Review: Banyan Tree Samui, Koh Samui

The idyllic Thai island of Koh Samui is a little more sophisticated than her larger, brasher sister Phuket. Quentin Long went in search of the ultimate Thai island escape.

When it comes to a ‘relax, recharge and unwind’ getaway, Banyan Tree has pretty much set the standard for most of Asia for a long time, so booking a Banyan Tree getaway is always going to be relatively risk free.

But Banyan Tree Samui was a stand out from the moment it opened in 2011. Condé Nast Traveller summed it up; they awarded it Best New Beach Hotel – in the world.

The lowdown

Banyan Tree Resort, Koh Samui — Dining on the deck at Banyan Tree Koh Samui Resort, Thailand

The 78 villas of Banyan Tree Samui sit on the steep hillsides of the quiet and private Lamai Bay Beach, on Koh Samui Island. Being perched on such steep cliffs allows for stunning views from two of the three restaurants, and from many of the villas. Pay that little extra for a vista, and you’

ll wake to an idyllic landscape: swaying palms, bright water, stretches of sand.

But the show stealer is not the view, nor the beach or even the restaurants, but the villas themselves. In fact, it’s a little hard to concentrate as you’re shown around by your ‘villa host’.

Partly because there’s a magnificent pavilion to take in, and partly because you are coming to terms with having a dedicated concierge/butler for your stay.

The grand pool – and smart villa design

My grand pool villa was typical of all the villas, a massive three-room structure beautifully furnished with quality fittings, fixtures and furniture.

The ceiling is at least four metres high. The plunge pool would comfortably fit a bloat of hippos (yes, that’s the very apt collective noun for hippos). The bedroom is larger than the one at home, and the tub – well, that would fit the next bloat that cared to amble on in here.

The interior colour palette is a lot of chocolate, orange and black, which makes it cosy and cocoon like when the sun sets.

Externally, the villas were designed to resemble the coconut that is synonymous with Samui; it was an island of coconut plantations until tourism found it in the 1970s. The coconut palms are dotted all over the property and provide some added privacy.

But it’s the smart villa design and service that makes this such a worthwhile and indulgent stay. The pool, for example, can be accessed from three directions; the bedroom, the sun lounge, and the shower/bathroom area.

So you can quite literally slide into the pool from bed, then sashay (glamorously) to the shower or the sunken outdoor-lounge-cum-day-bed. Just don’t do it in your birthday suit, because the villas are rather close together. No skinny dipping here…

Added surprises!

The evening turndown service arrives with a small glass cookie jar, with a scrumptious little chocolate tart inside.

Return to your room at night and you’ll find your essential oil burner lit the ‘daily scent’ and your room tidied. I didn’t know how much I wanted a little chocolate surprise and my room filled with eucalyptus (Friday’s scent) until it happened.

If the essence of immaculate service is delivering things before you realise you want them, then Banyan Tree is unrivalled.

The restaurants

The best views are from two of the restaurants, The Edge and Saffron. The Edge serves a massive breakfast buffet spread with the essential egg station from the southern cliff face, while Saffron serves dinner on the northern cliff face.

In between is the beach, bay, spa, gym and most of the resort.

At Saffron, the beauty of modern Thai food in that setting would soften the least romantic heart to mush. Curried chicken is accompanied by four different types of rice – turmeric-infused, coconut with garlic, lemongrass, and my unexpected favourite; saffron brown.

The signature dessert – a coconut brulee – arrives inside the ‘bowl’ of a young coconut. A romantic dinner on the balcony at Saffron is one of those shared memories couples will cherish forever.

Sands is the third restaurant of the resort. As the name would suggest, Sands is by the beach and offers a relaxed Italian menu with pizza, pastas and steaks. The food doesn’t cut corners; the creamy lobster linguine overflows with actual lobster.

Sands also serves lunch to beachgoers making a beeline for one of the four beach daybeds. These mini recluses are sumptuously set up with billowing curtains, reclining lounges, a mini table and attentive staff, who wait to serve you all manner of cocktails without hesitation. (Consider this your warning).

