Family Travel: Award-Winning Family Resort Santiburi Koh Samui is Less Than Two Hours Away

Empty beaches? Check! Fab kids’ club? Check! Massive swimming pool and green initiatives? Double check! Santiburi Koh Samui just might be our new favourite weekend getaway destination!

All hail Koh Samui, our newest favourite place to get away for a quick weekend! Koh Samui is a short hop (1hr 40mins) from Singapore, making it a great weekend destination.

Although the flights are slightly more expensive than we’d like due to only two airlines (SilkAir and Bangkok Airways) flying there, once you’ve arrived you’ll find almost no traffic (unlike Bali), amazing beaches which are practically deserted, and delicious food.

We were keen to try Santiburi Koh Samui, which has been nominated for The Best Family Resort in Asia Awards… but were a little apprehensive as we couldn’t find much info on what’s available for kids on their website, other than a blurb on their kids’ club. We’ve suggested they work on this, so hopefully they’ll update this small oversight soon!

Anyway, Santiburi Koh Samui is a huge resort set amongst 23-hectares of tropical gardens and located on a 300-metre stretch of Mae Nam beach.

We stayed in their newly opened Grand Reserve Pool Villa. This sleek, modern villa has all the mod cons a family needs, including a fabulous coffee machine, Wi-Fi, and on request they will provide baby cots and bottle steriliser.

We made great use of the villa’s private pool, especially during the kids’ nap times – but I would say this room type might be best suited to those families with older children, as without a pool fence we had to lock our children inside the villa until everyone was ready to go, therefore not really making best use of the villa’s garden + patio area.

Perhaps the best option for families looking for more space is a 2-bedroom duplex, which is located in the main building, close to the swimming pool. Or one of the beach villas where the plunge pool can be closed off so you can still make use of the patio outside.

One reason this is one of the best family hotels in Koh Samui is the huge range of facilities in the resort, including a massive swimming pool. At 50m x 25m, there is plenty of room for adults to swim laps while kids splash around. There is also a separate, shaded kids’ pool.

They are revamping the kids activity centre (ready Sept 2018), which we can’t wait to get the details on, but the current one still works very well. There are a trampoline, kids bikes for hire (some even with stabilisers!), table tennis, and a video games room, as well as plenty of other games and toys. There is also a well planned timetable of fun workshops with highlights like Thai cooking classes, open to kids aged 3+.

We were definitely impressed with the attention to detail throughout the resort to make our stay easier. For instance, they provided buckets and spades / beach toys, which were super handy to this mama who forgot all the kids toys! And on hot days the friendly staff come around with ice water and suntan lotion! No wonder the majority of people who come here return year after year.

We also applaud their green initiatives; Santiburi Koh Samui has no plastic bottles (glass instead) and no plastic straws, so we could drink our yummy coconuts using bamboo straws or a lemongrass straw with our sundowner cocktail!

Babysitting comes at an extra charge, but is easily arranged at the front desk and that meant we could indulge in parents’ date night and eat at the restaurants in the evening. We enjoyed a delicious Thai dinner at Sala Thai on the first night, followed by dinner on the beach the second.

Was it all positive? – Yes, I can honestly say it was. If I want to nit-pick then as mentioned make sure you are booking the correct room type for your family needs, as there are a lot to choose from, but aside from that we will definitely be back!

Santiburi Koh Samui is waiting to welcome you! Summer rates start from THB11,000 (S$450) per night.

www.santiburisamui.com