For once, I'm going to talk to you about a category of travel that I don't usually talk about here, and for good reason, given the budget that it requires, it's not what we generally experience, even if, after this great experience in Macau, we said to ourselves that we should do this more often!
And if I mention the wedding, it's not ours obviously (although we're going to an important date since it's going to be 10 years already!), but it's in reference to the fact that Thailand is regularly voted the best destination in Asia to celebrate your wedding (in 2016 according to the Annual Destination Wedding Planners Congress and recently in 2018 according to an Indian magazine, Wonderlust Magazine) and it also remains a destination of choice for your honeymoon.
And what better than a beautiful luxury hotel in Phuket to celebrate the most beautiful day of your life? Story of our experience (I apologize for the quality of the photos, coming from my phone).
Luxury stay in Phuket: why and how?
Contrary to appearances, this is not a sponsored article (I want to clarify), but personally I would not have had the budget to experience this kind of hotel, so why/how?
The answer is quite simple, it's a stay that Jitima won! It was during an evening organized by the Thai tourist office in Bangkok, the famous TAT, more specifically as part of a promotion for the Thailand Fan Club French.
As I had been encouraged to go there (thanks Nico!) by mentioning the possibility of winning prizes, in addition to attending a nice evening with a demonstration of Thai crafts and culture, it was the opportunity to have a good meal with prize distribution at the end, including quite a few nights in various destinations in Thailand.
If it had been a shame to win nights in Bangkok for us (I would have certainly made you win them!), it turns out that Jitima won this lot of 3 nights at the Banyan Tree Phuket, not counting the vouchers for the luxury spa, it was the whole package for us! And quite honestly, between the duration and the place, it was probably one, if not the best lot to win that evening!
Too bad that this year, they didn't repeat this PR operation, otherwise we would have been excited to participate again!
First return to Phuket in years
If we won the stay in June last year, it was only last January that we found compatible dates for our stay. With our voucher in hand, we took off for Phuket ready for this unusual experience for us. Taking advantage of the fact that we were returning to the island (together, it was 10 years ago!), we stayed first in the old town of Phuket (see my article on Phuket town), which we had never taken the time to visit.
To simplify our stay, I had rented a good PCX scooter from Honda (very fashionable at the moment), from a small rental company near the airport (it was Nai Yang Bigbike Rental, but they don't have a website, only a number +66 80 524 7989, another serious agency if you are in the Patong area is Cheap as Chips Motorbike Rental).
If you choose this option, remember to be in compliance with driving in thailand (we can never repeat it enough…).
Bang Tao Beach and Phuket Laguna
So it was from Phuket Town, with our small luggage on the scooter that we went back up to the Banyan Tree, located in the lagoon towards the north of the island. The hotel, as well as several luxury hotels (now 7 in number), are perfectly integrated into this environment once considered irredeemable.
All these hotels, which belong to the same group, the Laguna Complex, were created with the aim of making the area viable for tourism.
If we go back to the early 70s, Phuket lived mainly from its tin mines and rubber plantations. But the price of these two elements collapsed, we looked for an alternative for the economic development of the island.
Being precisely an island, bordered by beautiful long beaches, a lush jungle, and the first tourists just starting to appear on Patong, with a few bars and huts on the beach attracting the first backpackers, tourism then seemed obvious given the potential Phuket had.
As they say in English, "The rest is history". Phuket has indeed developed in this sense, especially in the Patong, Karon, Kata and Kamala area. But the lagoon area, further north, being old mines, was polluted by the exactions and the land completely turned over.
The place looked like a war zone, nobody considered the place as having tourism potential, despite the proximity to the beautiful long beach of Bang Tao. Until a Singaporean entrepreneur saw an opportunity and developed this territory, sculpting the ground to fill the holes into a navigable and interconnected lagoon, and assembling not one but 5 different hotels and a golf course from the beginning.
We went from this:
to that anyway!
The Banyan Tree Phuket is one of them and the golf course is right next door.
What’s 3 nights at Banyan Tree Phuket like?
