Haven Khao Lak

Khao Lak's appeal has always been its quietness — a 30-kilometre run of beach on the Andaman coast where the high-rises of Phuket give way to casuarina trees and small family-run resorts. Haven sits directly on the sand, its saltwater pool stretched parallel to the shoreline behind a low wall of bougainvillea.

Adults only, no music, no slides — just a long blue rectangle, a few hammocks, and the sound of the surf twenty metres away. Time the visit for November to April, when the Andaman is glass.