Keemala

Keemala begins with a shipwreck. Four clans crossing the Indian Ocean on the Sea Silk Road run aground on Phuket and settle in its hills, and not one of them existed: the resort invented them, then built their houses, 38 in all, scattered through the rainforest above Kamala and each with a pool of its own. The Pa-Ta-Pea, farmers and fishermen, kept to the ground, in earth and clay. The Khon-Jorn never stayed put, so theirs are tents, the canvas swept up to a peak and close enough to the real thing that the rainforest can be heard through it. The We-Ha, healers and inventors, wanted to be nearer the sky; their Tree Pool Houses put the bedroom upstairs and hang the furniture from the ceiling. The poets and astrologers of the Rung-Nok did best of all: great baskets of woven timber on stalks, reached by a raised walkway and looking out over the forest to Kamala Bay.

Recommended for couples, and for a family of four only in a Tree Pool House, the one villa that sleeps four. There is no kids club, and the resort says itself that not every villa suits families. The wellness programme follows the clans as well, from yoga to Thai therapies, with eight treatment rooms at the Mala Spa. The shared pool is fed by a rock waterfall, with the Cha-La Pool Bar at its edge for anyone who has had enough of their own. Breakfast at Mala Restaurant comes with a direct booking, and it is the meal guests praise most. Kamala Beach is eight minutes by car, and Patong and its nightlife seventeen. The Rung-Nok, the story goes, bathed under moonlight to sharpen their vision, and every Bird's Nest has a stand-alone bath with a view to test the theory in.