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Just a 10-minute boat ride from Phuket’s neon lights, the fishing isle of Naka Yai has until now been a day-tripper’s paradise with broad sandy beaches and coconut palms. But this May you can stay a while and relax: The island’s first resort, Six Senses Destination Spa, opens with 61 villas, each boasting its own private meditation sala and herb garden. With separate pavilions for Thai, Indian, Chinese and Indonesian treatments, plus outdoor watsu pools, “oxygen fitness therapy” and a raw food restaurant, the retreat is the first destination spa in the Six Senses family — not to mention their second resort within six months on Phang Nga Bay.
As proof that the Bangkok-based company is on a mission for local domination, they’ve even poached the former GM of Thailand’s reigning spa star, Chiva-Som Hua Hin. But the competition isn’t folding: Chiva-Som just added 19 new treatment rooms and renovated 18 others, making it the world’s only destination spa with more treatment chambers (70) than guestrooms (57). They’re also expanding an already-hefty menu of 150-plus services — new goodies include (deep breath, now), a “deep colon-cleansing” Maya massage. But while Chiva-Som’s proximity to Bangkok in Hua Hin has kept them popular with both locals and foreigners, they’d do well to watch their well-exfoliated backs: Six Senses already has two outposts in town.
read more: 02. Sleep | 03. Spa | 05. Eat | 07. Beach | 09. Active | island | resort | secluded | villa | wellbeing
