Hotel Kata Thani & Beach Resort

By Kata Noi Beach, south of Phuket on the west coast. Phuket Town, on the east side of the island, is around 12.5 miles away and the airport is situated 28 miles north, which is around 50 min by car.

Although Kata Noi Beach is public as all the beaches in Phuket, the Kata Thani hotel boards a big part of the length it benefits from with an almost private beach. Apart from a few local shops offering their products or their services, there are almost only the guests of the hotel.

Built in 1985, the Kata Thani starts to show its age. Traced from the architectural model of a collective accommodation -which means with no charm, just like the very sad lobby-, its six long 3-floor buildings line in a perfectly straight way opposite the sea. Not much imagination then, and a rather anonymous atmosphere, even if the common areas installed between the buildings and the beach (including swimming pool, etc.) are fair and effectively invite to relaxation.

530 rooms for a total capacity of around 1,600 guests: you might as well say that the Kata Thani is a mastodon. Despite this overgrowth not favourable to personalisation, a clear effort has been made to make the rooms, very standardised in their volume and equipment, convivial and pleasant. The white wood furniture, very simple, is nice to see; a small present on the pillow is always there for the new guests and the beach set consisting of towels and swimming accessories is renewed daily. The rooms are divided in standard of entry standard level (201, garden or pool view), superior (109, sea view, same area as the standard type but the tea and coffee set is offered), family superior (65, sea view), junior suites (152, sea view) and family suites (3).

The Kata Thani accommodates six restaurants and two bars, which is not too much considering the hugeness of the environment. The offer is relatively traditional -Italian, Thai and western cuisine, seafood and classics from international menus- with a fair level of quality, no frills. Gastronomic theme evenings are organised daily in high season. You will be a bit disappointed by the lack of a "candlelight dinner" option, but you need to be realistic: how is it possible to hope for some privacy in such a liner?

It is undeniably one of the main assets of the hotel, if only for its almost monopoly location on this side of the coast. Kata Noi Beach is a seducing beach, big enough to relax without having to cope with an indiscreet neighbour. The level of cleanliness of the Andaman Sea is fair and the level of the beach is satisfactory. Briefly, it will please swimmers. However, you can criticise the beach for not having many shaded spots.