perfect backdrops for cocktails and romance. Activities take full advantage of the scenery, with private yacht adventures of the nearby Hong Island archipelago and its vibrant marine life, immersive village tours where traditional crafts endure, sustainable initiatives on impeccable beaches populated by ghost crabs, and days spent in the hotel gardens, tending to the resident water buffaloes.
The dining options at Anantara Koh Yao Yai Resort & Villas are eclectic, with most of the restaurants perched close to the sea, enhancing your time spent amongst the island’s unspoiled nature.
While the local beaches are fabulous — with mountainous islands rising from crystal clear lagoons just offshore, we suggest taking a trip to experience Laem Had Beach, a strip of sand that bends and dips into the water with an aesthetic much like that of the iconic Golden Horn beach on Croatia’s Brac, only with a fraction of the people. Koh Yao Yai is in proximity to Phi Phi, Krabi and Phuket, making it an ideal stop for a luxury island-hopping tour of southern Thailand.
Rooms and Villas at Anantara Koh Yao Yai
There are 148 rooms, suites and villas at Anantara Koh Yao Yai, but there’s a particularly noteworthy suite that 360’s Travel Designers most often suggest booking: The Crystal Sea View Penthouse. The penthouse has a distinctive glass-bottomed rooftop swimming pool, allowing for views to a living room below, lit by light filtered and refracted by the water. But aside from the pool, the penthouse offers wide panoramas of the Andaman punctuated by karst islands rising from the water, separate dining and living rooms, a jacuzzi and a fully equipped kitchen, perfect for candlelit dinners in the private cabana served by your villa’s dedicated host.
More on Thailand: Get our guide to four of Thailand’s most iconic destinations (and where to stay) here.
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