Looking for a great family resort in Phuket where you don’t have to brave island traffic if you don’t want to? Head to Angsana Laguna Phuket Resort, a short 25-minute hop from the international airport, where you stay in a 1,000-acre planned community. It has multiple hotels, a golf course, villas, and spas.
The Laguna development of Phuket is akin to Mayakoba in the Riviera Maya of Mexico: a planned development with multiple hotels, condos, villas, and a golf course. The various resorts share a beach and there are lagoons snaking through the property. Perhaps it’s no coincidence: both complexes have a Banyan Tree property and Angsana is actually an offshoot brand of that company.
This large Phuket resort has lagoons all around it, so many rooms look out on one and you get a water view from sidewalk strolls, pools, and bars. Shuttle boats and bridges cross them to get you from one point to another. Then at one end is the attractive beach, one extensive enough that you could get in a morning run or a very long walk on it.
Swimming Pools and a Beach Club at Angsana Phuket
The resort has three swimming pools meant for different crowds. The main one in the center of the resort is near the kids club and is the one designed for families. It has a water slide, a lazy river, and some fun water games. Parents get happy at the swim-up bar and there’s a cafe on site for grabbing lunch without leaving.
Another pool pictured above is mostly a lounging-around one that has an entrance from some of the hotel rooms. Guests of those can just step off their balcony and go swimming. It has a beach feel with sand at the far edge of it.
The third pool is located right next to the beach and is more geared to the party crowd, open later and with a music-pumping beach club at the end of it. Before all that starts, this would be a good one for swimming laps as it’s a long rectangle.
Next to the beach itself there are some lounge chairs with towels for resort guests that have some built-in shade to relax under while looking out at the sea. If you need a reminder to get some exercise for that beach body, the gym is next to the sidewalk leading out to the waves.
Dining and Drinking at Angsana Laguna Phuket
I stayed at Angsana Laguna resort while attending a conference and the well-traveled crowd of foreigners there was pleasantly surprised at how great the meals were at this resort. They didn’t dial back the spice at all for the farangs and there were plenty of Asian items laid out on the beautiful breakfast buffet.
That buffet is certainly worth adding to the room reservation because it’s a big spread of hot items, sweet pastries, eggs to order, and some spicy items to get your day going. They seemed perplexed by all the coffee the non-Thais wanted and kept running out, but there was no shortage of tropical fruit.
Service was friendly and smiling and I had some of my best meals in Thailand here from the lunch buffets they prepared for us, which is saying a lot considering I spent a month in various beach locations in Thailand on this trip.
That main restaurant has indoor and outdoor seating so you can choose your climate depending on the heat. The best tables are outside on a terrace though because they give you this view:
The other dining options are a la carte, ranging from a main restaurant serving multiple cuisines to a fine dining Thai one and an Italian one that’s dinner only. The best lunch options are poolside: there’s one restaurant by the family pool and another by the beach and that pool.
There are also multiple other hotels in the Laguna complex you can try and then independent spots outside the gate for a change of pace. There are also some casual beach bars that have lower everyday prices than the resort has at happy hour.
Room Options and Suites
There’s a wide variety of room offerings at Angsana Phuket so it pays to invest a bit of time researching them to find your perfect spot. Our room was one of the lower category king ones but felt huge thanks to ample floor space and a furnished terrace outside that we used a lot. Amenities included a fridge, tea kettle, two armchairs, a safe, robes, fast included Wi-Fi, and a huge TV.
There’s not really a bad option here since the standards are 431 square feet, about 100 feet more than your average hotel room, plus each has some kind of outdoor space.
Step up to get a room that opens onto a pool, one that has a higher-floor lagoon view, or one that is beachfront. Suites come in a variety of options here. There’s a bi-level loft layout, a two-bedroom duplex, and several two-bedroom suites with huge living rooms and terraces. The top choice is the three-bedroom pool villa by the beach that is as big as a house.
Housekeeping comes through each day to tidy up and there’s turndown service at night. There’s also 24-hour room service if you don’t feel like leaving
Booking a Stay at Angsana in Thailand
You’ve got lots of choices for room styles so do some digging around before booking. You can go direct through the company website, book through Accor, or check rates at Hotels.com.
The Banyan Tree brand is also trying to attract remote workers of ample means with its Habitat Pass. By committing to a minimum of 10 or 20 nights, you get deeply discounted room rates at properties around the world, starting at $1,600 for 20 and going up depending on room types. Get that and you can be working in the shade and then taking a break to cool off in a spot like this:
Review and photos by travel editor Tim Leffel. He was hosted at Angsana Laguna as part of a conference arranged by the Thai Tourism Authority. As always, all opinions are his own.
