Banyan Tree Phuket

Every room at Banyan Tree Phuket is a villa—and one inspired by the region’s traditional architectural vernaculars, no less. We love that they all have private pools (bliss!), spacious floor plans (beginning at a whopping ,1507 square feet), and spa-like bathrooms with rainfall shower heads that feel almost like being out in the jungle beyond your door. To feel like you’re presiding over your own private paradise, we like the DoublePool Villas, which are fringed by rolling green lawns and have their own 15 meter infinity pools overlooking the leafy scene.

An all-villa resort edging a glimmering lagoon, with an award-winning spa, seven covetable restaurants, and the 18-hole Laguna Golf Phuket, dotted by coconut groves.

Ho-hum. Activities here are bucket-list worthy, and include catamaran sails to glass-clear Hin Klang Reef and visits to a 20-acre elephant sanctuary.

You don’t have to leave the premises to learn: the hotel hosts classes in topics ranging from sleep regeneration to herbal tea culture.

From the resort’s floating tapas bar, you have to pinch yourself. You’ve never seen such a beautiful sunset, and here it’s reflected in the lagoon—and casting almost everything around you in a dusky pink glow.