The Festive Season has always suited Phuket. Between November and February the island takes on its brightest self – beaches hum with possibility, nights stretch long with music, and mornings arrive with that perfect Andaman clarity. Whether this is your first visit or a return to a beloved refuge, welcome.
In this issue of exotiqPhuket, we follow new currents of luxury and imagination. At sea, the world’s great hotels now launch suites that travel on water. Back on land near Surin, The Smokaccia Laboratory treats cuisine as science — a Michelin-recognised experiment where Thai ingredients transform through precision and technique.
While Alchemy unveils Chef Noi’s culinary mothership — pan-Asian fine dining anchored by SUAY, Daily Dose, and an artisan bakery shaping loaves for the island. Further north, Mai Khao’s SALA distills wellness to its quietest essence, and along Bang Tao, Ember draws fire and salt air into balance on the Chic Coast, where style meets shoreline, and sunset itself becomes ceremony.
Behind the magazine, we’ve been evolving too. Every article is now available online in 14 languages, so the island’s stories can travel as far as its visitors do. We’ve launched a newsletter and social channels, with new formats and conversations between issues. And most excitingly, The Clique is now live – our way of bringing you closer with first access insights, priority invitations, and a little extra value wherever you go. Phuket is celebration without repetition. It fizzes, it renews, it surprises — and this season, we raise a glass to that.
Welcome to the Festive Season
Angus Hamilton – Editor
Some of the Exceptional Content in this Edition
CAMEO VISIONS IN PHUKET
German collector Thomas Kuhse’s Cameo Art Gallery channels a refined, international eye, meeting island demand as a residential building boom fuels appetite for quality art in new homes. The gallery’s intimate scale encourages close looking, while its advisory arm guides clients on acquisitions, conservation, and thoughtful placement. Read more
A TRANSFORMATIONAL EXPERIENCE
Celebrity chef and entrepreneur Tammasak Choothong, known locally as Chef Noi, has unveiled his new mothership, Alchemy Phuket, and with it a renewed centre of gravity for the island’s dining scene. At the core of the complex lies SUAY Alchemy, where culinary artistry meets the soul of Asia; this is affordable ‘fine dining’ at its best. Read more
COASTAL LUXURY LIVING
We visit Thailand’s most treasured ultra-private clifftop sanctuary where glassy horizons, artisan interiors and bespoke service curate Southeast Asia’s ultimate private estate. High on a secluded hillside, Villa Sawan feels less like a holiday home and more like a private resort designed for those who treasure moments as much as they treasure destinations. Read more
CHIC BEACHES
At the centre of the island’s west coast, a lush, hilly peninsula hosts the legendary Amanpuri resort that put Phuket on the jet-set map. It’s no surprise that the beaches which flank this hospitality heaven, Surin to the south and Bang Tao to the north, rank among the island’s chicest. Explore their highlights. Read more
AN EVENING IN A LABORATORY
Surin Beach’s The Smokaccia Laboratory is where chef Luca Mascolo – once of Amanpuri – stages a nine course journey of theatre, illusion and sustainability, transforming Thai produce into a story you taste as much as you watch. Nothing here is quite as it seems. Expect trickery and moments that will unseat what you think you know about food. Read more
QUIET POWER, PERFECT POISE
Your private introduction to the Princess Y95 – Southeast Asia’s new flagship of elegance. Privacy and pampering are woven into the plan. The Y95’s generous open decks, clever configurable layouts and a large transformer bathing platform invite you to set the tone; unhurried mornings, sun-drenched afternoons or lively evenings with friends. Read more
SERENITY IN MOTION
The Bentley Azure range is less a luxury model line, more a philosophy: a curated calm across the Continental GT and GTC, the Flying Spur and the Bentayga models. Close the hefty door and the world softens. Acoustic glazing, deep insulation, and a beautifully judged ride filter life’s jolts into a murmur. Take the test drive. Read more
SUITES AFLOAT
For years, cruise lines have insisted they’re “hotels at sea”. Now a cadre of revered hotel houses are making that claim literal, transplanting their branding and culinary prowess onto purpose-built, ultra-luxury cruise liners. For these hotel titans, yachting is more than a new revenue stream; it’s a way to broaden their canvas of brand experience. Read more