Soneva Kiri

On Koh Kood Island in the Gulf of Thailand — the fourth largest of the Thai islands and one of the least developed, with no airport and access by speedboat from the mainland — Soneva Kiri occupies a position in a landscape of primary tropical forest, coral reefs, and white sand bays whose preservation reflects the island’s distance from the tourist infrastructure that has transformed Koh Samui and Koh Pha Ngan. The 36 villas and residences are set within the forest above the beach, with private pools, outdoor bathing areas, and the barefoot luxury philosophy — no shoes required throughout the property — that characterises the Soneva brand across its Indian Ocean and Thai properties. The island’s lack of commercial development means that guests explore it primarily through the resort’s programme rather than through an independent tourist economy.

The resort’s outstanding cinema, which combines outdoor film screenings with an astronomically precise viewing platform for stargazing, and the water sports programme on the island’s surrounding reefs and bays give Koh Kood’s natural environment a range of experiential entry points. Dining at the Treehouse restaurant, where meals are served in individual treetop nests above the forest floor, represents one of the more genuinely theatrically ambitious dining settings in Southeast Asian luxury hospitality. The resort’s cooking school, the chocolate laboratory, and the glass-blowing studio provide creative activities that extend the guest experience beyond the beach and wellness offer. The kitchen draws on organic produce from the island’s own garden and the sustainable seafood of the Gulf of Thailand.

Soneva Kiri’s environmental approach mirrors the Soneva group’s commitments across its properties: the resort is certified carbon neutral, single-use plastics have been eliminated, and the Soneva Foundation’s waste management, clean energy, and marine conservation programmes operate at the island level with the same institutional seriousness that the Maldivian properties bring to their ocean conservation work.