A Piece of Paradise in Phuket
Phuket is Thailand’s largest island at about 210 sq miles and over the past thirty years has been transformed from a sleepy little island into Thailand’s most popular beach destination.
Our transfer to Cape Panwa took about 1 hour through what we came to realise was the permanently busy traffic on the main North – South road.
The Cape Panwa Hotel is built on the steep hillside of a former coconut plantation, has superb views of the Andaman Sea and a private 300 metre secluded beach for safe year round swimming and relaxation. A novel funicular tram car to and from the private beach area and a regular shuttle bus, actually a truck with bench seats, operating to and from the village below help you get around the resort!!
Accommodation is offered in several separate blocks of sea facing suites and a small number of pool villas spread amongst the lush tropical gardens. Our junior suite had all the facilities you would expect of a luxury hotel. It was spacious and bright with patio windows along one wall and a large picture window on another with excellent sea views from both sides. The private balcony had a double sun bed as well as a table and chairs.
The Cape Panwa offered lots of choice for dining, all with charming, friendly and helpful staff. A very good breakfast buffet was served in the Café Andaman which also offered Thai and International dishes at lunchtime and in the evening. Panwa House Restaurant, an old colonial style house on the beach, offered superb fine Thai dishes in a fabulous setting and has been used on many film sets! Our favourite though was the Top of the Reef Restaurant with its continental gourmet cuisine and top quality service. The Bamboo Bar on the beach offered drinks and light lunches. Drinks in the evening were available in Otters Bar, a piano and lounge bar or The Lighthouse a nautical themed pub with live music from a local trio. I loved the selection of cocktails available in all the bars and tried most of them but my favourite was one called De Chai!
We also used the shuttle bus to eat in Panwa village where there are a small number of local restaurants, shops and a sister Hotel, The Kantary Bay which has a seafood restaurant, Italian restaurant and an excellent coffee shop which also offers sandwiches, fabulous pastries and ice creams. We ate in two local restaurants, “Sawasdee”, and “Sea Breeze” both serving very good fresh cooked Thai dishes. There was another serving Indian food and a further Thai Restaurant at the far end of the village promenade which we didn’t get time to try.
A variety of excursions were available through the hotel ranging from boat trips to other islands, Elephant trekking, off road driving, golf, various water sports or a spectacular Cultural and Heritage show.
We preferred to hire taxis to explore some of the island. We visited Phuket Town which is great for shopping with a modern shopping mall plus literally hundreds of small independent shops all jostling for space at the side of busy roads. We also had a fascinating time at Wat Chalong the best known Buddhist Temple on the Island originally built in 1837.
On our second exploration our driver took us to see the 45 metre high “Big Buddha” made in white ceramic and located on the peak of a mountain and a visible landmark across the island. We then followed the west coastal road through the resort of Karon which has a lovely beach and several major international Hotels and on to Patong the main and best known resort on the island. If you like wall to wall bars, night clubs and “lady boy” cabaret shows then Patong is for you! We couldn’t wait to get back to the peace and tranquillity at Cape Panwa!
The Hotel brochure and website describes Cape Panwa as a piece of luxurious tropical paradise and it certainly lived up to the advance billing! I have never been to a hotel where there were so many repeat guests…I can see why, and I will be one of them!