Baan Hen, Kata, Phuket

Baan Hen sits on a small hill at the southern end of Kata Beach, about five minutes on foot from the sand and a short drive from the restaurants of Kata and Karon. It is a two-level villa built around its infinity pool: a sandstone deck, a traditional covered sala and a fountain above the water, which then cascades down to a smaller plunge pool and jacuzzi on the lower level. From the master suite the pool seems to run straight into the Andaman.

The master suite on the upper level has a four-poster bed, a bathroom with sunken tub and walk-in shower, and a study. The other four bedrooms are on the lower level: a second large bedroom set apart from the main building with its own sunken-tub bathroom, two twin rooms that share a bathroom, and a fourth room with twin beds that convert to a double and an en suite. The villa can be booked with three, four or all five bedrooms, so smaller groups pay for what they use. Air conditioning runs throughout, and there are furnished dining areas inside and out, a modern kitchen and a hi-fi and cable TV set-up.

A live-in cook and housekeeper look after the villa, with a villa manager on call, and meals are prepared from groceries bought for the group at cost plus 20 percent. Kata Beach is a 3 km sweep of sand shared with a handful of hotels, with two of the island's better restaurants close by, and the King's Cup Regatta sails off this headland every December. Phuket International Airport is about an hour by road.