A couple of months ago I chanced upon an article on BK Asia about a new beach resort called La Vela opening in Khao Lak. It was described as an Instagram dream resort, needless to say I was sold right after scrolling through the first few pictures while reading that article. After easily managing to convince a group of friends to tag along with me to Phuket, we checked out the gorgeous resort a couple of months later. Khao Lak is about an hours drive away from Phuket, so that kind of made it a mini road trip as we decided to rent cars from the airport to get to our destination.
Despite the cold rainy monsoon weather, we were greeted warmly by the staff upon arrival at La Vela Khao Lak with cold scented towels and welcome drinks. The sheer size of the property was actually much larger than that I had anticipated. The sharp modern geometry angles that the resort had been built with was aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. We were then whisked away to our deluxe sea view rooms, and my gosh was it pretty.
The rooms could not have been any better. With dual open closets, a full sized fridge, and lighting control from both sides of the bed. The bathroom even boasts dual sinks laden with bath amenities, and a WC separated by a frosted glass door from the shower area.
Moving outwards to the balcony, unfortunately everything was just soaked due to heavy thunderstorms in the late afternoon, but it had a full 2 seater lounge deck and views of the rough seas. If I peeked out towards the right side of the balcony, the other block of the hotel and massive swimming pool comes to view, and that was just the pool servicing 1/3 of the property. Now I’m starting to get a sense of just how large this resort really is. On the left side of the balcony, is where the very extra outdoor jacuzzi is located. Not going to lie, this was one of the reasons why I selected this room in particular. Outdoor jacuzzi, enough said.
Since the 6 of us didn’t really have anything to eat other than lunch, dinner was in order. Feeling a little lazy to explore the town of Khao Lak on our very first day, plus the insane rain outside made our decision much easier, we just opted to meet at one of the restaurant in La Vela, called Kokulo Beach Club. Everything in this resort is spanking new. The staff is equally as polished as our cutlery on the table. Being genuinely friendly with us, cracking up jokes and recommending some local delicacies they had to offer. As safe as my option to order pad thai was, she also suggested that it was excellent and I shoulder go ahead and try that. Yes ma’am !
Our stay in the restaurant lasted for much longer than we expected due to the typhoon that was going on outside, but the moment the rain died down a little, we grabbed our full bellies and made a dash back to our rooms for an early nights rest. I had no problem falling asleep that night, wished I could have cracked open the balcony doors a little to hear the sound of the waves but the fear of unpredictable rain flooding our room would have been a problem.
The next day the 6 of us met up at the very beautiful Spices restaurant for breakfast. I don’t normally get excited for breakfast at the expense of sacrificing sleep, but it was worth it the moment we entered the dining hall. It was a huge buffet spread, and my greedy face couldn’t stop smiling despite my groggy eyes. I sat down and ordered a cup of coffee before charging ahead to see what’s on offer.
Not really sure if I did justice to the breakfast spread through my pictures as we were clearly spoilt for choices, and they tasted pretty damn good. For the 5 days that we stayed here, the buffet seemed to rotate a little, mostly by changing the proteins in the curry or congee, but I’m not complaining, you couldn’t eat everything in a single day for sure. After scoffing everything down, the 6 of us just in silence as neither of us had the energy to even talk let alone move. The rain soon subsided, and the sun came out. We decided it was time to check out the amazing pool and let my drone take flight to just give me a birds eye view on the actual size of the resort.
With our fingers pruning it was time to get out of the pool and get a hot drink, we decided to check out the 3rd eatery that the hotel offered, the Cotton cafe & library. After showing up at the cute little cafe located in the middle of the resort, we realised it really doubled as an actual library with a cafe attached to it. Such a cute little quiet space.
We soon made our way to the beach side to check out the beach club and what it looked like in the day. Took this opportunity to let my drone take flight and finally get some aerial shots of the resort.
The resort looked even more spectacular from above. So many shapes and the colours were just gorgeous. Modern and clean designs throughout the property with a lot of natural elements. Even the roofing for almost all the restaurants and bars had grass growing on it.
Our 5 day stay at La Vela Khao Lak was just what we needed for some rest & relaxation. I would highly suggest renting a car as getting around the town would have been quite difficult with the lack of Uber/Grab around. The resort proved to be in its infancy stage, with some minor finishing touches being added throughout our stay but that didn’t cause any disruption or inconvenience for anyone. I would definitely come back and stay here again, preferably during the non monsoon season for sure.
There’s a couple of national forests reserves to visit, cycling tours, day trip to islands around the area, or even a visit the old town of Khao Lak up north which is what we did, though that proved to be a little dull day trip for us, though we had an amazing lunch there through the suggestion of the receptionist. Or you could also sign up for a cooking class, which probably was one of the highlights in terms of activities in the area. For a quick escape over a couple of days, look no further, escape from Phuket and come explore the charms of Khao Lak for a laid back beach vacation.
