Sarah
I shouldn’t probably say this – but Santhiya Koh Yao Yai Resort & Spa was my favorite hotel EVER.
The moment, the wooden doors on the small island of Koh Yao Yai openend to the hotel grounds, there was kind of a special feeling to the hotel. It felt so…serene.
And then I opened the door to my room and the afternoon sun gleamed right into my face. The sun rays went through the lightweight white curtain and turned the intricate wooden designed walls into golden shades. I realized the beautiful canopy bed. And the couple-sized outdoor bathtub. I ALWAYS wanted to have an outdoor bathtub. And then I realized it: I was in my personal hotel paradise.
And this was BEFORE I saw the infinity pool. Not any infinity pool – but the insta-perfect infinity pool, overlooking a gorgeous bay and directly facing the sunset. The room already gave me butterflies – but the pool finally made it clear – Santhiya Koh Yao Yai Resort & Spa: I am in love with you. 💕
I’ll give you all the fact you need to decide in this hotel review if this is your place. But if you are a couple OR into Instagram (or both) – there is no question you while love Santhiya Koh Yao Yai.
I called Markus this evening (as he was not part of the Thailand blogger trip that took me to Koh Yao Yai) and told him we need to come back here together. Heck, I already checked the prices for November straight away! Maybe we will spoil ourselves even more and get one of the villas with a private pool! Or we might check their other two (soon to be three) hotels – I am already missing the atmosphere like crazy!
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About Koh Yao YAi
Koh Yao Yai is a small island half-way between Phuket and Krabi. It’s sister island Koh Yao Noi is only a few minutes by boat.
Both island are still incredibly original and surprisingly unknown (especially given the popularity of both Phuket and Krabi). In fact, some people say that these two islands are the only islands in the whole reagion that are not yet overdeveloped.
You can do lots of traditional Thai handcraft here – we braided Pandan leaves into bracelets, visited a Coconut Orchard and a lobster farm and dyed some batik paintings for example!
How to get to Santhiya Koh Yao Yai Resort & Spa
In order to get to Santhiya Koh Yao Yai Resort & Spa, you have two choices (and a ferry to Koh Yao Noi):
Get to Santhiya Koh Yao Yai by their own speedboat service
The by far easiest way to get to Santhiya Koh Yao Yai Resort &Spa is by booking their own transfer from Phuket airport.
A taxi/minibus will first bring you to Ao Po Grand Marina (~30min), where you will board a speed boat.
The speed boat ride was only 20min and there were literally no waves when we took the transfer – so don’t worry about sea sickness!
The price for a shared transfer is 1.250 THB (~40$) per Person and a private speedboat (only you and whoever comes with you) costs 10.000 THB in daytime (~310$) + 900 THB for the taxi from Phuket airport.
Shared speedboats and airport transfers run seven times a day – you can check the exact schedule on Santhiya’s website.
Get to Koh Yao Yai by Public Ferry
Another way to get to Koh Yao Yai from either Phuket or Krabi is by public ferry. Ferries do not land on Santhiya’s private pier though but instead at the Klong Hia Pier on the northern tip of the island.
You can find the current ferry schedule here: Koh Yao Ferry Schedule
The ferry ride from Krabi (Thalen Pier) is 150THB per Person (~5$) and 200THB (~6$) from Phuket (Bang Rong Pier) – making it considerably cheaper than the organized speed boat transfer from Santhiya Koh Yao Yai Resort & Spa. However, you will then have to organize land transportation to and from the pier yourself.
There is also some other piers and connections on Krabi, Phuket and Ko Yao Yai/Noi – however those services run less frequent and thus I did not list them here.
I think, there is good reasons for both options, although I would probably opt for the shared speedboat transportation by Santhiya as the boat ride was really fun and it emphazises the luxury feel of your holiday a bit more.
