Our next overseas trip was to Phuket, Thailand in September 2022, and we stayed at the Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas for two nights. As it was a quick getaway which we only arrived on Friday night and returned on Sunday night, we wanted a place that was near the airport. After browsing through the available luxury properties, we settled on Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas for our short trip.
Anantara Mai Khao Stay Details
Table of Contents
Hotel Background and Information
Modeled to resemble a traditional southern Thai village with villas among lagoons and Bill Bensley-designed gardens, Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas opened in 2008 under the management of luxury hotel chain Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas.
This property is one of the three Anantara branded properties in Phuket, with the other two being Anantara Layan Phuket Resort, and Anantara Vacation Club Mai Khao Phuket.
With Anantara Vacation Club Mai Khao Phuket being located rather close to our resort, there was some kind of mix up and our driver incorrectly bought us to Anantara Vacation Club instead when we first arrived, so be sure to check that it is actually the correct resort before alighting.
The all-villa resort has 83 villas, each equipped with a private pool, with the breakdown of the villa types as follows:
Situated at about a twenty minutes drive from Phuket International Airport (HKT) in the north western part of Phuket, Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas is some distance away from most of Phuket’s major attractions, such as Phuket Town, Patong Beach, and Wat Chalong. Having said that, the resort is near Mai Khao Beach, which is famous for plane spotting.
Distance of major tourist attractions/ landmarks/ temples from the resort:
- Mai Khao Beach – Airport Viewpoint (16 mins drive)
- Sirinat National Park (21 mins drive)
- Phuket Town (40 mins drive)
- Wat Chalong (43 mins drive)
- Patong Beach (51 mins drive)
- Kata Beach (53 mins drive)
- The Big Buddha, Phuket (56 mins drive)
Nearby Retail Outlets:
- Turtle Village (beside the resort) – A small shopping and dining complex with a couple of restaurants, cafes, a 7-Eleven, and a bar.
- Mai Khao Plaza (1 min walk) – Small shopping mall.
Of the two retail and food complexes within the vicinity of the resort, we visited Turtle Village and dined there once during our stay.
The complex itself is not large and some of the dining outlets at Turtle Village include The Coffee Club, which serves a variety of Thai and Western dishes, Swensen’s, and Bill Bentley Pub. In addition to the various dining outlets, there is also a 7-Eleven store within the shopping complex.
Booking Process and Pricing
There wasn’t any ongoing promotion when we booked and we just went with the advance purchase rate, which is twenty percent off the best flexible rate. The advance purchase rate is non-cancellable and comes with breakfast as well as a twenty percent off dining (excludes room service, minibar, and alcoholic beverages) and spa.
Part of the reason (which we didn’t mention earlier) why we choose this property, is because we needed to stay at three different hotel brands within the calendar year to qualify for GHA Discovery Titanium status. Titanium is the top tier status in the GHA Discovery loyalty program and offers perks such as a 7 percent rebate in the form of discovery dollars (D$), early check-in from 11 am, late check-out till 4 pm as well as a double room upgrade, subject to availability.
The status could be worth pursuing if you frequent hotels that participate in the GHA Discovery loyalty program (Capella and Kempinski are some of the participating luxury brands) given the relative ease of attaining the status and the reasonably valuable perks that come with it.
Check-in & Lobby
We arrived at the resort at around half past nine at night after a short journey from the airport. The bellboy came forward to open the vehicle’s door and welcomed us. We were then directed to the open-air lobby (pictures taken the following day) and attended to immediately as only one other couple was checking in at that time.
Check-in was a seated affair and cold towels along with a welcome drink were served shortly after we were seated. Check-in formalities were completed in under five minutes and we were given a one-category upgrade to the Lagoon Pool Villa (we had booked the lead in category Pool Villa) on account of our GHA Discovery Platinum status.
After being briefed on the various resort facilities and available activities, we were escorted to our villa via a buggy. The front desk staff then gave us a short room tour before returning to the lobby.
Villa: Lagoon Pool Villa
The Lagoon Pool Villa which we were upgraded to is the same size as the lead in category Pool Villas. The only difference between these two room types is that the Lagoon Pool Villas are located beside the lagoon, and thus offer more privacy than the Pool Villas, which are situated along the main pathways as shown in the resort map below.
Our Lagoon Pool Villa, Villa 69 is relatively close to the lobby but is not in the cluster of villas closest to the lobby, thus offering a good balance in terms of convenience and privacy. The Villa measures 186 sqm (2002 sqft) and comes with its private pool and dining sala.
Villa 69 happens to be one of those that are elevated from the ground, and there is a flight of stairs leading to the villa’s wooden entrance.
Beyond the wooden door lies the private swimming pool and the room’s entrance to the left. Two umbrellas are placed beside the door for easy reach should the need arises.
Straight ahead is the dining sala which we will touch on in the later part of the post.
