Luxury in Thailand at Four Seasons Koh Samui and Chiang Mai
by Esther Fraser

I’ve been fortunate to travel recently to Thailand with Four Seasons to experience two of their luxury resorts, firstly in Koh Samui followed by Chiang Mai.

After a 35 minute drive from the airport, we arrived at Four Seasons in Koh Samui – the viewing platform for arrivals is jaw dropping, high on the hill overlooking the resort, lush tropical scenery and the ocean.  After my check in I was whisked off in my buggy to to my Residence (villa).

My villa was within walking distance to the Four Season’s beautiful clean beach. There is a restaurant where we had a beach BBQ and fire show one night during our stay. During the day you can paddle board, sail or kayak – and there are lovely hammocks over the water for relaxing.

The food at the resort is delicious, fresh and varied with amazing chefs and we met Guillermo from Barcelona. Great coffees were made – and to our Aussie liking! We learnt how to make cocktails and then, of course, sampled them. We also tried Thai wines which were surprisingly good. We were all treated to an hour long spa treatment – I chose Swedish which was devine. There was also a choice of kick boxing, Thai Culture (which I chose) or Massage techniques. One evening we traveled to Fisherman’s Village where we had time to shop and enjoyed a beautiful dinner.

As with any Four Seasons hotel it’s about the beautiful people and the service that makes them stand out from other hotels, truly impressive. It is also about the attention to detail – no matter where you look there is an interesting flower arrangement or statue, wall mural to admire.

Next stop Chiang Mai..

The Four Seasons Resort is about 45 minutes out of the city of Chiangmai, in a beautiful Thai village – you feel like you are living in a village as the resort has rice paddies in the central area – but of course this is a very luxurious village.

Chiangmai is the 2nd largest city in Thailand and like Bangkok it is a prosperous city. Surrounded by mountains it is a very picturesque area. The resort is very close to the orchid farm, elephant camp, tiger park & various temples.

The resort is a mix of residences and villas and they are really beautifully decorated. The beds are beautiful as are the pillows – they even have a pillow menu. I’d like to order both for my own house!  The people and service were once again beyond expectation. One night we were entertained by Thai dancers as we were there for the Loy Krathong festival – they light lanterns and launch them into the sky, quite spectacular..

We enjoyed a cooking class with four teams, and after the judging we enjoyed a delicious meal in the cooking school with Chef Meow. We had an cultural afternoon where we dressed as farmers and learned about rice production and enjoyed a bike ride with Michael who is the GM of the resort. We sampled various delicious cocktails from the cocktail bar – I particularly loved the Wasabi martini!!!!

I would highly recommend combining Chiangmai with The Four seasons Tented camp which is a couple of hours away from Chiangmai.