One Night in Bangkok

Our first stop was Kimpton Maa-Lai Bangkok, in the leafy Langsuan district close to Lumphini Park. It feels removed from the intensity you might expect from Bangkok, but you’re still close enough to dip straight into the city when you want to.

What I liked immediately was that it didn’t feel like a hotel populated entirely by hotel guests. CRAFT, the café in the lobby, was always busy with Bangkok locals meeting for coffee – often accompanied by their dogs – and that gave the whole place a really relaxed, neighbourhood feel. The hotel is incredibly pet-friendly, with three floors, the terrace and gardens all open to four-legged guests, and apparently Niall Harbison from Happy Doggo had even been spotted in reception.

There’s plenty of Thai influence in the interiors too, from the fabrics to the rope sculptures, so it feels connected to its setting without going overboard.

We had a private dinner, with dishes including Tom Kha grilled scallop with green coconut emulsion and Ka Prow Wagyu beef tenderloin with beef-fat fried rice, each course paired with wine. Afterwards we moved to Ruby’s, where the 14 cocktails are named after precious stones. We went slightly less adventurous and ordered classic Negronis.

We had far too little time in Bangkok, but we did head out to a few bars ourselves. I was struck by how clean and safe the city felt, and getting around couldn’t be easier or cheaper, whether by tuk-tuk or Grab. If you only have a couple of nights here, having a guide is something I’d definitely recommend – there’s simply too much to see to waste time working out where to go.

For me, Bangkok works brilliantly for a couple of nights before heading elsewhere in Thailand or on to Cambodia and wider Indochina. On this trip, however, we were heading somewhere rather special.

Wake Up Call

I’d seen countless photographs of Six Senses Yao Noi before arriving. None of them prepared me for the real thing.

Getting there involves a 20-minute drive followed by around 40 minutes by boat from Phuket, and when you arrive, the team is waiting with cold towels scented with the resort’s signature lemongrass. It’s all incredibly slick, but then you see that view – the limestone karsts rising from Phang Nga Bay – and everything else becomes background noise.

I stayed in one of the pool villas, tucked into the hillside among the greenery. Interiors are darker and more rustic than those at Six Senses Samui, with plenty of wood, lots of space and, of course, your own pool. But it was the view I kept coming back to.

Sunrise was worth the early alarm. I watched it from the outside deck of my villa, the first light gradually appearing across the bay and picking out the limestone islands in the distance. It’s worth getting up early for at least once – whether you watch from your own villa or The Hilltop.

Although, as I discovered, there are other reasons to leave your villa.

Walk on the Wild Side

Seven of us headed out island-hopping by traditional long-tail boat, stopping to swim and finding one of those beaches that really does look exactly as you imagine Thailand should.

Then came Monkey Island.

There were monkeys everywhere, including in the water – who knew they were such strong swimmers? One started making its way rather purposefully towards our boat, which became slightly nerve-racking once we realised it was probably coming to investigate whether we had any food. Thankfully, it didn’t quite make it aboard.

It was such a fun day and a great contrast to the slower pace back at the resort. You can spend hours doing very little here – relaxing by your villa, heading to The Hilltop pool or kayaking from Mai Thai Beach – but there’s enough going on when you want to venture out.

The Bare Necessities

Sustainability at Yao Noi isn’t something sitting in the background or mentioned on a card in your room. You see it everywhere.

At the Organic Farm, the chickens famously listen to jazz in their coop (yes, really), and guests can collect their eggs and take them to breakfast to be cooked. Ducks help turn food waste into fertiliser, while kitchen leftovers are used to feed the resort’s goats. The same thinking carries through to the Junior Eco Warrior programme, where children get involved in everything from recycling and upcycling to nature-based activities.

Wellness is equally important. We had an energising massage followed by a Body Balance session with Khun Abhishek Paul, the resort’s yoga and wellness practitioner, who works with guests on everything from sleep and detox to fitness and weight management. It was far more detailed than I’d expected, right down to looking at how we breathe.