Ferry Services between Koh Yao Yai and Koh Yao Noi
As Koh Yao Yai and Koh Yao Noi are very close to each other, you can simply go from one island to the other by a traditional long-tail boat for day trips. The ride just takes 10min and costs 20THB (~60 Cent) – I call that a bargain!
Boats leave from Klong Hia Pier on Koh Yao Yai and go to Manoh Pier on Koh Yao Noi (see map above).
The Hotel Grounds of Santhiya Koh Yao Yai
Beware, Santhiya Koh Yao Yai is HUGE! I was first very surprised when we were greeted at the entrance gate with a van. Surely I would be able to walk those few steps to the hotel lobby! Well, it wasn’t a few steps. We were driving for something like 3min – and that was not even half the resort yet!
There is shuttle bus lines running on fixed routes to take you from the entrance to the infinity pool or to the beach, no kidding!
I completely missed that there was a second (huge!) pool until the morning – so you better have a look at the map to see what’s around you! Funny side note: the website of Santhiya Koh Yao Yai completely neglects the fact that there is two pools (they don’t even prominently show that there is ONE pool!)
The Room At Santhiya Koh Yao Yai
As already described in the beginning – I was absolutely in love with the room.
The whole room is made from high quality teak wood with lots of intricate design. It is both modern and contains traditional Thai elements like the wood carvings.
And then there is this dream of a canopy bed – with fine white curtains that also cover the glass wall that is leading to the balcony. The balcony with the tub and the sofa – if anything yells more “couple” or “honeymoon” – then tell me 😀
The room directly faces the sunset, so the golden light will shine into your room in the afternoon hours. The only reason to leave this paradise at that time is the cocktail happy hour (2 for 1) at the infinity pool.
And if you don’t fancy taking a bath – there is also a really large shower in the bathroom too. It does have a window to the bedroom (hello, honeymooners!) – but also curtains to close if you don’t like your significant other watching you take a shower. 😉
NEW: Explore the Room in 3D!
Pictures don’t do hotel rooms justice all the time? Well, then I have something new for you!
I have partnered up with Wolowo – an online tour creator that makes it possible to create 3D Tour that you can navigate around. There is even additional pictures and info spots that you can click – If this doesn’t give you a feeling of the room, well, then you need to visit the place yourself I guess! 🙂
To move around simply drag the image – and click the white hotspot (the white dot with the black border) to move to another room / panorama!
If you are a blogger and are interested in taking 3D panoramas like this with your smartphone too – then contact me or Wolowo. They have a product called the Wolaptor to make this super easy.
And if you are a hotel that would like to have a similar tour for your hotel: Shoot me an email to [email protected] – I can do this for you too!
The In-Room Amenities
You could easily see that Santhiya Koh Yao Yai Resort & Spa did watch for the little details when it comes to the amenities.
You don’t just get a bathrobe – you get a luxurious robe that fit the design of the hotel. And you don’t just get complimentary water – the water is covered with a cute little outfit (that, funnily has a price tag attached to it in case you want to keep the water bottle cover 😉 )
Snacks as well as fresh fruit are available in the room as well and you will find all the information about the hotels program (including morning yoga sessions!) and offerings on your bed when you enter the room.
If you are looking for more information about the activities: the hotel’s recreation schedule contains Yoga, Muay Thai Lessons, Thai Cooking Classes and Thai Dancing Classes.
The Food/Restaurants at Santhiya Koh Yao Yai
Santhiya Koh Yao Yai boasts a total number of seven (!) restaurants:
- Chantara: 7:00-23:00, Thai/Western/Seafood
- By the sea Restaurant and Bar: 8:00-23:00, Snacks and Full Bar
- Saaitara: 7:00-23:00, see below for more info
- The Titan Grill: 11:00-23:00, Al fresco style (Burgers, Hotdogs, Thai Food)
- Jetinn Teppan at Pier: 16:00-22:00, Surf & Turf, amazing seating at the private pier!