We are not used to being received in this kind of hotel. If I had been to hotels of a certain standing during my previous work in Thailand, none had reached this level. We are talking here about a hotel where our room is a villa with a private pool, the rate starts from 300€ in low season and 400€ minimum otherwise…
And for this price, we obviously receive you very well. Seeing all this decor, this atmosphere, there is clearly a "Wow!" effect for us. However, the room was not ready so we had to wait a little.
The opportunity for us to go and have a look at Bang Tao beach. From the entrance, going around the hotel, it was a little less than 1 km, from our villa, it was only 450 m to get there by cutting through the hotel.
We stopped for a while at a small restaurant on the beach with simple and cheap dishes, it contrasted quite a bit with the network of hotels behind. After a good hour, we came back to see if we could finally check in.
And there, it was all good. We got on a golf cart and were taken to our "neighborhood" for the next 3 days. It was not without a certain excitement that we discovered our villa. Time to tour the rooms and explain the amenities to which we are entitled and we finally made ourselves comfortable. The bedroom / living room area is spacious, at a glance, I would say around 45 m².
We also have a bathroom with a sink area for the lady and one for me. The bathtub is in an outdoor area without a roof, but we also have a toilet area and a normal shower.
Finally, the pool is not very big, but we have a nice rectangle of 3.5 m by 6 m long. Enough to paddle and enjoy. In total, the cumulative surface area is 170m², just that...
Super comfortable bed, TV area, mini bar (well we didn't touch anything because it was overpriced...), everything is there. Once settled in and rested, it was time to go back to the beach to watch the sunset.
We went to pick up our bikes near the main pool, so that we could move around the complex freely. The main pool is also very large, divided into a swimming area with a large traditional rectangle and a more relaxing area, with a current allowing you to float around a "circuit".
The sunset was disappointing since it was cloudy, but no matter, the magic of the moment remained intact. We finished this great first day with a midnight swim on the way back to our villa, a bit satisfying.
The next day and the day after, we greatly appreciated the excellent breakfast buffet, varied, alcoholic drinks included (first time I tried champagne first thing in the morning…). It allowed us to basically skip lunch, because we ate so much that we weren’t hungry anymore before evening came…
A manager systematically went around the tables to make sure everything was going well. Part of me was surprised to see so many families and so many people when you know the cost of the rooms. Part of me was saying "but what the hell are we doing here", another, "enjoy!", another, "well it's okay, there are some who are doing well in terms of money".
A part of me felt out of place but deep down, voucher or no voucher, I was still enjoying myself and was a customer like any other.
After thinking about it, we went to the main pool only at the end of the day after exploring the surroundings, also because there were fewer people at that time. We let ourselves be tempted by a small cocktail at the main restaurant at the entrance, with a cozy atmosphere and not too expensive.
We also tried the cafe located at the entrance to the golf course. Pretty good and not excessively expensive.
However, we did not try their spa since we also had a voucher for the Oasis Spa for this stay, a fairly luxurious massage center with several branches in Phuket (at least 4), 2 in Bangkok and one in Pattaya and Chiang Mai respectively.
Time obviously went by too quickly when you're having a good time like that and you don't know when you'll have the opportunity to try this level of hospitality again. Regardless, we're very satisfied with our stay and frankly, a bit of luxury from time to time is still really good.
Beaches near the Banyan Tree
The goal here is not to remind you of the different beaches you have in Phuket (I mention quite a few in my article on accommodation in phuket), I will only mention the beaches in the immediate vicinity of our hotel.
Starting in the north with the small beach of Banana Beach. It is a beach that does not have direct access with parking as such. Which in itself limits the number of people, but still causes a bit of trouble, because if it is still part of the little "secret" corners in Phuket, it is less and less so, as a result, everyone, motorbikes and cars end up squatting along the side of the road.
The access itself is a small path going down the hillside. We must admit that the place has charm despite the drizzle that awaited us when we arrived. As we are not the type to laze around, we were just leaving when a ray of sunshine appeared.
