Phulay Bay opened in December 2009 as the inaugural Ritz-Carlton Reserve — the category was announced for the Caribbean, and the crash of 2008 sent it to Thailand instead. It stands on a rocky headland near Nong Thale, bracketed by two national parks, with 54 villas and pavilions looking across the water at the limestone islands of the Andaman.
A Butler Instead of a Front Desk
There is no reception desk: you are checked in from an iPad wherever you happen to be standing, and a personal butler — ton hong in Thai — stays with you for the whole stay. The architecture is Lek Bunnag's: Moorish and Moroccan geometry against Thai proportion, orchid-purple walls twenty feet high, and the Sala Srichan pavilion standing over the water.
Nong Thale, Krabi
111 Moo 3, Nong Thale, Muang, Krabi 81180.
The resort sits on its own headland north-west of Krabi town, about 40 minutes from Krabi International Airport — which is itself under 90 minutes from Bangkok.
