LLM Exclusive News June / Hotel Review: JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort And Spa, Khao Lak in Thailand / By Adrian Falk

Khao Lak sits about 90 minutes’ drive above Phuket and has quietly become the place to go if you want Thailand without the crowds.

JW Marriott has been here for years, but what’s new is its sister property next door, the Marriott Vacation Club, Khao Lak Beach Resort, which took over the property’s suites last August.

Hotel

The lobby is open on all sides with the lagoon beginning just beyond the front desk .

The drive up from the airport is half the fun: highway 4 takes you past mangroves, coconut groves and the odd roadside stall flogging pineapples for what looks like fifty cents apiece.

By the time you swing into the JW Marriott driveway, you’ve already started to forget about emails.

Within 30 seconds of stepping out of the car someone presses a chilled lemongrass hand towel into one hand and a small bowl of coconut sorbet into the other. After hours in the air this is a welcome that earns its keep.

The lobby is open on all sides. Teak, stone, ceiling fans turning slowly above you, and that famous lagoon you’ll soon get to know up close, beginning just beyond the front desk.

Room

Pool access rooms allow guests to open their terrace door and slide straight into the lagoon

Spacious is a word people lob about in hotel reviews to mean ‘fine, I suppose’.

Here it actually means something. The standard rooms are bigger than most one bedroom apartments back home, with floor to ceiling glass, a private balcony, and a bathroom that doesn’t make you choose between the shower and the bath.

The pool access rooms are the ones to ask for. Open the door from your terrace and you slide straight into the lagoon. Family pool sccess studios add a bit more breathing room for parents.

And then at the top end are the beachfront villas, with their own private pool, a personal villa butler on call around the clock, and a view of the Andaman that I sat staring at for the best part of an hour without reaching for my phone.

The Vacation Club

The Vacation Club 2 bedroom balcony is the perfect place to unwind

Here’s where it gets interesting. The new Marriott Vacation Club, Khao Lak Beach Resort opened in August 2025, taking over what used to be the JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort Suites.

The 52 Family Suites that once sat in that block have been reborn as two bedroom apartments built for families, sleeping up to five, with separate living and dining areas and design notes pulled from a traditional Lanna farmhouse. And, before you assume otherwise, you don’t need to be a member to stay there.

Anyone can book the apartments through the standard booking site, with full run of every JW Marriott facility on the campus.

That said, I sat through one of the on-site information sessions while I was there, mostly out of curiosity. Big mistake. By the end of it I was doing maths on the back of a napkin.

Hotel rates keep climbing year on year, particularly across Asia, so locking in a fixed cost for future family holidays starts to look pretty clever. Especially when your points can be swapped across the wider Marriott Vacation Club network: Bali, Hawaii, Spain, Mexico, Hong Kong, Australia on the list goes.

Then there’s what’s coming next. A second phase is being built next door, with construction broken in March 2025 in a traditional Brama ritual and Thai monk blessing ceremony.

The new building will have its own pool and self-contained cooking and laundry facilities, and is on track to open by the middle to late 2026.

By late 2026 they’re adding pickleball and basketball courts, an adventure golf course and bikes for getting around the wider area. Halfway through the meeting I clocked that most of the people taking notes were repeat guests on their fourth or fifth visit. Tells you something.

Food and drink

Waterfront is the resort’s al fresco grill house, ideal for fresh seafood and a steak as the sun goes down

The buffet at breakfast is one of the things I’ll remember longest about this stay. It sprawls. Thai noodle station, fresh tropical fruit picked that morning, eggs cooked to order, a pastry counter that wouldn’t disgrace a Parisian patisserie, and an unusually thoughtful gluten free section (better than I’m used to seeing outside Europe).

The masterstroke is the adults-only zone tucked off to one side in a separate neighbouring restaurant. Coffee, the morning paper, no kids screaming for waffles two metres away. If you’re travelling without your own and want to ease into the day, this is the spot.

