The 2-year-old Anantara Layan Phuket — tucked in a cove on Thailand’s west coast — offers every sort of honeymoon delight: tropical romance, daring adventure, cultural ritual and epicurean indulgence. The resort has also just debuted its ultraluxe Residence villas, whose breathtaking sea vistas are straight out of an island fairytale. It’s your honeymoon, so let’s dream big … and break down these lavish new oases by the numbers:
$7,000
Cost per night of Anantara’s seven-bedroom Sea View Residences. (What’s an A-list honeymoon if you can’t bring an entourage?) Residences are perched cliffside above the main resort, with rates starting at $2,000/night for “smaller” three-bedroom villas. (The main resort offers lovely rooms at refreshingly lower price points, starting from $180/night.)
28,000+
Square footage of those somebody-pinch-me seven-bedroom Residences. Designed as modern-Thai-style glass boxes connected by travertine courtyards, each villa is spread over two stories (with a third level of living-room-style roof decks). They’re so massive they come with their own map and phone directory, so you can locate your squad in the cascade of master bedrooms, roof decks, chef’s kitchens, media rooms, outdoor showers, staff quarters and Toto-equipped spa bathrooms.
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Hours per day your live-in Residence butler is on-call to tend to every whim and craving — from whipping up decadent poolside breakfasts and chauffering you around the resort, to serving as your personal paparazzo. (Those perfect #honeymoon shots aren’t going to take themselves!)
∞ (infinity)
Edge of the 69-foot-long private pools that run the length of each Residence, reflecting stunning panoramas of the Andaman Sea. Enchanting lanais are dotted with purple sun umbrellas, outdoor barbecues, tiki torches and private salas (gazebo-style dining nooks). Tip: look up through the skylights in the downstairs rooms for a sexy peek at your beloved splashing in the pool above.
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Ingredients in the delicious Khao Soi Gai you’ll master (and then devour) at Anantara’s Spice Spoons cooking class, held at Dee Plee (considered one of the best Thai restaurants in Phuket). You’ll go home with recipes for about 20 other dishes from all over Thailand — for mouthwatering newlywed meals.
8
Contact points in the extremely popular Muay Thai kickboxing. The resort boasts its own outdoor ring and offers lessons from a pro coach. (The healthiest way to work out those lovers’ spats!) Other amusements include outdoor movie nights, windsurfing, kayaking, yoga classes and complimentary bicycles, for tooling about Phuket Town.
344,000
Square footage of Koh Krata island — a natural reserve directly across from Anantara’s sprawling beach. Reachable via sandbar at low tide, it makes for the perfect wild mini-adventure.
6:30 pm
Time of the resort’s pool-closing ceremony each evening, during which flower-draped Thai dancers and drummers say farewell to the day and summon the stars by lighting tiki torches. Toast your new Mr. or Mrs. with your own sundowner from the nearby colonial-style Breeze Bar.
7
Treatment rooms in the spa, which offers Elemis products and the 190-minute “Romantic Rendezvous for Two” — a combination scrub, milk bath, aromatherapy treatment and stress-release massage for couples.
4
Most popular locations for the resort’s Dining By Design program, which offers impossibly romantic private meals at the location of your choosing. The most-picked spots? On the beach, near the pool, at the garden or in the resort’s new wedding chapel.
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Guests who can be seated inside that charming, A-frame, cliffside wedding chapel. Because it’s never too early to renew those vows!