SALA Samui Chaweng Beach Resort Review

SALA is two properties divided by the road that runs behind the beach. The Oceanfront Wing, where we stayed, opened in January 2018 on 120 metres of sand at the northern end of Chaweng. The Garden Wing, across the road, holds more pool villas and most of the facilities: a lap pool, the gym, a kids' club for children aged four to twelve and SALA Spa, whose six treatment rooms are named after the planets. Onion took its theme from the moon parties of neighbouring Koh Phangan and gave each wing a phase. The Oceanfront Wing is the full moon, and it is drawn in circles and arcs, from the arches over the pools down to the bathtubs and the lamps. Most of the island's luxury resorts build on Thai tradition; the villas at Six Senses, for one, sit under thatched roofs. SALA is graphic and modern, and it would be easy to dismiss as a resort designed for the camera. It is better than that from the inside, because the shapes do a practical job: each balcony pool sits within its own arch, and the building, for all its suites stacked on a busy beach, keeps them apart.

Check-in was effortless, and the staff were a step ahead of us from the first minute. Our suite was on an upper floor facing the sea, 66 square metres with its own pool on the balcony, and it was everything a sea-view pool suite should be. What made it so is what Chaweng is short of: privacy. The beach below has bars and shops behind it and vendors on the sand, and none of it reached the balcony. The pool sits under a crescent-shaped arch beside a daybed, and from the water the view runs over the Moon Pool deck and the lawn to the sea. It was the only pool we swam in. The Moon Pool below, a large curved pool with an infinity edge and a children's pool beside it, is the resort's main one; ours had the view and nobody else in it. Room service, which we ordered in the evenings, came quickly and was well executed; with a pool and that view, there is little reason to go out for dinner. Inside, the bathroom opens to the bedroom through a wide arch rather than a door, with the round bathtub behind the bed. Made for a couple; less so for friends sharing. The balcony is what to pay for here. The Oceanfront Garden Pool Suite, at 74 square metres, has its pool on a ground-level patio, and the Oceanfront SALA Pool Villa, at 97, puts one a few steps from the sand; both trade the height and the view for being closer to the beach. The Oceanfront One Bedroom Pool Suite, on the third floor, adds a living room and a second bathroom over 135 square metres, and SALA Signature Villa One, with two bedrooms, stands directly on the beach. Across the road, the Garden Wing has pool villas and two-bedroom suites for families; its Garden Deluxe Balcony is the only room at SALA without a pool.

SALA's stretch of Chaweng is at the quieter northern end of the bay, with loungers and beanbags under the trees. As a beach, it is unremarkable by Samui's standards. Neither the sand nor the water compares with the island's best, and on a stretch as busy as Chaweng, the vendors working the shore come with the territory. The location is the other side of that. The airport is about 10 minutes away by car, Chaweng's restaurants and bars are close, and Fisherman's Village in Bophut is about 10 minutes' drive. We came on from Kamalaya, the wellness retreat on the south coast, and moved on to Garrya Tongsai Bay, on a private cove at the island's north-east tip.

When we left the suite to eat, it was for The Tent, the all-day restaurant at the edge of the sand under white sails. Breakfast was a strong showing: a buffet, with eggs and hot dishes cooked to order, and not a weak link among the fruit, juices, pastries and Thai dishes. We came back for lunch, and there was nothing on the table we would not order again. The service there struck the right balance, attentive without ever hovering. The resort also has Sexy Fish, a seafood restaurant, and a bar on the beach.

SALA is the rare resort on Chaweng we would book for the room rather than the beach. The design gives it a character no other resort on the island shares, and the Oceanfront Balcony Pool Suite turns that design into what a couple wants on a crowded beach: a pool of their own, a view of the sea and nobody else in either. The beach in front is ordinary for Samui and comes with vendors. The suite more than makes up for it, and the airport and Chaweng's restaurants are both minutes away.