Best Luxury Hotels in Thailand

Curved lines, stark materials, retro touches, modern art and golden sunflower yellow textiles contrast The Standard from the more traditional tourist hotels found in this area. This property is in fact, anything but standard, as indicated in its upside-down signage. It was named Best in the World on Condé Nast Traveler’s 2022 Hot List; 7th best resort in Asia (and the 35th resort in the world) at the Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards 2022. Dine Mediterranean style at the Lido, or on the beach at Praça and grab healthy beverages at the Juice Cafe.

Set among tropical gardens in the Kao Takiap area the Hyatt Regency Hua Hin is known for its royal legacy, golf courses and stunning beaches, and close to a shopping village, the hotel boasts an award-winning spa, gym, tennis court, water slide and several pools. Air-conditioned rooms and suites sport balconies, flat-screen televisions, free WiFi and iPod docks, coffee makers and mini-bars, with a business centre, laundry service and free parking also available. To complete their all-round sense of well-being, guests can choose between five restaurants and bars, including a beach location and a pool-side bar.

Stay just a few minutes’ from the Night Market and Hua Hin’s many highlights, at this Marriott Resort & Spa. It’s set within carefully manicured grounds and is built around a long winding lagoon (with bridges over), making it feel somewhat of a village. Onsite you’ll find five swimming pools and several dining options including a beachside seafood restaurant, the Greatroom and the Amber Kitchen. Double, king-size and family rooms are available, some with direct access (via sliding doors) to the pool and others with their own terraces. Quan Spa offers a range of treatments and packages.

The hotel’s limo will transfer you from the airport to Cape Nidhra, where you can settle into your suite with its own plunge pool, extra large bed and terrace with sea views. Dine beneath a soft white teepee on the beach, or at Rocks Restaurant, which serves an all-day menu of cosmopolitan seafood dishes. The eatery is set beside the ocean-front infinity pool with overwater cabanas and padded cream loungers. And you can enjoy sunset drinks on an outside sofa at the bar. The resort also has a steam room and sauna, the Cape Spa, a reading room and a golf buggy to chauffeur guests.

Book a Junior Suite with a pool view, a Terrace Suite with a lagoon view or a one or two-bedroom Private Pool Villa with up to 200 square metres of space to yourselves. The Mövenpick Asara Resort & Spa is home to one of the best seafood eateries in town; the Baan Dum Ocean Front Restaurant, which hosts live music during the weekends and holidays. Head to the Kampu Restaurant for a daily chocolate hour, or for brasserie-style food at any time of day. Cocktails are mixed in the Ocean Bar and you can order artisanal cakes for a celebration (gluten-free options are available).

This urban lifestyle resort takes its inspiration from the natural elements. 67 rooms and villas are segregated into three different areas/categories of accommodation: Beachside (La Canna and Oceanbed Villas), Sandside (Silksand Rooms) and The Oasis (Sanksy Urban and Sanksy Deluxe Rooms).  Putahracsa’s open-air restaurant serves Thai and Western cuisine and BBQ food with front-seat views of the sea. There’s also a fine boulangerie/patisserie for lunch, dinner, snack and coffee, which is set in a winter glasshouse. Other facilities include a spa, a boutique and a tuk-tuk service to nearby attractions.

This hotel’s Air Bar was featured in The New York Times bestseller 1,000 Places to See Before You Die”. The InterContinental Koh Samui has a private beach with a pier (a magical spot for a yoga class) and six swimming pools, one with 360-degree views of the sea and surrounding coconut plantations. Its Baan Thai Spa by HARNN is designed in the style of a traditional Thai house, with five treatment rooms (each of the rituals concludes with a tea ceremony). Stay in one of the main building’s bedrooms, with 67- square metres of space, a balcony, a daybed and a dining area, or in a suite or multi-bedded villa. There’s a bi-weekly sunset dinner on the beach and a fire show, as well as numerous restaurants.

Perched beside Choeng Mon Beach, Kimpton Kitalay Samui offers refined island living. Its highlights include a palm-flanked Olympic-sized swimming pool, loaner fat-tyre bikes to explore further afield, pet amenities and the 500-square metre split-level Junio Kids Club for a programme of non-digital activities. Kimpton Kitalay has 138 rooms, suites and villas, 21 of which have private pools; five restaurants and bars; a pristine stretch of beach; and the organic Pimãanda spa, offering a 14-step sensorial ritual created especially for the resort by HARNN.

Set on a private 100-metre white sand beach, the Conrad is built into a cliffside proffering panoramic vistas. Book a villa on stilts, with your own 10-meter infinity pool and spa bathroom. Dine on fine farm-to-table cuisine crafted with ingredients from the onsite organic farm. Take yoga classes on the beach, sunset boat tours, go kayaking and snorkelling and let the kids burn off some energy at the Little Explorer’s Academy. Or book an excursion from the hotel to nearby attractions, like the Samui Elephant Sanctuary, the Samui Zip Line and the Santiburi Golf Course.

Located between Maenam and Bo Phut within easy reach of the airport and near to Chaweng Beach, the W brand brings its funky fun vibe to this paradise island. The Kitchen Table serves Western and Thai food from morning to night; the WOOBAR® plays W Music Curator’s tracks, with nibbles, lunch and dinner; Namu is considered the best Japanese restaurant on the island; while SIP is a sunset beach bar with cocktails, creative lunch and dinner dishes and oversized games. Pop to FIT for a workout, WET for a swim and the AWAY Spa for blissful treatments.

Set on a 58-acre plot on the north-east of the island, the resort was once a coconut plantation and continues to use the fruit’s fibres in its architecture. It’s home to Thailand’s only sea pool (open seasonally), as well as two beaches, a beachfront infinity swimming pool and a swim reef where you can spot more than 50 species of fish. You’ll find a Muay Thai ring, tennis, basketball, volleyball, mini golf, swimming, kayaking, paddle boarding, snorkeling, jogging, cooking classes, a Ritz Kids programme and multiple restaurants onsite. Plus there’s an entire Spa Village, with eight treatment suites, a yoga pavilion and a lap pool with cabanas. 175 bedrooms, suites and pool villas are decorated in neutral colours.

36 cube-shaped villas give a modernist edge to this palm-lined beachfront in Phangnga province. Designed by VaSLab Architecture, the all-pool-villa hotel was commissioned in 2008, with unusual deviated walls, tilted roofs, green walls, rainwater recycling and custom-made furniture by Anon Pairot Design Studio. Casa de la Flora offers round the clock butler service, spa, fitness suite, direct beach access, minbars, mountain bike hire and watersports. Charming afternoon tea is served daily, with dinner taken at the Thai waterside eatery La Aranya -and the cocktails here are epic with variations as imaginative as the resort’s architecture. This chic design property is well suited to discerning couples and adult visitors.