Hotéis Hot spring em Takua Thung

Villa Shanti at Jivana Villas is ideally located on the pristine white sands of Natai Beach just 25 minutes to the north of Phuket International Airport, via the Sarasin Bridge. The villa boasts 60-metres of absolute beachfront on what is referred to as ‘millionaires row’ – an exclusive community of luxury properties that attracts many expatriates living in the region. Crystal clear waters and gentle waves lapping at the shore mark this stunningly beautiful strip of coastline, which is backed by a tranquil rural landscape where fishing and farming are still the mainstay of the local population. Natai Beach is perfect for paddleboarding, kayaking and swimming and The Aleenta and Iniala Beach resorts, both just along the sand, offer award-winning dining.

We arrived at the HotSpring Beach Resort at the end of June '23, just a week after a new General Manager had started his new role - something we found out because he was actively meeting and greeting guests and will obviously be a great asset to the resort. He is overseeing a huge number of renovations and upgrades due for completion by the end of 2023 - and so any older reviews that speak of the resort needing some attention will now likely be redundant as the place is undergoing a major - and impressive - facelift. We were thrilled by our spacious room, the fantastic hot spring pools and the excellent contrast of the icy 'chill' pool (a rarity in Thailand, where refreshingly cold water to dip in is not so common). The staff were friendly and courteous throughout, and the grounds all the way to the beach are quite wonderful. Of course, in any transformation there is always something that still needs tweaking. Our two recommendations to the resort would be to enhance the taste and the number of vegetarian options of breakfast, which was generally a little on the bland side (though we ate two a la carte dinners at the resort restaurant which were outsanding and quite delicious). The other recommendation is to keep the beach free of the relentless flow of plastic and other garbage which the sea washes up. Although this is so common everywhere, and certainly not the fault of the resort, the beach gets a daily deposit of bottles and other plastics, and it would be great to see some efforts being made to collect and tidy the beach area as it's not huge, and this would certainly be an hour well-spent. Overall, highly recommended for a stay here - it's a unique place with such relaxing waters and the sense you're in the middle of a tropical forest with secret thermal springs just waiting to be discovered. If you're there in low season of June/Jule like us, then you won't see too many other people around and you can enjoy a lot of peace and quiet. Definitely worth a visit!