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The nearby beaches

The beach is very glamorous until you go for a swim. Alluring turquoise water hides several sharp rocks, so you’ll need to be fitted out with geeky booties to protect your feet while you paddle. You can’t fake a Daniel Craig-like exit from the water in those things…

If the experience is just too much for you to bear, the spa receptionist will order you some relief from the dazzling range of massages available.

One look at my shoulders up around my ear lobes saw me booked in with a masseuse who moulded my stressed body into some semblance of its former unknotted self. Walking to my villa from the spa was, in the best possible way, like pushing jelly up a hill.

One of the few weaknesses

And here is one of the few weaknesses in the overall experience. Getting around requires either climbing the hills yourself or asking your villa host to pick you up in a buggy.

And so it becomes abundantly clear that if the most I can complain about is being driven in a buggy everywhere by my helpful private butler while wearing geeky booties, then life is pretty darn fine at Banyan Tree Samui.

The Details
Banyan Tree Samui
99/9 Moo 4, Samui
+66 77 915 333
reservations-samui@banyantree.com
banyantree.com
We paid $638 (including taxes) per night for a grand pool villa.

The IT Verdict
Quentin Long, who paid his own way and visited anonymously, says:
“Banyan Tree Samui is a bolt hole of fabulous relaxation – perfect for the stressed and exhausted seeking some recharging."

After youth-led protests in 2025, this year Nepal elected a 35-year-old former rapper as Prime Minister. In a country where tourism is its biggest industry, what’s next for travellers?

In 1986, Nepal changed its clock. It had used India Standard Time since 1920 so, to differentiate, it wound its clock 15 minutes ahead of, not behind, its big-brother neighbour. Boss move. “Nepal is strongly opposed to the idea that our identity is connected to India,” says Community Homestay Network (CHN) guide Bikal Khanal.

Tharu dance is traditionally set to hand drums. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

Today, Nepal is the only independent country with a 45-minute deviation to universal time; an oddity that’s become a symbol of national pride. The quirk is nearly as endearing as Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan airport where carved varnished wood and shiny red bricks rule. One sign points to a ‘Travelator’ and another to a ‘Grievance Handling Desk’ while visas are noisily stamped at customs for US dollars, cash only. When am I?

Spot the endemic Nepal gray langur. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The 15 or 45 minute anomaly sees me tap out completely on timezone calculations. Why bend my brain calculating if it’s quarter to or quarter past elsewhere when I’m in the honking here and now of Kathmandu where the air is high-altitude crisp, the prayer flags flutter and the street dogs howl?

How tourism is changing in Nepal

Bardiya National Park is rich with wildlife. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

India is not the only association many Nepalis would like to shake. With eight of the world’s 10 tallest mountains, including Mount Everest and Annapurna, Nepal has long attracted mountaineers and trekkers, and expedition numbers are continuing to rise.

Tourism is one of the country’s biggest sources of foreign currency, so this growth is not negative, per se. But according to Ang Tshering Lama, who co-founded Phaplu Mountain Bike Club, being reduced to a mere trekking destination is limiting.

“Trekking is just one layer of our identity,” says Ang. “When it becomes the dominant narrative, it limits how we’re seen and how we see ourselves.” Nepal’s recent success, however, in diverting trekkers to less-trafficked areas such as Manaslu mofuntain, where visitor numbers rose by 117 per cent last year, offers hope that tourism can diversify even more radically.

Local men in Bhada village. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The founder of CHN, Shiva Dhakal, wants that change. “The whole idea of the Community Homestay Network is to promote experiences outside of trekking,” he says. “Community tourism changes lives and helps kids stay home instead of coming to the city or migrating to the Middle East.”

Ang grew up seeing people leave, “not because they wanted to but because there weren’t enough opportunities to stay”, he states. Yet from remote villages to living traditions; food, art, music and emerging subcultures, “there’s so much that’s not being seen.”

CHN is opening some of those doors. It doesn’t own, or fund, any homes. Rather, it promotes homestays to travellers on a single, slick platform, while fostering entrepreneurship in places where women, marginalised castes, Indigenous people and the youth stand to benefit the most.

