Pimalai Resort & Spa, Krabi – Luxury amidst nature

July 23, 2024
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If there is one place I would love to stay on forever, it would be the Pimalai Resort & Spa. This 100 acre resort is tucked afar away on the hilltop and offers majestic views of the Andaman Ocean.

The blue color of the seas intertwined with the blue sky offers surreal and magnificent experience for guests at the resort. The beauty, accommodations, food, service, and amenities will sweep you off your feet and leave you speechless. Be warned: all your other trips will fade in comparison to the memory of a Pimalai vacation.

How to reach Pimalai

The closer airport to the resort is Krabi, which is approximately 1.5 hours of travel. We travelled from Delhi to Phuket International airport that is about 4.5 hours away from the resort.

After collecting our luggage at Phuket International Airport, we are greeted by the warm and hospitable driver and whisked away in their very comfortable MUV luxury van to the tranquil Pimalai jetty dock, which features Pimalai’s signature eco-chic design.

Here, guests can wait for the connecting speed boat transfer to the resort. We loved the cleanliness and beautiful well maintained garden while waiting for the speed boat to arrive.

The speed boat transfer arrangements are very well-organized and quite flexible with regards to the operating schedule and luggage limits.

The 30 minute speedboat journey in the Andaman Ocean offers an amazing view. The remaining journey is continued by road where you would be greeted by beautiful jungles.  By the time we reach the resort, it gets dark, yet the sound of the sea shore and the calming aroma takes away the tiredness of the long journey.

The entire area of the resort is covered by a magnificent verdant jungle and surrounded by palm-fringed beach. The resort’s eco-chic design melts in with the surroundings and adds to the sense of being at one with nature.

Accomodations

All hotel pavilions, including the villa accommodations, are built using local materials, topped with an eco-friendly roof, decked out in stylish bright decor, and decorated with chic furniture. This is barefoot luxury at its best, albeit in an environmentally conscious way.

The resort’s thatched-roof, multi-bedroom luxury villas are scattered on the hilltop offering surreal views of the mountains and the beach that are visible among dense foliage. The elegant and sophisticated villas are massive in scale and come with exquisite features.

Each villa aims to provide a sort of Robinson Crusoe experience, as it feels as it’s marooned on its own private space, with its own pool and unlimited views of the natural beauty. Accommodations have been designed to ensure the utmost privacy for guests, as well as to make the most of the picture-perfect  vistas. The spacious interiors and exterior living spaces give guests more to love, as well as making them perfect for families. Each villa comes with a small private pool.

During our stay, we stayed at the incredible private pool ocean view villa located on the hilltop.  The pool villa offers an immersive experience in nature while offering luxurious space that includes: a sumptuous bedroom, huge well equipped bathrooms , an outdoor lounge, an in-villa living room with a fully stocked full kitchen, a private swimming pool.

Faciltities

The common pool is one of the resort’s highlights. It offers an authentic overwater experience. Besides housing terrific dining outlet, the poolside also features a large sundeck with comfortable loungers, overwater netting, and a fun water drizzle area, guaranteeing some great photo opportunities.

The poolside also offers sublime views of the sunsets. Guests can devour mocktails in cushioned loungers facing the pool, overlooking the Andaman sea while enjoying the sunset.

Activities at the resort

The resort offers an abundance of activities that cater to all ages and even the most discerning of tastes: a wide selection of water sports and a variety of excursions are available to guests, in addition to tennis, treks, and cooking classes.

The waters surrounding the resort hold a tremendously high biodiversity and incredible array of sea life. You can enjoy several water activities planned by the resort that include boat ride to the Emerald cave and Koh Ngai where you can also do snorkeling.

They also plan a trek to the waterfalls, bat cave and gigantic banyan tree. The best experience is the gondola ride to the mangrove forest, in which you are up close with nature.

Movie night

Pimalai offers families some great experiences. The magnificent resort’s Cinema screens movies in an auditorium with cushioned loungers. Popcorn is served complimentary.

Spa

Hidden among the Island’s wild jungle foliage is an excellent spa, which represents a haven of calm for the mind, body and soul. You can choose from a variety of body treatments, specialist traditions and wellness therapies, ranging from soothing scrubs and oils of local coconuts to Tibetan hot stones. I had a massage and it was phenomenal.

Pimalai has one of the best locations on earth for visibility and gazing at the stars. The resort takes full advantage of this, where guests can enjoy a star lit sky relaxing on the loungers by the pool.

Dining

Breakfast, lunch and dinner are stellar culinary experiences, with world-class restaurants, over-the-top settings, impeccable service, and wholesome cuisines.

Seven Seas Restaurant is the main restaurant. The breakfast buffet is the most generous one I have ever seen at a hotel, with oven fresh cakes, breads & croissants, home-made jams, egg-cooking stations, ham, sumptuous homemade cheeses, and cold cuts. The spacious restaurant spans delicous buffet with noodles and rice with gravys.

At dinner, Seven Seas transforms into a grazing feast with stir fry, and salad stations, as well as wood-fired pizzas and fresh pasta. A lavish buffet is offered with amazing array of dishes. From delicious grilled meats and seafood, Teppanyaki, sushi and secret menus conjured by chefs – guests are spoilt for choice at their outstanding culinary offerings.

Next to the beach is the Rak Talay Beach restaurant – a fine dining venue which serves International and South Asian cuisine on the beach in a romantic setting. Dinners are perfect when you soak in the soothing musical vibe and glide into comfort in their roomy chairs. The beachfront with the moonlight accentuates the experience while dining and enjoying their sea food buffet. The fire dance performance is the highlight of the entire dining experience that families can enjoy while dining. From delicious grilled meats and seafood, Teppanyaki, sushi conjured by chefs – guests are spoilt for choice.

My favorite restaurant was the Banyan Tree, which is located near the poolside with sublime panoramas stretching beyond the jungle’s canopy, and serves mouth-watering Asian, Italian and Mediterranean-inspired dishes. Their sticky rice with mango is worth trying.

Spice & Rice celebrates the fine dining meal bowl experience with their Semi buffet. Diners can create their own magical pot with ingredients of their choice. The staff helps them in placing the hot pot on the dining table, where you can put sea food and vegetables as you please. The experience is truly worth it.  

The bar has a fantastic, subterranean wine cellar. The collection of bottles, including rare champagnes, grand cru clarets, vintage cognacs, biodynamic wines, rivals the world’s finest wine collections.

The wall in the bar is covered with world-renowned and celebrated personalities, authors, therapists and practitioners.

Top Notch service

The service at Pimalai is top notch. For example, room cleaning and cart service from room to respective venues always take place on time. The staff is the happiest and kindest I have ever encountered  and they definitely make you feel at home.

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