Entering the villa, we found ourselves in the bedroom with a king-sized bed in the middle. The bedroom felt spacious due to the high ceiling which comes attached with a ceiling fan.
On the right of the entrance is a half-height cabinet where the wine cabinet is placed. There are four bottles of alcohol in the wine cabinet consisting of a red, a white, a rosé, and a prosecco and these are not complimentary.
There is a work desk next to the wine cabinet which has a phone and a writing pad on it. The accompanying chair does not look comfortable for prolonged seating but we doubt it would be utilized much here since most people would not come here to work.
If some work has to be done, there are a couple of power outlets located near the work desk for your electronic devices. These consists of three universal 230V power outlets, and one USB-A outlet.
Guests enjoy complimentary WIFI and we did a test on the WIFI speed as follows:
On the left of the entrance is where the lighting and air conditioner controls as well as the minibar can be found.
The air conditioner control seems to be programmed wrongly for our villa as the wind speed felt weaker when the mode was set to ‘high’ while the blast was much stronger when ‘low’ was selected. It also didn’t help that the air conditioning was directed to the bed’s headboard which makes sleeping slightly uncomfortable as the cold air was constantly blowing straight at our faces when we slept.
There was also a lack of a fan speed control which was a slight annoyance as it meant that we could not change the ceiling fan speed.
The minibar is housed in an elegant green cupboard which is where the coffee machine, kettle, glasses, utensils, and complimentary water in glass bottles can be found. We were given house-branded water on our first day and these were subsequently switched to Crystal branded water the following day.
No complimentary tea bags were provided which is a strange omission but there were six complimentary coffee capsules from Sourced.
There are some soft drinks, water, and snacks in the minibar fridge and the prices are as follows:
Just beside the minibar is a set of sliding glass doors which is directly opposite the bed which is flanked by a bedside table on either side.
There is a universal 230V power outlet and a USB-A outlet on both sides of the bed just above the bedside table.
On top of that, a lighting switch, the controls of the blind, and a phone can be found on the right side of the bed.
Next to the bed is the bedroom’s seating area. There is a single armchair and a small table in this area which is useful for some light meals. Also, part of the seating area is a day bed, which is large enough to double up as a bed for one adult and great for lounging.
The welcome amenity consisted of some fruits and was placed next to the day bed. There was a card and a welcome letter as well.
A wall-mounted television is located opposite the seating area which we found to be a little small for the viewing distance. The television can be swivelled to either face the seating area or the bed.
Separated from the bedroom by a wooden sliding door is a walk-in wardrobe.
There is a dressing table with a small seat that is sandwiched between two luggage racks. A hairdryer is placed on the dressing table.
Right across are two open closets, which are where the in-room safe, bathrobes, iron, ironing board, a yoga mat, a beach bag, bedroom slippers, sandals, and the laundry bag are placed.
The laundry price list reads as follows:
The walk-in wardrobe leads directly to the bathroom, which has a double vanity, a built-in bathtub, as well as enclosed shower and toilet.
There isn’t a bidet attached to the toilet but it does have a handheld spray.
We did not use the bathtub during our stay but the bathtub seems to be big enough for two and has a view of the outdoor area.
From the pictures on the resort’s website, the bathtub was formally the al fresco type but the area has since been converted to an indoor area and merged with the bathroom. This might be due to practical reasons as an al fresco bathtub would not be useable during bad weather.
The shower area is quite spacious and comes with a handheld spray as well as a rain shower head, which was rather noisy with the occasional screeching sound when in use. The water pressure and the temperature were consistent and good.
Toiletries are house branded and were provided in pump bottles.
There was a shower cap, vanity kit, sanitary bag, nail buffer, a hairbrush, and toothbrush with Colgate toothpaste.
Body lotion, bath salts, and Aloe Vera gel were also provided along with two disposable masks and a mosquito repellent spray.
At the other end of the bathroom is a glass door that leads to the villa’s outdoor area.
There is an outdoor shower (with hot and cold water) and a hanging rack in the outdoor area immediately outside the bathroom.
From the outdoor shower, a short walkway leads to the pool and dining sala, and along the way, there are wooden windows that look out to the lagoon.
Our villa has a small rectangular pool which has a depth of 1 to 1.5 meters.
The pool can be accessed either by a small flight of stairs or directly from the bedroom by opening the sliding glass doors.
Next to the pool are two loungers which are placed in front of the dining sala.
The dining sala has two chairs and a square table as well as a huge daybed with a ceiling fan which is great for lounging. Mosquito coils and a matchbox was provided which will come in handy in the event of a mosquito infestation.
Although we didn’t use the dining sala, we felt that it would be a nice place to have breakfast or just to chill.
Facilities & Activities
Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas is equipped with the following facilities:
The resort has an infinity pool that is located next to the beach with views of the ocean and is an approximate five minutes walk from the lobby.