A new generation demanding more

Dalla Town Hall, where volunteers discuss anti-poaching tactics. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The future prospects of next-gen Nepalis can no longer be ignored. On a Kathmandu tour with 33-year-old guide Monica K.C, we pass buildings torched in the September 2025 ‘Gen Z protests’, including the Supreme Court and Parliament House. Seventy-two people died. “They were anti-corruption protests,” says Monica. “Politicians’ children are living a lavish life but the airports are crowded with youngsters leaving to find work.”

We stop in ‘little Tibet’ at the wondrous sixth-century Boudha Stupa. “The wheel of life is Buddhism in a nutshell,” says Monica. “Things such as hate, ignorance and anger keep you rotating around the wheel, so you must follow the principles of Buddhism to detach. If you can’t, there’s no nirvana for you.”

Boudha Stupa's prayer wheels — Boudha Stupa’s prayer wheels are used to recite Buddhist prayers. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

In a sun-drenched twist to the usual temple visit, we ascend the stupa’s sloping plinth and roam its whitewashed dome. Tendrils of diaphanous prayer flags stream from a steeple-like structure where the Buddha’s unblinking eyes stare out. No nirvana for you…

bouda stupa prayer flags — Tibetan-style prayer flags embellish the whitewashed dome of Bouda Stupa, a Buddhist temple. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

The dome is delightfully free of guard rails or chiding from security. There is, however, a stern ‘No TikTok’ sign, perhaps in response to the youth’s newly flexed power. The booted-out Prime Minister, K.P. Sharma Oli, was replaced in a resounding election victory in March by 35-year-old Balendra Shah of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) – a former rapper and mayor of Kathmandu. The RSP’s manifesto indicates tourism is a priority, and that Nepal’s cultural identity in areas such as gastronomy will be strengthened.

Boudha Stupa vendors — Vibrant souvenir shops and cafes around Boudha Stupa. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

A more confronting stop awaits at Pashupatinath Temple. Today is Bala Chaturdashi, a Hindu festival where thousands of devotees gather to honour their dead ancestors. Vendors hauling foam mattresses do a lucrative trade as people set up for a night of vigil. This includes burning the bodies of recently deceased relatives on bamboo pyres in the Bagmati River, which flows into the sacred Ganges.

A woman at annual Hindu festival Bala Chaturdashi, in Kathmandu. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Wrapped in a shroud, the bodies are positioned with their heads facing north to the Himalayas where Lord Shiva resides. They’re covered with flowers and straw and set alight by male family members.

Hours later, the ashes are swept into the river where devotees will take a holy dip the next day. As much as Monica assures us it’s not voyeuristic to watch, I struggle to do so. “Here you see the reality of life because everyone ends up there,” she says, gesturing to the river.

Life unfiltered in the Terai region

tharu woman — Tharu woman and master weaver Parbati Chaudhary in Bhada Village. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The reality of life needs processing time, which the western Terai region delivers in spades. The Terai is largely separated from India by the Karnali River and Bardiya National Park, where elephants, rhinos and the elusive Bengal tiger roam.

Once a nomadic tribe, the Indigenous Tharu people are now the largest ethnic group here. “They didn’t know their daily life was interesting for international travellers but they’re starting to understand now,” says CHN founder Shiva.

Take a Jeep safari through Bardiya National Park. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

We fly Buddha Air to Dhangadhi airport and drive five hours to stay in Tharu homes. The journey to Bhada village is a blur of roadside fruit stalls, traffic-stopping sacred cows and fields sown with wheat, rice, mustard, spinach, cauliflower and potatoes. Nepal’s agriculture feeds only Nepal.

Marigolds are an important part of Hindu rituals. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

“The only thing we export is young people,” says our guide Bikal. As the light dims and we plunge evermore rural, mysterious mounds of compacted hay – some house-sized – loom like the creatures from Where The Wild Things Are. Even our trusty driver gets flummoxed by a dirt road that abruptly ends and we find ourselves hurtling across a paddock.

