Six Senses Samui

Koh Samui

Koh Samui in the south of the Gulf of Thailand is the main island in the Angthong archipelago and the country’s third largest island. Koh is the Thai word for island. This tropical paradise of white sandy beaches and coconut palms has become an important tourist destination over the last two decades. Its most famous beaches, Chaweng, Lamai, Maenam and Bophut, the animated night life of Chaweng and Lamai, the small markets, the bougainvilleas which perfume the atmosphere and the friendliness of the local inhabitants have made Koh Samui a serious competitor of Phuket.

Before being discovered by tourists, it was an island of fisherman and coconut plantations. To this today, the coconuts continue to be gathered with the help of monkeys. You can observe them climbing into the trees at their master’s order to pick them. This ancestral practice has become one of the island’s favorite tourist attractions.

Samui is also an authentic island with a great many cultural treasures. Art lovers will be anxious to visit the numerous temples spread throughout the island like the Phra Yai with its Big Buddha which is visible for miles around, the Wongkaram, the Khun Aram and the Sumret with its handsome collection of precious statues. The interior of the island is ideal for walking and visiting the animal parks in order to admire, from close up, tigers, elephants, crocodiles and the famous coconut gathering monkeys.

Luxury, calm and sensual pleasure

On a promontory at the extreme northwest tip of the island, the Sila Evason Hideaway & Spa Koh Samui stretches over eight hectares of plantations with an incomparable view of the sea and the neighboring islands.

Sixty-six two-story villas are spread throughout the hillside in the midst of lush vegetation. Built with exotic wood and recycled materials in accordance with the Six Senses hotel group’s ecological principles, they blend in perfectly with the environment.

Guests reach their villa via a buggy, accompanied by a personal butler. All the accommodations are organized in the same way and respect the local style with immense terraces, huge bathrooms, an outdoor shower and a swimming pool whose blue color is almost part of the horizon. In the rooms, teak furniture and linen are predominant. The ecru villas have soft green and azure blue cushions as do the reception area’s chairs, and the staff’s outfits are in yellow, green or white. The doors to the villa and the main swimming pool area are decorated with bamboo.

Breakfast is served under a wooden pergola at the top of a small hill overlooking the bay and the north of the island in the Dining on the Hill restaurant. The dinner restaurant, Dining on the Rocks, serves excellent and innovative Asian cuisine. Built on different rocky terraces as its name indicates, this unusually designed restaurant has spectacular views of the neighboring islands. The disposition of the villas throughout the property and the extraordinary location of the two restaurants give one the impression of being isolated from the world in a sort of tropical paradise.

The philosophy of the hotel can be summed up in two words: “can do.” The staff explains to its guests that anything is possible, whatever the request, and that although they should feel at home here, they are the guests of honor.