Hua Hin has the closest beach scenery to Bangkok and a rich cultural history. The local customs and culture have more cultural sentiment compared to the city. Many European and American travelers or expats like to spend a weekend in Hua Hin for a day or two. It doesn’t require long-distance transportation like Pattaya — it’s really very chill. This time, the director again chose the well-known Thai resort Anantara located in Hua Hin. This resort with its historical traces has witnessed nearly 30 years of history in Hua Hin.
Hua Hin — Thailand’s Famous Resort Destination
Located about 200 kilometers south of Bangkok, it belongs to Prachuap Khiri Khan Province. It is a long-established resort town in Thailand with a strong local culture. Because Rama VII, a member of the Thai royal family, built a vacation villa here — Klai Kangwon Palace — you can still see many royal buildings that are currently in operation.
Hua Hin has a 5-kilometer-long beach, making it perfect for water sports. The beach atmosphere here is tranquil, suitable for family trips or travelers who want to relax. Additionally, there are many natural attractions nearby, such as national parks and waterfalls with limestone cave landscapes, suitable for outdoor enthusiasts.
Finally, what you can’t miss are the various night markets and bazaars. The coastal location makes the seafood varieties and freshness more reassuring, and souvenirs and market purchases are cheaper.
Anantara Hua Hin Accommodation
Anantara Hua Hin was the brand’s first resort. After staying at so many Anantara resorts in different places, Hua Hin really shows its historical traces. The wooden facilities in the hotel have a sense of age.
Photo | The lobby decor at Anantara has a consistent design language with other Anantara propertiesThat said, being able to survive the pandemic and still being one of the top choices for local resort hotels today, the accumulated service quality and reputation did not happen overnight. From entering to the lobby, although the scale is not large, you can see that every detail a five-star resort should have is present: pool bar, gym, tennis court, and other facilities are all available, as well as separate VIP room types.
Traditional South Asian Architectural Design Style
The design style of Anantara Resort, from Phuket and Chiang Mai, to the Golden Triangle where we later stayed, features reddish mud brick-shaped buildings with dark wood carved traditional designs. This design is commonly seen in traditional Thai or Southeast Asian architecture. At the same time, the resort’s walking paths are lined with abundant plantings, making you feel like you’re in a tropical jungle — this is a common characteristic of all the Anantara properties we’ve stayed at.
Even after 35 years, Hua Hin Anantara benefits from this design, making the overall appearance have a sense of history without the marks of time. Compared to those luxury high-rise hotels, when you come to Thailand, you should stay at a resort hotel that combines local style design. Of course, it’s also deeply loved by Western visitors.
Rooms
The room types at Anantara Hua Hin are all low-rise buildings not exceeding two floors, surrounded by large rainforest landscapes — very resort-like. The room type we stayed in was relatively small but had everything: King size bed, bathtub, and other amenities, making for a very comfortable stay.
Photo | Floor-to-ceiling windows in the room
Photo | King size bed and sofa seatingThe room hardware is actually not particularly new, and you occasionally find some minor flaws, but they are traces of time. Cleanliness is the most important thing! And staying in the room at the resort is really a bit of a waste — most of the time people are just lounging by the pool or at the facilities? XD
During our stay, the entire row of rooms nearby was under construction. While it somewhat affected the入住觀感與品質, but we still give credit to hotels that are updating their hardware. We look forward to having new and beautiful hotel facilities available in the future.
Resort Pool
The swimming pool is definitely a highlight of Hua Hin, worthy of a lengthy introduction.
Unlike the long rectangular pool at Chiang Mai Anantara, the pool here is more like an irregular pool you’d find at a resort, with the poolside Loy Nam Bar in the middle, where you can order drinks anytime. It’s truly the top choice for chilling out. Staying at a resort really makes you feel like time flies when you spend the entire day at the hotel.
Photo | 0.6m is the children’s wading pool. The pool has different depths, with the deepest at 2.2 meters — perhaps designed for Western visitors…
Photo | After breakfast time, the lounge chairs were already fully booked. Fortunately, the sun here was relatively less intenseThe pool is really a great place to cool off. You can also have two or three cocktails during Happy Hour and stay for an hour or two — it’s really very chill. Also, for swimming, it’s only recommended to use the pool here. Hua Hin’s beach doesn’t have lifeguards or other safety measures, and the jellyfish have stronger aggression.