On arrival, some are ferried to mud-walled cottages greened by gourd creepers, with thatched roofs and rustic-chic mosquito nets. Myself and two others are ushered to the home of corner store owner, mechanic and mushroom farmer Man Kumar Chilaruwa and his wife Rajkumari.

community homestay entrance — A warm welcome at a community homestay. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

They escort us to a bunker-esque back building with steel doors and a folding security gate, behind which is gleaming linoleum, dolphin-printed tiles and a shower cavity that must be gingerly stepped through to reach the toilet.

The ceiling lights emit a rainbow of colours (the bathroom light gets stuck in, frankly, a quite frightening red). We’re nevertheless touched that our hosts invested in all this bling when the average salary is around $275 a month.

In the coming days, we participate in Tharu traditions such as making moonshine, dancing, weaving straw handicrafts and gold-panning. We’re fed well with staples of rice, mustard greens, lentil pancakes, daal, curried chicken and tomato chutney served on antibacterial saal leaves.

food at community homestay — Dig in. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Sonara community homestay president Indradevi Tharu tells us river snails are often served, and the boiled and pickled flesh of rats hunted in the rice fields. “Perhaps next time?” we say and all have a laugh.

The power of community homestays

community homestay owners in Nepal — Barda community homestay owners Parbati Chaudhary and Ram Krishni Devi Chaudhary. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

Immersing Western visitors in foreign cultural practices is not new. But with the Tharu, I never get that uneasy sensation that I’m being performed for. Despite being the only tourists, there’s no ‘othering’; just warm, composed and ultra-dignified welcomes. Like we’ve always been here.

“I love to have travellers in my village so I can see the world,” says local woman Parbati Chaudhary. “Why would I travel the world when the world comes to me?”

The graceful acceptance the Tharu offer, as well as the slow pace, works miracles on my frazzled nervous system. One day I even take a nap on a vacant homestay bed.

Sonara community room — An authentic stay in the Sonara community. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Roosters strut and goats bray as we sit on the ground in al fresco kitchens, rolling rice flour into cylinders steamed to make dhikri (dumplings). When water is needed, we fetch it using a hand-operated pump as a family of ducks strolls by, side-eying us like curious neighbours.

Animal lovers will delight in Tharu villages. Kind and resourceful inventions are everywhere, such as snacking stations where two posts lean together, with leafy boughs dangling on rope for baby goats to forage from.

CHN’s CEO, Aayusha Prasain, nods knowingly when one in our group says she cried when she left her host, Shayam Chaudhary, in Bhada. Shayam’s 17-year-old son, Prashant, had translated, which deepened the connection.

“Community tourism turns travel into a relationship, not a transaction,” says Aayusha. “It places decision-making power in the hands of local communities, especially women and youth.” Since 2018, CHN has hosted more than 4000 travellers from 52 countries in 408 households, and estimates women’s participation has increased by 381 per cent.

In the Bardiya community, where vexing human-animal conflict has been a balancing act for decades due to elephants raiding crops, long-time homestay operator Salik Ram Chaudhary says young people keep the older ones on their toes.

“We can’t keep homestays stagnant,” he says. “We have to upgrade our service and redefine our product or young people won’t see it as an attractive business. If we can keep evolving with this travelling trend we’re confident the youths will stay and continue it.”

Back in Kathmandu, Monica explains that after the deaths of young protestors in September, a determination had spread to not let their sacrifice be in vain. “We want to keep holding the government accountable,” she says. “We don’t know what situation we’re facing, but we’re ready to face it.”

Interested in Nepal but prefer to experience it in total comfort? Read our guide to luxury travel in Nepal.

Review: Banyan Tree Resort Koh Samui

The idyllic Thai island of Koh Samui is a little more sophisticated than her larger, brasher sister Phuket. Quentin Long went in search of the ultimate Thai island escape.

The lowdown

The grand pool – and smart villa design

Added surprises!

The restaurants

The nearby beaches

One of the few weaknesses

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