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Phuket is one of my favourite beach and spa resort destination. It is a short flight from Singapore (2 hours), has nice white powdery beaches, clean blue ocean, wonderful spas and resorts and last but not least, my favourite Thai food.

On my last trip, I chose to stay at Twinpalms Phuket Resort Hotel, located at Surin Beach, Phuket, Thailand. Twinpalms Resort Phuket is a luxury boutique hotel opened in late 2004. With only 76 rooms and suites, it is not too large and not too small either.

We booked the hotel via the internet. We chose TwinPalms Resort because it had very good web reviews from ex-guests who rate it highly for it’s modern and unique design, attentive service, large rooms and toilets, quiet and exclusive environment and closeness to the beach. Although a little more expensive than most beach resorts, we were prepared to pay more to avoid overcrowded or noisy beach resorts.

Upon arrival at Phuket airport, we were picked up by the hotel limousine (complimentary from the hotel). A very friendly Thai driver who spoke simple English greeted us at the arrival gate and we were served with chilled distilled water as soon as he drove the car over to pick us up. Twinpalms Resort, Phuket is located at a short 20 minutes drive from the Phuket International Airport.

(We were lucky; two days after our departure, Phuket airport was closed for 3 days due to political demonstrations in the airport @ 31 August 2008)

When we arrived at the hotel, the check-in was smooth. One of the nice thing about checking into Phuket beach resorts is that you sit at a sofa while the receiving hotel staff goes through the paperwork and will come to you when they finish. While waiting to go through the check-in process, we were served with a cool welcome drink and scented flowers.

Once the formalities were done, the hotel customer relation officer briefly explained to us the facilities of the hotel while leading us to our room. The hotel has a well equipped modern gym, a wine-bar, a cafe, a beach club and a library. The library also serve as a outdoor trip booking facility and has an excellent selection of books, magazines and games. There are also two 20 inches Apple iMac for guests to browse the internet in the library.

We were then led to our room which was located on the ground floor facing the pool. The room was spacious with a beautiful king-size bed and a equally large bathroom with a full wall of glass which looked onto an enclosed garden area with overhead rain shower and hand shower. Two separate sinks and fully supplied aromatherapy-infused toiletries add to the glamour of the bathroom. The hotel also offers free internet service within the hotel and rooms.

The resort is a short 5 minutes walk to Surin Beach. Hotels in Phuket are clustered around popular beaches and often ended up crowded, noisy and dirty. Surin beach, on the other hand, is not too crowded and is just nice for a relaxing beach holiday. TwinPalms Resort even has their own restaurant and beach chairs right by the beach.

We really enjoyed staying at Twinpalms Resort, Phuket and rate it as one of the better beach resort we have been to. The resort even has a complimentary 15-minute back and shoulder massage for arriving hotel guests. Try it and you will definitely want to book your next spa treatment at the TwinPalms Spa!

Note: TwinPalms Resort, Phuket is highly recommended by me personally if you want a quiet and pampered beach holiday!