The pool also provides floating boards and other tools. You can ask the staff for these.
Photo | There are also seating areas behind the bar. Lying here is also quite niceResort Gym
Actually, Anantara also has surprising gym facilities. It has a complete dual-court tennis court, and you can see it from the main entrance, so it’s really being used and should be a normal facility. But in this weather, don’t play for too long.
The gym is located next to the tennis court, about 200 meters from the main hotel. You can ask staff to drive a golf cart to take you to exercise XD. The gym is larger than typical hotels and well-managed. I think this is the most modern part of the entire resort!
Photo | The gym is fully equipped with rowing machines, Crossfit training equipment, and more. The indoor treadmills have air conditioning, but it’s not too stuffy outside either.Anantara Hua Hin Dining
If you’re staying at the hotel for a whole day, three meals are very important. The hotel has thought of everything for you, including afternoon tea and omakase, which you can enjoy all in one place. Truly a star-rated resort hotel package.
That said, you can still refer to the way our group ate. First, the included breakfast is definitely an all-you-can-eat buffet that can serve as brunch portions, all the way until dinner when we went out to the night market to eat local delicacies. If you want to eat some local snacks in between, you can choose to have them delivered to the hotel using Grab, or borrow a free bicycle from the hotel and ride out to explore.
Photo | Issara Café is the main restaurant at Anantara Hua Hin, where you can eat all three meals. Except for breakfast, it’s not too crowded at other times.The breakfast options are very abundant, with everything from Western food to local snacks available, and even having rice porridge as an option is quite surprising, so saying you can be full until after lunch here is not an exaggeration at all. The only downside is there is no air conditioning, so when the weather gets hotter it might not be suitable to sit outdoors, and there is also the problem of more insects.
Additionally, if you want to experience a more upscale dining here, you can consider the Italian restaurant Baan Thalia and the Thai-flavored Rim Nam restaurant, both of which only serve dinner,正好衔接上饱到不行的早午餐XD，另外 Room Service 也有提供餐点。Additionally, Room Service also provides meals.
If none of the above can satisfy you and you want something more special, there is also the option of dining on the beach, Anantara will arrange for you to eat wherever you can think of!
Anantara Hua Hin Activities
Besides spending the whole day by the pool at the hotel, you can also choose activities like Thai massage SPA, cooking classes, and there is also the free Baan Pla Noi kids club where you can drop off the children, and three days two nights will be gone in a flash!
Photo | Cooking class at the resortFurthermore, Anantara Hua Hin can also host beach weddings, who would have thought! See details
Anantara Hua Hin Key Points
The team took a bus from Bangkok to Hua Hin, and the bus could actually stop at the hotel entrance which was very convenient, but experiencing it once is enough as that bus is really not comfortable XD
Cheapest bus from Bangkok to Hua Hin
1. First take the BTS skytrain to Ekkamai Station, exit 2 and walk for 3 minutes to reach Bangkok Bus Terminal Ekkamai
2. Find the HUA-HIN window to buy tickets, and ask when the next bus is, it is best to arrive at the bus terminal 15-20 minutes early because the tickets will be oversold, oversold, oversold!
The hotel is about a three to five minute drive from Hua Hin city center, and going to the night market and other attractions is no problem at all; we took a cab out to eat for two consecutive nights; Anantara may not be as well-known in Taiwan as other resorts, but the占地面积、舒适度与服务真的是水准之上，有岁月没有老态，而且风格有别于现代化饭店，体验上完全不同，绝对值得在这里享受。The land area, comfort level, and service here are truly above standard, it has aged without showing old age, and the style is different from modern hotels, the experience is completely different, it is definitely worth enjoying here.
In addition, there are still many attractions around Hua Hin such as palace visits, vineyards, golf, etc., hotel staff can arrange all these for guests, this time the team only had three days two nights so they decided to just chill at the hotel.
More Anantara Hua Hin Photos