- Jenita Beach Club: 14:00-23:00, new addition since February 2019
- Khantok Thai Cuisine: 17:30-23:00, authentic Thai cuisine
Oh, and if you don’t stay at Santhiya Koh Yao Yai Resort & Spa (shame on you, bad decision!) – most restaurants are open to non-guests as well at really moderate prices (600-1,000 THB per Person for buffets – 19-31$)!
Dinner at Chantara Restaurant
We had dinner at Chantara Restaurant and the only way to describe it is “Luxury Cruise Ship”. If you have been on a cruise already, you know what I mean: HUGE SELECTION. (Hey, did you actually read my article yet about my cruise with the Norwegian Cruise Line to Bahamas?)
Back to Santhiya and Chantara: there is different areas of the buffet for western food (fresh pizza!), Japanese sushi as well as Thai food. And then there is three counters where you can order freshly prepared dishes like Pad Thai or grilled seafood and meat. You WILL find something for you at this dinner (unless you are a raw windfall vegan with gluten intolerance. Hm. Maybe even then.)
Breakfast at Saaitara Restaurant
Given that my room was close to the infinity pool I decided for breakfast at the restaurant close to the pool for breakfast – Saaitara.
I really liked that I could sit at the window overlooking the bay as none of the other bloggers was at the restaurant at this time. I hate sitting alone on tables – and this way it felt perfectly normal.
Saaitara offered western as well as Thai dishes for breakfast. There was also a fresh fruit corner and an Omelette station. Since there was a line at the Omelette station I skipped this one – but there was plenty of option for me too. Compared to Chantara (I sneak-peaked their breakfast too), there is a bit less selection, but that was rivaled by the view. (And the proximity to the pool!)
The Pools at Santhiya Koh Yao Yai Resort & Spa
Okay, I know, I have been talking about the pool over and over – so it’s finally time. Meet the highly instagrammable infinity pool of Santhiya Koh Yao Yai Resort & Spa!
The insta-perfect infinity pool
It looks exactly as you can always see it on Instagram – simply drop-dead gorgeous.
What you don’t see at these pictures: there was also pleasant music by a DJ and a two for one happy hour at sunset time (17:30-19:00). Ha, if I didn’t catch you with the pictures already, I got you now, didn’t I?
The big laguna pool at the beach
So that’s the second pool that I almost neglected! As you can see it’s not really small – telling you how large the grounds are if I just missed this one.
It’s down at the beach, next to the lobby and the Chantara restaurant – and there is an artifical waterfall in it too (right corner of the picture). Next time, I’ll give this one a dip too!
The Beach
Well, you don’t go to Thailand if you don’t care about beaches!
Luckily Santhiya Koh Yao Yai doesn’t have to hide for its beach! Sometimes, if hotels have big pools, something is wrong with the beach. Not in this case – the sand was very fine, almost white sandy beach that was carefully looked after. And the water of the ocean was just as you expected it to be in the Andaman Sea – calm, warm and of an mermerizing turquoise-green color.
As you can see, there is also sunbeds and mattresses to chill available for hotel guests. You can also rent kayaks and paddle boats should you be in the mood for action. I wasn’t – I was in deep relaxing mode. 😀
The spa also offers massages by the beach for a price that is incredibly low for such a luxury hotel – 700 THB for 60min (~19$)! Also, this is on my “next time” list!
Final words on my little paradise...
…okay, my “little” paradise is huge, right. Anyway – I think it’s not again necessary to mention how much I fell in love with this place.
I was not sponsored nor encouraged by the hotel to write any sorts of review – the Tourism Authority had invited us here, not Santhiya Koh Yao Yai and we clearly had no obligation to write about ANYTHING as this was the prize of winning the blogging competition.
But I wanted you to know about this place. It stole my heart. I have been incredibly lucky to being guest at many amazing hotels all around the world – but this hotel combined everything I every dreamed about. It was almost painfull to leave (after just one day!) – and all the time I was a bit sad that I couldn’t share this experience with Markus. That’s why I already made him promise we will come back.
And then my love will meet my love. 😉
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