We passed by the pool a couple of times during our stay en route to the beach and there were always a few people at the pool each time. The pool, however, was never crowded as some guests might have preferred to be at their private pool instead since there is one at each villa.
The infinity pool has a long rectangular shape divided into two main parts by a Jacuzzi; one half of the pool has a couple of loungers in the pool, while the other half is a regular pool that is suitable for doing laps.
Around the pool area are plenty of loungers and several cabanas which we rarely saw guests using.
There are three rows of sunbeds facing the beach in front of the infinity pool.
Next to the sunbeds is a beach volleyball court.
Further ahead in the direction towards the sea are some bean bags which are meant to be seats for a pop-up bar that opens in the evenings.
From the area where the bean bags are located, there is a small path that leads to the beach. There are signs on beach safety and the weather along the pathway.
The resort’s beach has a nice view of the Andaman Sea and is part of Sirinat National Park. Despite being accessible to the public due to it being part of the national park, there were only a couple of people around each time we visited the beach and the beach is reasonably clean.
Due to the resort’s north-western location, it is possible to catch the sunset from the beach and we did enjoy the amazing views during sunset. We’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.
The resort’s fitness studio is close to the beach as well but it was unfortunately closed in September for upgrading works. The resort has arranged for guests to use the fitness studio at its sister property Avani+ Mai Khao Phuket Suites and Villas instead which is just across the road.
Avani+ Mai Khao Phuket Suites and Villas’ fitness studio is a short walk from the lobby and is housed in a standalone building.
Despite occupying only a small area, the fitness studio is reasonably well equipped, with weights, bench presses, treadmills, exercise bikes, and several punching bags found in the fitness studio.
In addition to the fitness studio, there are tennis courts in Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas which are closed for renovation works in September as well. Despite it not being available for use, we did visit the tennis courts just to have a look.
Some other facilities in the resort include a spa and a salon, which we did not visit. These are located just steps from the resort’s lobby.
There is also a library near the lobby which serves as a lounge/ business centre for the resort’s guests. In the unattended library, there is plenty of seating and two computers for use.
On top of the various available facilities, the resort also has several complimentary activities to keep guests entertained as follows:
The resort also has complimentary bicycles for use and these are placed outside each villa.
Restaurants & Breakfast
There are four dining establishments in Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas as follows:
Sea. Fire. Salt. features grilled seafood and steaks and is located by the beach.
Next to Sea. Fire. Salt. is Infinity Bar, which is the resort’s pool bar and offers various cocktails and light snacks.
Close to the lobby, Tree House is a Japanese restaurant that serves omakase. The restaurant is the newest dining venue to be added to the resort having been opened about a year ago and it is built to resemble a tree house, as its name suggests.
Located beside the Tree House is La Sala which is the hotel’s all-day dining restaurant and offers Thai and Indian cuisine outside breakfast hours. This was the only restaurant we visited during our stay.
The restaurant has both indoor and outdoor seating, with the outdoor seats offering a view of the lagoon.
We visited the restaurant for breakfast and we were seated soon after we arrived. The restaurant was about eighty percent full when we reached at around half past nine on both mornings and wasn’t too crowded.
Our drinks order was taken as soon as we were seated and the server took our order for made-to-order items at the same time. The made-to-order items consist of eggs cooked in various styles as well as pancakes, waffles, and French toast.
Breakfast is in a buffet format and there was a wide selection of hot food consisting of mainly Thai and Asian dishes. The items on offer did change on both days we were there.
In addition to the hot items, there was a salad station as well as an Indian food selection.
There were cold cuts and cheeses on offer, as well as a cereal, fruit, and fresh juice station, and even a Thai dessert selection.
Lastly, there was also a bread and pastry station as well.
The breakfast items tasted good in general and we appreciated the good range of different items on offer, from hot Asian dishes to western selections. It is great that the resort rotates the items at least every other day as well.
We tried out the in-villa dining one night as we were too lazy to eat out. In-villa dining is available for 24 hours with a reduced selection from 2200 hrs to 0600 hrs. In case anyone is interested, the menu is as follows:
We placed our order just two minutes before 2200 hrs and were glad that the kitchen still accepted our order for items that were not available after that time. We were told that the food would be delivered in around forty minutes and it was indeed sent over as per the promised timeline.
As it was rather late at that time, we decided to order just some light bites and soup and got the Tom Yam Goong with rice, Por Pia Thod (spring rolls), Satay Ruam, and a glass of apple juice. The satay did not taste great but otherwise, the rest of the items tasted fine.
Overall Impression
We enjoyed our stay at Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas and were satisfied with both the hard and soft product of the property.
To sum things up:
Given the chance, we would return to the property as the resort is reasonably priced while offering a good luxury experience.
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