If you continue on the same road further north, you will come across the large Naithon beach, a kilometer long, lined with tall trees and generally less crowded than its southern counterparts.
If we didn't go up there this time, it was to go further south towards Kamala beach, which I'm rediscovering, because it must have been 10 years since I last set foot there...
The reason for our visit was that we had chosen the local branch of Oasis Spa to use our voucher (knowing that there are 2 branches in Kamala, the one we tested is on Huan Khuan Nuea Rd, set back from the beach, the other being right next door).
Absorbed by our idea of having a good time at the spa, we forgot to stop at the small beach of Laem Singh Beach, which I recommend.
Arriving in Kamala, I discovered the tsunami memorial. We had a quick bite to eat beforehand and had a mediocre coffee at the Kamala Coffee House restaurant, at the end of the beach.
Massage at the Oasis Spa
The experience at the Oasis Spa would make up for all that. Great setting, very professional care.
We were both in the same private space, with a mandatory shower beforehand.
For once I was testing not a classic Thai massage but a 2-hour combo called Ayurveda Package. This takes the form of 2 hours of pampering starting with a new experience for me and which explains the term Ayurveda, referring to Ayurvedic treatment, a form of Indian "medicine" dedicated to balancing the mind in relation to the body.
This first part was done by pouring hot oil on my forehead, at the location of the "3rd eye". This technique, called Shirodhara, is, beyond the "irrational" aspect that the most down-to-earth might see there, pleasant and has a very concrete effect, well it feels good. It relaxes well even if I expected better.
On the other hand, the rest was just royal, because after this Shirodhara session, it was an oil massage in the Indian style. And good god my masseuse was gifted and delicate with her 2 hands.
We ended this excellent day with a good Italian restaurant near our hotel, DaVinci Restaurant & Bistro, where I had very fond memories of their pizza at the restaurant of the same branch located near Rawai.
The pizza was indeed very good, we arrived just in time before the downpour. Having time, I treated myself by popping the Champagne. A rosé Champagne at €40, I found reasonable and it concluded this day perfectly.
The next day we went up to the north of the island, towards Phang Nga Bay, which I would also write an article about. Knowing that in 12 years since the first time I set foot in Thailand, I had never been to see the bay…
To return to the spa for a moment, for the anecdote, although we no longer had a voucher, we decided to try another branch of Oasis Spa the next day, because when it came time to choose, we were both hesitating between different packages, so we said to ourselves that we would do both...
This time we went to the spa next to our hotel, the Oasis Spa Phuket Laguna. But this time the experience was all the less memorable because Jitima did not appreciate the lack of privacy because there, no private room but a private space, the nuance comes from the fact that we were not between 4 walls but just curtains not really closed on the back, so when we change it is not great…
Surin Beach and end of stay
And after this spa, we went to Surin beach, south of the lagoon. Same, it had been almost 10 years since I had last set foot there, I didn't recognize anything anymore...
The major change is that the beach is no longer filled with sun loungers and umbrellas as it used to be, but there is nothing left except all the tourists who therefore use the new cushion that is filled with air, which is very fashionable. Otherwise, there is still the old-fashioned technique of the good towel...
And all good things must come to an end, so we had to get back to our villa one last time to check out...
Our stay did not end there, to put it simply we had taken another hotel at the end of Bang Tao beach, not far from Surin beach as well, the 6th Avenue Surin.
A much more moderate budget hotel, but with a certain standing and in particular a pretty swimming pool on the roof. Just enough time to recover from our emotions and the return to the airport awaited us 24 hours later, not without having been treated to our beautiful sunset at the end of Bang Tao beach, to conclude in style our reunion in Phuket.
Conclusion? Well, treating yourself from time to time is really good and relaxing! I've never been in such good shape as after this trip, which, in our case, didn't cost us that much considering the benefits we were getting.
So, would you like a little luxury?
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3 Comments
HELLO,
How lucky. And yes it is a real treat.
Hello Romain
Always a pleasure to read you. Between description of places and personal reflections it is a treat.
Hello,
Thank you for this comment and for being a loyal reader!