SRC:https://www.cntraveller.com/gallery/thailand-best-beaches-resorts-bars Thailand Best Beaches
A land of free-diving sea gypsies, leafy cashew farms, Champagne-coloured sand and mint-green water: it is actually still possible to find unspoilt parts of Thailand. Until recently, almost no one had heard of the mellow island of Koh Phayam, on the Thai border with Burma – and those who had were unlikely to want to make the nine-hour slog on the night bus from Bangkok to get there. But Koh Phayam’s fortunes are set to change (for better or worse) now the low-cost Thai airline Nok Air has started direct 90-minute flights from the capital. Get there before every hippy and hipster worth their pink Himalayan salt finds out about it. www.nokair.com
Best beach bar
KOH PHANGAN
The Flip Flop Pharmacy in Koh Phangan exemplifies the hidden side of the island’s north-east with its chilled-out vibe a million miles from the Full Moon parties this place has become known for. Here, instead, is a pavilion with worn-smooth floorboards, a drinks menu that would make any mixologist proud and a mellow soundtrack. But the best bits are the slouchy pillows, low tables and candlelit lanterns beneath a sky that changes from pink to starlit in the time it takes to sip a cocktail. +66 77 445081
Best beach
KOH TAO
You’ll need to get here early or hang late to get the postcard-worthy photo-op at Nangyuan beach near Koh Tao, a silvery sliver of a sandbar that connects three small islands linked by thigh-deep, crystal-clear water and a fishbowl-effect of tropical marine life.
Best snorkelling
SIMILAN ISLANDS
Grab a mask and head to the Similan Islands, a national park west of Khao Lak that’s well worth its designation as one of the world’s best diving sites. After discovering the shoals of rich coral reefs and the spectacular limestone islands, the squeaky soft beaches are just the spot for a picnic.
The rooftop bar with the best views
PHUKET
At sunset everyone heads to Baba Nest for a rum-drenched My Thai Lady. Suspended up high, cut into the rocks of Phuket’s Cape Panwa peninsula, the rooftop bar of the Baba Poolclub at Sri Panwa has knock-your-socks-off views over the Andaman Sea. The vibe is low-key, with sunken seats for flopping onto after a swim in the infinity pool. Come earlier in the day for lunch and order the sake-sashimi salad, salt-and-pepper calamari and tiger prawns, alongside a Piña Colada or the non-alcoholic Baba Punch with fresh orange, hibiscus juice and lime. www.sripanwa.com
Wildest beach clubs
KOH SAMUI & PHUKET
For some, a perfect evening in Thailand is a great cocktail and a mean green curry, preferably while wearing just flip-flops and a kaftan. But for others, it’s a much more raucous event. The European-style beach clubs here include bottle service and a glammed-up crowd. At Koh Samui’s Nikki Beach, for example, sushi, Champagne and international DJs are the draw (the more low-key Wednesday film nights are pretty popular too), and at Phuket’s Catch Beach Club on Surin Beach (one of the island’s better stetches of sand) the parties turn into a rave as the night goes on. www.nikkibeach.com; www.catchbeachclub.com
Best Thai massage (and it’s only £10)
KOH PHANGAN
Forget the brightly lit storefront massage parlours that are a dime a dozen in Thailand. Tanaporn Massage House on Koh Phangan somehow combines an authentic atmosphere (flowering gardens, gentle music, hushed surroundings) with bargain prices (less than £10 an hour) and therapists who make your body as limber as your 18-year-old best again. If you’re lucky with your timing (in the earlier months of the year), the owner’s mother-in-law might be in town; the deceivingly slight lady can make men cry – her hands are that strong. www.tanaporn.com
Best street food
PHUKET
Blending Indian, Malaysian and Chinese influences, the food of southern Thailand is intense, hyper-fragrant and the spiciest of the country’s already spicy regional cuisines. Get your fix in Phuket Old Town, a former enclave of 19th-century Chinese and Portuguese traders, where umbrella-covered stalls sizzle outside pastel-coloured shophouses strung with red lanterns. Lunch might come in plastic bags but it is the most authentic you’ll find on the island. It’s also the cheapest. Feast on local specialities – soupy seafood hokkien noodles, skewers of sizzling sausages, oyster omelettes, piping-hot roti and velvety curries – for less than £1 a dish.
Most fabulous new villas
KOH SAMUI
Koh Samui is heaving with heavyweight hotels – Banyan Tree, Four Seasons, W, Belmond Napasai – but giving them a run for their money are a new breed of houses to rent with vast amounts of space, spectacular design and privacy. Check out the modernist cubes of Samujana, cleaved into the hillside above Choeng Mon beach. Each comes with its own butlers, chefs, drivers and swimming pools, as well as Muay Thai boxers for personal training. Or try the Panacea’s Praana Residence, which sprawls over 50,000sq ft and needs a staff of 20 to keep its six suites, cinema room, two infinity pools, gym, spa, nursery and nightclub ticking over. www.samujana.com; www.panaceasamui.com
Best coffee in the islands
KOH SAMUI
Casa Lapin x Samui has just opened at Fisherman’s Village, right on Koh Samui’s fashionable Bophut Beach. The brainchild of architect-owner Surapan Tanta, one of Thailand’s niche coffee pioneers, it continues the industrial-chic style of the Bangkok original – exposed brick walls with bare floorboards and a decked terrace. Here you’ll find skilled baristas serving the best coffee on the island, as well as a range of smoothies, detox juices and punchy cocktails, alongside seafood platters piled high with lobster, prawns, oysters and scallops.
Coolest café bars
PHUKET
Ella Phuket in Patong Beach is a temple to urban industrial minimalism with bare bulbs, polished concrete, iced mochas and guestrooms upstairs. At the opposite end of the style spectrum is China Inn Café in Phuket Town. A hundred years ago the shophouse was used as a money brokerage firm; now its beautifully restored rooms are filled with colourful textiles, lacquered antiques and vintage Chinese advertising posters, and there’s a great courtyard restaurant. www.theellagroup.org; China Inn (+66 76 356239)
Totally under-rated but wonderful island
KO KOOD
Thailand’s fourth-largest – but least-visited – island, Ko Kood, sits in a pristine marine sanctuary near the Cambodian border. Largely mountainous, with thick jungle ringed by immaculate sandy bays, it feels totally off-grid. Stay in a straw hut at Neverland, the little beach houses at Shantaa Resort or in one of the largest hotel villas in the world at sybaritic Soneva Kiri, a beautiful spot with environmentally friendly design and authentic Thai touches. www.neverlandresort.com; from about £30 per night. www.shantaakohkood.com; from about £50 per night. www.soneva.com; doubles from about £595
Most interesting place to visit
PHUKET
Thai Hua Museum is one of the finest examples of Sino-Portuguese architecture in Phuket. Formerly a Chinese-language school, the building in the Old Town now holds exhibitions of local history, which is influenced by the Chinese diaspora who came to the island for tin mining. The displays are informative, using original artefacts as props and mini mock-ups to show what life was like in the 19th century. +66 76 211224
The most incredible location in Thailand
PHANG NGA BAY
Phang Nga Bay is hard to beat. Get here in a traditional longtail fishing boat to explore transparent waters, white-sand coves that are great for a lunch stop or a quick swim, and limestone islands that provide an epic setting (they featured in the 1974 James Bond film The Man With The Golden Gun: the fiendish Scaramanga was a resident in these parts).
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