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The huge lobby is also striking with its gift shop, cocktail bar and café/patisserie as well as an Italian restaurant. Overhead fans keep things colonially cool and, following the throwback theme, the lobby's enormous potted plants are perfectly maintained. Guests check in seated on one of the four textile-and-wood bench arrangements surrounded by tropical opulence.

Fast Facts

Lobby/reception

Where is it?

Sofitel flanks Klong Muang Beach, a 10-minute drive from Ao Nang. The hotel faces west out over southern Phang Nga Bay with its fabulous karst limestone islands and is a useful gateway to the bay itself as well as to nearby national parks. See map below...

How many rooms?

There are 276 rooms at Sofitel encompassing six different types, ranging from the 45sqm Superior rooms right up to the 160sqm Presidential Suite. All rooms feature breakfast balconies or terraces with traditional Thai teak floors and well-designed bathrooms.

A charming touch is that all rooms have ornamental (but functional) ceiling fans. 180 of the rooms at Sofitel are non-smoking and two are wheelchair accessible.

Room facilities

Luxury room

All room types feature the following: breakfast balconies or ground floor terraces; a bathtub and separate rain and normal shower in a reinforced glass walk-in cubicle; hair dryer, bathrobe and slippers and umbrella; fully stocked mini-bar, tea and coffee-making facilities; extensive and quality complimentary toiletries; individually controlled air conditioning.

Superior rooms feature louver bathroom windows, a pleasant dark wood furniture-and-floor combination, plenty of Thai textiles, cream-coloured upholstery and lampshades.

The 54sqm luxury rooms have much of the same arrangements with an extra table and chairs; the same feel only more spacious.

Luxury bathroom

There are five 72sqm Sofitel suites that boast golf and sea views, two ceiling fans, a 360-degree swivelling TV for both bed and living room viewing and extensive seating arrangements.

Sofitel also has seven Opera Suites with a large separate living room, pool access, Jacuzzi, double balconies with sun loungers, good wardrobe space along with generous bar facilities and espresso-making equipment, as well as two TV's and toilets.

Restaurants and Bars

Venezia Restaurant

Sofitel has extensive dining, snacking and breakfast facilities as well as several outlets to sip cocktails in style.

Maya, the main restaurant, has a sumptuous breakfast buffet as well as all-day dining in a market-like alfresco and air-conditioned environment; Venezia, as the name suggests, is a gourmet Italian restaurant; White Lotus is the resort's signature restaurant and serves Thai cuisine.

The Explorer bar features live cocktail music and a dark-wood interior with decades of whisky and liquors as well as a good range of wines.

The Explorer bar

Café Vienna serves up pastries, cakes and fresh juice, coffee and tea as well as wine.

The Hemingway Club cleverly doubles as the resort's library and cigar and brandy room while the Poda Bar (named after a nearby island) flanks the pool and has swim-up chairs.

Finally, the Maprao Lounge offers cocktails, aperitifs and even pizza.

Business facilities

The Hemingway Club

There are five function rooms for group events from 40 to 600 participants with a business centre providing full secretarial service with high-speed Internet access.

In-room Wi-Fi Internet is available. Even though Sofitel is firmly located in a tourist-friendly area its choice of business function rooms is admirable and of course the resort's sheer size can absorb a large amount of delegates.

Leisure facilities

Swimming pool

Leisure facilities at Sofitel Krabi abound and one can do worse than beginning with the 6,000sqm swimming pool with a cleverly conceived children's area, wedding island/pavilion and swim-up bar.

The pool goes on, it seems, for ever and is a central attraction to the resort. There are scheduled water exercise classes along with water volleyball and water sports facilities on the beach in front of the hotel (beach access and showers are roadside).

Another admirable facility at the Sofitel Krabi is a nine-hole golf course on the resort's north side.

Mountain bikes in front of fitness center

For guests with an eye for even more luxury the hotel has complete facilities for an afternoon or a day out exploring nearby islands onboard Sofitel's power boat. Health enthusiasts can work out at the fitness centre and wind down in its sauna and steam room.

Another option is to borrow a mountain bike to explore the surrounding countryside and beaches. The little ones can benefit from Sofitel's excellent kid's club (open 07:00-19:00) with its organised daily activities and babysitting service.

There is a floodlit tennis court and a cooking school as well as a well-appointed spa with eight couples' rooms and four single rooms.

Overall

Lobby/reception

Sofitel Phokeethra Krabi Resort & Spa is impressive; impressive in size and ambition. It has matured exponentially since its opening and the resort is up and running in style.

Facilities are excellent and staff members unfailingly courteous while dining standards are enviable. Its location in terms of sea views is excellent and it amply handles several roles in that its business facilities equal its leisure choices. Full marks to a professional management who have all the bases covered.