Where to stay in Phuket for romance – Sala Resort and Spa

Sala Phuket Hotel is the very definition of Thailand’s romance and mystery. From the privacy of the pool villas to the sun setting over the Andaman Sea, Sala Phuket is the ultimate honeymoon and romance destination.

At the northwestern tip of the island of Phuket, Thailand’s largest island, Sala and Mai Khao Beach is all about privacy and romance. It’s a long way from the party zones that tend to give Phuket a bad name – or a good name depending on what you want!

Sala is isolated from the southern party district of Patong by some 60km of national parks and coastline. It’s conveniently close to the airport though, and only about 5km away from the bridge leading the mainland. Not that you’ll want to move around much once you’ve arrived at Sala!

From the elegantly low-key reception that opens up to a shallow water garden, we were shown to our villa tucked away down one of the avenues leading to the beach.

And when you check in, the host asks you to choose your preferred fragrance of body lotion, soap and – best of all – your choice of pillow. They bring out a tiny miniature of each pillow type so you can feel what they’re like.

Mrs R went for a medium firmness micro silk pillow and I ordered a firm luxury goose down one. There are also buckwheat and contour massage options.

Staying here is an amazing experience from start to finish.

Sala Phuket Hotel

Inside the resort

There are 7 different types of accommodation here, all with the same characteristic styling of this luxury resort. We were allowed a quick peek into some of them, and they were all amazing.

Every room has its own private pool apart from the Deluxe Balcony rooms, which have enormous outdoor baths instead.

The others are all villas with pools and range in size from 157 square metres (1,700sqf) to the enormous 3-bedroom presidential pool villa that’s 619sqm (6,663sqf)! All of which are far bigger than our first apartment.

And the space in each is used so well. Check out our quick walk-through of some of the rooms here:

For floor plans of each of the rooms, check out Sala’s site here.

Our Sala Pool Villa was amazing

The outside space has sun loungers, a huge daybed sofa and the pool of course. Everything is so well styled – from the chandelier and the giant mirror to the patterned tiling and the giant bath.

The bathroom, shower and toilet are all outside here too, which is a theme within the resort and something you see quite a lot in Thailand and SE Asia.

The bedroom, living room and kitchenette next to the pool was a reasonable size, though with the majority of the villa being open air, it’s clear that the focus here is on being outside.

This is the smallest of the villas, and the indoor space is only 40sqm of our allotted 157sqm. It’d probably get a bit cramped if we’d had to stay inside for any length of time. As it was, we had the best time here in our pool or just relaxing in the living space.

Outside our villa

The grounds at Sala are expansive – though all seemed to lead us back to the beachfront bar and pool complex. Funny that! The beach here is quite steep and – due to earlier storms – wasn’t safe for swimming. Ordinarily it’s ok.

The 2 pools here are lovely though, so if you get bored with your own, these two should keep you happy. Talking of which, the beachfront bar has a happy hour with 2-for-1 drinks and some great cocktails on the menu.

From here the restaurant is only a hop, skip, jump, cartwheel or any other old type of perambulation you might like to employ. The food served here is excellent – but don’t rely on the staff to tell you that you’ve ordered too much.

As the dishes kept on coming, we realised we’d probably overdone it. I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that it tasted so good; it meant we ate it all and were in pain after… so probably bad, right? Nothing a midnight dip in our private pool didn’t fix though.

Breakfast here at Sala – whether you over-ate the night before or not – is not to be missed. We certainly didn’t. Like many hotels, Sala offers a buffet and an a la carte breakfast. Unlike most hotels, here you can (and are encouraged to) have both.

They smoke and slow-cook barbecue their own pork here, and some of this is saved for the breakfast menu. I highly recommend the eggs benedict, which comes on a homemade toasted croissant with a good portion of this beautiful bbq pork. Amazing.

For further pampering, the spa and gym facilities here are great. Mrs Romance had a great massage here in the morning (you get 25% off if you go before 1pm) and has a beautiful tranquil feel – as if this place isn’t relaxing enough!

Outside the resort

By its design and location, Sala’s not meant for you to leave. It’s got everything here for you to have the most romantic, private and memorable time.

Being in the far northwest of the island, there’s not much around Sala. And it’s so beautiful within the complex, it’s actually quite hard to convince yourself it’s worth going outside!

However, there are a few things you can do. Right next to the resort – to the right as you look at the ocean – is a little strip of hawker-style eateries well worth a visit. They’re cheaper than the restaurant at Sala, expect none of the frills you get at the resort. But the food’s great with fresh seafood options aplenty.

There are a couple more resorts along the beach too, which might be worth exploring.

Excursions with Sala

There are also some options for excursions that Sala can organise for you. The golf scene here is very good with some 8 courses in the area. There are also fishing trips, boat tours and scuba dives available.

But the best thing to do here by far is spending time with your love, relaxing and enjoying the beautiful service here in Sala.

Sala Phuket Resort and Spa

333 Moo 3 Mai Khao Beach
Thalang District
Phuket, Thailand
W: salaresorts.com/phuket

Fb: @salaphuket
Ig: @salahospitality

What would be the first thing you do in a place like this? Tell us in the comments!

Images by Mrs Romance using an OM-D E-M5 mark II Olympus camera. We stayed as guests of Sala Phuket.