What’s Cooking?

The food at Yao Noi was some of the best I’ve ever had.

We ate at Nithan, The Living Room and The Hilltop, as well as privately in our villas, and I’d struggle to pick a disappointing meal. Nithan was probably my favourite dinner, while the Mhee Gaeng Puu – a southern crab curry with just enough heat, but not so much that it overpowered everything else – was the dish that stayed with me.

There was also a wonderful Massaman Thai Wagyu beef cheek curry, Yum Som-O with pomelo, coconut, dried shrimp, kaffir lime, lemongrass and cashews, and Khao Mao – fried banana wrapped in green rice with Thai tea ice cream.

Simply the Best

The service was every bit as good as the food.

Each villa has a GEM – Guest Experience Maker – and mine was Ying. She’d only been doing the job for just over a week, yet she was honestly the best GEM I’ve come across in all my years of travelling. She gave me a hand-annotated resort map with her own suggestions, checked in every day and made sure I had the right pillows and milk waiting in my room.

Those are small things individually, but together they make an enormous difference.

Yao Noi was undoubtedly my favourite stop of the trip. It feels wonderfully removed from everything – the kind of place where you arrive and very quickly lose interest in leaving. For couples in particular, there’s a real sense of escape. Add the food, wellness and service – particularly from Ying – and I could very happily have stayed longer.

A Different Corner

Six Senses Samui immediately felt different.

Set on the northern tip of Koh Samui, it still gives you the privacy and sea views you expect from Six Senses, but it feels more accessible and perhaps a little easier for families. You’re close enough to get out and explore Fisherman’s Village or visit Big Buddha, while the resort itself has the beach, two pools, cookery classes, Farm on the Hill, watersports, yoga, Pilates and sound healing.

My Ocean Front Villa was split-level with floor-to-ceiling windows, a private plunge pool and a wide-open view across the sea. It wasn’t quite as rustic as Yao Noi and had a sunken bath – although anyone travelling with small children may want to keep an eye on that.

Dining on the Hill is relaxed and open to the elements, but Dining on the Rocks was the real event for me. Its terraces tumble down towards the sea, with huge views across the Gulf of Thailand. We ate after dark, the moon lighting the sky while a violinist played music from Bridgerton. Jonathan Bailey, unfortunately, was a no-show.

Sitting there with the sea below us and the music playing in the dark was one of those moments no photograph was ever going to capture properly.

The Heat Is On

If Yao Noi gave me monkeys, Samui gave me goats.

I absolutely fell in love with the ones at Farm on the Hill, although feeding time was complete chaos. They’re noisy, determined and definitely not all small. A few of the younger ones were clearly well down the pecking order, so we spent quite a bit of time trying to get food to them without the bigger goats stealing it first.

We also took a Thai cookery class, making our own lunch including Tom Yum Goong and Kanom Ko coconut dumplings. I am not exactly known for my skills in the kitchen, but everything is laid out beautifully and the chef is there to make sure you don’t go too badly wrong. Essentially, all I had to do was chop things and add them to the pan.

I have a certificate and apron proving I took part. Nothing confirming I’m chef material, sadly.

Good Vibrations

One of my favourite experiences at Samui involved doing virtually nothing at all.

We joined a Tibetan Singing Bowl Sound Healing session in the outdoor pavilion. At first I wasn’t sure how I’d find an entire hour of it, but within minutes I’d completely switched off. You could hear the singing bowls alongside the wind moving through the trees and the ocean beyond, and when it finished I honestly couldn’t believe an hour had passed.

There’s complimentary yoga and Pilates too, alongside sound healing, meditation, visiting practitioners and personalised wellness programmes. You can engage with as much or as little of it as you like. Or you can simply find a lounger at Swim on the Hill – some of the comfiest I encountered on the trip – and disappear into a book.

And between 3pm and 5pm, there’s complimentary ice cream every day, which is a wellness programme I can absolutely get behind.