Volume 39, Number 05
Travel
Pimalai Resort & Spa
by Poppy Jackson-Jones
You know you'll be staying at a very special hotel when the first people you meet off the plane tell you it's their fifth visit—and they've already booked their sixth! From the moment you meet the staff of Pimalai Resort & Spa on Koh Lanta, Krabi, in Thailand, you understand why guests visit over and over again. You are greeted at Krabi Airport and, even though you have another couple of hours of traveling still ahead, you soon feel like you have already arrived at your destination.
From the airport, the Pimalai minibus takes you on a 50-minute drive to the coast. If you're eagerly anticipating your stay, your enthusiasm will be doubled by the DVD about the resort that is shown throughout much of the journey—you'll feel that you are about to enter a world where your relaxation is of paramount importance. Before you know it, you've arrived at Pimalai's private jetty, and are on board one of their boats speeding around the coast on a 60-minute scenic trip that will certainly blow away all the cobwebs.
Upon arrival at the resort's 900-meter private beach, you are driven to the hotel ‘lobby', which feels more like a lounge. There is no ‘check-in' at Pimalai—instead you are guided to some comfy sofas, given a lemon drink that you'll crave throughout your stay, and discreetly asked for your passport to allow the staff to complete all the details. You don't need to think about anything except relaxing.
And that is the way everything is done at Pimalai.
For Tokyo residents, Pimalai is the perfect escape for a either a long weekend or a couple of weeks. The view from one of their villas is enough to take away all the stress of city life at just one glance. I spent six nights in one of their new Pool Villas, set 60 meters above sea level, with an infinity pool overlooking a tropical forest resembling the Lost set, and Ba Kan Tiang bay.
The resort itself was built in 2001, and a second complex of one-, two-, and three-bedroom villas was added in December 2005. Our 200 square meter villa was made up of two buildings: one with a living room, kitchen, toilet and shower; and the other with the bedroom and a large bathroom with a ‘rain-shower' and a bath overlooking the bay. The kitchen has everything you'd need, even a juicer, and there is a shopping list from which you can order practically anything you'd like to cook at home for yourself. With two outdoor decks—one with sun loungers and another with a sofa and a dining table for two—plus the Thai sala (a double-bed-sized pavilion for massages or other such activities enjoyed while watching the sun go down), you really do feel pampered, cocooned in luxury, yet very much at home at the same time.
Not that you even need to, but should you wish to venture out of your heavenly villa, there is plenty to explore on the resort. There are five restaurants serving a mixture of Thai and Western cuisine, one of which being the award-winning Seven Seas Wine Bar & Restaurant, and two huge infinity pools with stunning views over the bay. There is a fitness center, two libraries with internet access, tennis courts, and a range of water sports and sightseeing activities. We participated in a snorkeling excursion, and were really pleased to discover that it was actually organized by the resort itself and not a third party—the entire day went by with the same top quality of service you get on the actual resort.
Just walking around the resort is a delight. Passing through the villas, you realize that they have all been created for utmost privacy, as you get only the smallest of glimpses of other gardens and decks amid exotic flora and fauna. The resort feels like it has been created specifically to blend in with nature, so it is no surprise to discover that it was built with a ‘No Cutting of Trees!' policy. In some places, walkways and buildings have been built around nature, increasing the sense of adventure as you explore.
The Pimalai Spa seems to have been built in the area with the highest concentration of tropical vegetation, with beautiful trees, plants, and flowers. Having an outdoor shower after a mud-wrap, with strong sunshine beaming down through the overhead foliage, so that there were rainbows all around me, was a truly magical experience. Wherever you are in the entire resort, you can always hear the sound of water flowing—in the restaurants, on the beach, at the spa, in your villa, or walking around—there are fountains, waterfalls, and pools everywhere.
Once a week, the (mostly European) management staff invites about 20 of their VIP and frequent guests for drinks by one of the pools, at sunset. Everybody we met there had been going to the resort for years and were very welcoming to first-timers like us. The management and, in fact all the other staff we met during our stay, clearly loved their work and used these weekly gatherings to get guests' opinions—much more effective than a feedback form.
And this particular guest is of the opinion that Pimalai is fantastic, just as it is.