For everything else there are eleven restaurants and bars to make your way through. Sakura is the standout for Japanese, the teppanyaki seats book up days in advance.

Olive does Italian properly, in an open-sided room facing the sea, with a wine list better than a resort kitchen has any right to. Waterfront is the al fresco grill house, ideal for fresh seafood and a steak as the sun goes down. Ta-Krai handles the Thai end with real authenticity, none of the dialled-down-for-tourists nonsense.

Sala by the family pool is where you go for an easy lunch when you can’t be bothered to leave the water. Two swim up bars in the lagoon itself, and Drift Beach Bar and Grill picks up the slack come sunset.

To do

The resort boasts the largest pool in Southern Asia

The pool is the headline act. At 2.5 kilometres long, the lagoon is officially the longest swimming pool in Southeast Asia. It snakes through the resort like a tropical river.

A few family zones with all the noise and splashing you’d expect, an aqua play area kitted out with slides and a wave pool, and quieter adults-only stretches further along where you only hear the wind in the palms above. I had a crack at the floating yoga session in one of the more secluded sections.

Balancing on a foam mat in the middle of a lagoon while the instructor talks you through pigeon pose is not as easy as it looks. My flexibility remains, shall we say, a work in progress. But it was brilliant.

The best bit comes mid afternoon. A traditional Thai paddle boat called the JW Boat drifts slowly along the lagoon loaded with fresh coconuts pulled from the trees that morning. You wave it down. The crew on board lops the top off one and hands it to you with a straw. That’s your afternoon sorted.

Beyond the pool you’ve got Khuk Khak Beach. Miles of fine white sand, palm trees leaning in for shade, the warm Andaman lapping at the shore. Free kayaks and bodyboards are yours to grab from the watersports hut. A walk along the sand at sunset has you checking flights for next year before you’ve even left.

Khuk Khak Beach features miles of fine white sand lined with palm trees

The resort really earns its stripes for families.

The kids club is set up beautifully for the little ones, with ball pits, soft play areas and a roster of activities to keep them busy for hours on end. Older kids get a games room with pool tables and ping pong.

The real showstopper, though, is the bamboo shark nursery. Guests can release young bamboo sharks back into the sea under the guidance of resident marine biologists. Educational, hands on, and the sort of memory your kids will still be banging on about years later. My nephew’s still bringing his up.

One of my favourite parts of the property and a detail more resorts could learn from, the JW Garden is a working farm on site, growing over 200 varieties of fruits, vegetables and herbs that supply the kitchens.

Even the eggs come from here. Borrow a resort bike and pedal through it slowly in the morning, while the staff are still harvesting. Serene isn’t quite the right word. Peaceful, maybe. There’s something quietly satisfying about knowing your dinner was probably picked while you were still asleep.

Step outside the resort gates and you’re straight into proper Thai life. The local markets sell everything from fresh mangoes and chillies to handmade crafts, herbal balms and street food at prices that feel like they belong in a different decade. The concierge can point you to the best ones depending on the day, and a tuk tuk ride is all it takes.

In a nutshell

Khao Lak isn’t trying to be Phuket and that’s exactly why I like it.

JW Marriott has held the top slot here for years, and the new Marriott Vacation Club rounds the place out properly. With phase two already going up next door, the property is only going to get better. The rooms are massive, the food is excellent, the kids are sorted from morning until bedtime, and the staff manage to make a fuss of you in all the right ways without ever feeling overbearing. I’m already plotting a way back.

Factbox

Return flights from London Heathrow to Phuket: From £1,930 return during December, direct with Virgin Atlantic, the only carrier flying the route nonstop at 12 hours 10 minutes.

Address: 41/12 Moo 3, Khuk Khak, Takua Pa District, Phang Nga 82190, Thailand
Phone: +66 76 584 888
Website: JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort and Spa and Marriott Vacation Club, Khao Lak

Photography courtesy of JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort and Spa