The five-star Belmond Napasai Hotel is located on Mae Nam Beach in Koh Samui, Thailand. The hotel lobby with its breathtaking view can be reached via a small side street with run-down residential buildings.
We booked the lowest room category – a Seaview Villa. The reception was warm and friendly in perfect English and we were allowed to enjoy the view in the lobby with a drink and a cool towel while check-in was carried out. It quickly became clear that the hotel grounds are perfectly maintained throughout the day by a team of gardeners and cleaning staff.
Room
An upgrade would have been possible despite good occupancy over Christmas: A two bedroom Oceanfront Pool Residence for the equivalent of €200/night or a Beachfront Villa for €80/night extra. The other room categories were all fully booked for the duration of our stay. The Beachfront Villa sounded exciting, but after looking at it we thankfully declined and were happy to be driven up the hill to the Seaview Villa. As the hotel is largely built into the hillside, the only difference between the villa room categories is their location on the slope (Seaview the cheapest, Beachfront the most expensive). The remaining categories were at garden/beach level with One Bedroom Garden Villa or Pool Villa. The room furnishings and layout were all the same, the only difference was the outdoor facilities (garden all around, massage sala, pool). The Beachfront Villa would have had its charm if it had been directly on the beach. It was. But at a height of approx. 3 meters above a heavily stony coastline with no direct access to the sea. The Oceanfront Pool Residences are a little more secluded and can be reached by a 5-minute electro-buggy ride. Driving back and forth for so long just to get to my room is a no-go for me. The villas all have their own pool, but I’m a beach lover. I need something from the room and half an hour is spent just driving back and forth. There are one, two, three and four bedroom oceanfront pool villas here.

Back to the room. After a few steps up to the room, you reach a small terrace that invites you to linger in the evening with a glass of wine and watch the stars. The view from up here is breathtaking. Unfortunately, even before we arrived, a colony of ants whose young ones were practising flying had spread here. The problem was quickly dealt with while we were lying on the beach. The same evening the phone rang again and they apologized for the inconvenience and said that they would check (and poison) everything again tomorrow morning so that the same problem would not occur again. From the terrace, a large sliding glass door leads to the spacious bedroom with a large double bed, a seating area and a TV. The bathroom is roughly the same size: A bathtub with shower head, a double washbasin, a large dressing table and toilet. The rooms certainly show their age, but thanks to the perfect maintenance, everything is still in perfect condition and exudes a certain charm.
Pool / Beach
The most important criterion for a beach hotel: the beach. Here, the Belmond Napasai could not quite keep up with other hotels during our stay. Even if the sight takes your breath away.
At garden level there is a sunbathing lawn with fine-grained sand on which there are salas and sun loungers.
The actual beach can be reached via a few steps. Very coarse-grained with coral. The sea was very choppy and murky – which was due to the weather – which is why I preferred to cool off in the huge infinity freshwater pool without bathing shoes. Funnily enough, I was almost always the only hotel guest on the beach. The majority stayed by the pool.
Restaurant and breakfast
Breakfast offers everything you need. A large buffet with various cold cuts and cheeses, breads, croissants and lots of sweets. An egg station, a smoothie station and the most important thing for me: real coffee that tastes like coffee and not diluted water. For lunch, we usually ate pad grapao gai – chopped chicken with chili, egg and rice by the pool with a coconut. In the evening we tried the menu in the restaurant. Interestingly, the Thai dishes were all consistently spicy and hot and not prepared to be extra tasteless for us Europeans. The hotel offers an all-inclusive version in addition to the regular room rate. For two people this costs the equivalent of around €200 (3,300 THB + 17.7% tax per person) and includes
- Lunch
- Afternoon Tea
- Drinks (water, soft drinks, iced teas, local beer, juices, smoothies, coffee and tea, a selection of cocktails and spirits, ice cream) except for strong alcohol, wine, champagne and imported drinks
- Dinner
- Room Service (300 THB Delivery Charge)
- Mini bar
- Laundry service (5 items per person per day)
- One activity per day (tennis, yoga, etc.)
- As we are big drinkers but only when it comes to coconuts, it wouldn’t have paid off for us.
Location
If you are on foot and want to explore the surrounding area, there is nothing around the hotel. After a 10-minute walk you reach the main street where there is a small restaurant on the corner. Another 10 minutes will take you to a food court and Seven Elven supermarket. We ate here once. The quality at the hotel was – atypically – better. In order to guarantee our coconut supply and not have to rely on the hotel (150 baht for a coconut vs. 30 on the street), we rented a moped for the duration of our stay.
Spa, fitness and leisure activities
The hotel has its own spa building which we did not use. On the way to the hotel on the small side street, an old Thai woman smiled at us and waved. On the way to the “village” and back again and offered her services as a masseuse. It looked a bit adventurous but no more so than the massage booths on Chaweng or Lamai Beach. So I gave it a try. It turned out that the lady was a former instructor at the Belmond Napasai Spa. So I went there every day after fitness and breakfast and had a massage for an hour. 🙂 The fitness villa was relatively well equipped, a couple of treadmills and bikes, a multi-purpouse rack and several dumbbells. Not perfect but enough for a few workouts in between to stay fit. The hotel also offers free mountain bikes, boxing lessons, a pool table and darts. In the evening, you can have your cocktails brought to the sofa tents while watching a DVD together.
Conclusion
To summarize, the stay at the Belmond Napasai was good. The entire complex is kept in perfect condition. The staff is courteous and friendly and the food leaves nothing to be desired. If I come here again I hope for better weather to see if the beach situation is really one.