Beautiful luxury in the jungle – big, expensive and very much a resort.

Santhiya Koh Yao Yai

We stayed at Santhiya Koh Yao Yai in an Ocean View Pool Villa. A large and beautiful resort in the middle of the jungle. Perfect for families with children, but also a place where the sheer size, the transport and the mainstream food take up a big part of the experience.

Gourministeriet - Dianna Brinch
Dianna Brinch
Gourministeriet
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Santhiya - Koh Yao Yai

– a large luxury resort in the jungle with its own beach

We stayed at Santhiya Koh Yao Yai in an Ocean View Pool Villa. A large and beautiful resort in the middle of the jungle. Perfect for families with children, but also a place where the sheer size, the transport and the mainstream food take up a big part of the experience.

Arrival – a beautiful boat trip and an “introduction to the show”

We arrived at Santhiya Koh Yao Yai by speedboat from Phuket, straight to the hotel’s own pier. The trip was truly beautiful and took around 20–30 minutes, and already here you feel the pace slowing down and nature taking over.

On arrival we were gathered in a welcome room together with many other families and guests. Here we were given an introduction to the resort via PowerPoint – a bit like the safety briefing before a flight.

We were served something that tasted of warm rice water along with a few sweet cakes, and we quickly understood that we had arrived at a very large resort where things run in a very structured and efficient way – but not quite so personally.

A very large resort with over 220 rooms and villas

Santhiya Koh Yao Yai is enormous. The resort has over 220 rooms and villas spread across a vast area in the middle of the jungle – almost like a small village. Thankfully it doesn’t feel crowded, precisely because the grounds are so extensive – but you notice the size every time you need to be transported around.

The resort has 2 restaurants, 2 pool areas, a beach, a spa, a shuttle system and much more – you can read more about all of that further down in the review.

It’s great for families with children, precisely because it’s big and offers a range of activities – and in principle you could stay on the resort for the entire holiday.

There are a great many Danes here, and I’ve had an awful lot of messages from followers who have also stayed here – and almost all of them warmly recommend it.
For us, sadly, the place didn’t live up to expectations.

The resort – jungle atmosphere and immaculately kept grounds

The resort itself and its surroundings are incredibly beautiful and lush – it feels almost like a small village in the middle of nature.

Every morning the staff go round sweeping, watering, pulling weeds and making sure everything is kept in perfect order. It’s thorough and gives you the sense of a place that is genuinely looked after.

There are warnings about monkeys in the rooms. We didn’t see any monkeys, but we could hear them in the distance, which was actually rather lovely and gave that authentic jungle feeling.

We also saw a snake on the terrace (see the video). It was completely calm and undramatic – but it does remind you that you’re living in the middle of nature.

Getting around the resort – necessary and time-consuming

You don’t simply walk around Santhiya – or at least it’s really hard going because of the steep hills and the blazing sun.

Everything is done by small vehicles that run in a system of sorts – a system we never quite worked out. We gathered from many other guests that they couldn’t quite make sense of it either.

We stayed in villa 1218, which without doubt has the most beautiful location, but we spent a great deal of time on transport. You can’t just pop down to the beach, the restaurants, the pool areas or reception.

You should allow a minimum of 20 minutes every time you need to go somewhere – and more often than not (depending on where you’re staying), you’re picked up and driven to another pick-up point, where you change vehicle and carry on.

The rides in the small vehicles are unfortunately not comfortable. You sit on hard wooden benches, the vehicle has no suspension, and the roads are extremely bumpy. We quickly nicknamed them “the cattle truck” – because you really do get shaken through. It gave us quite a few laughs.

There were also a couple of golf buggies that looked considerably more comfortable than the cattle trucks – but they seem to use them extremely rarely. We never got to ride in one, at any rate.

Taxis and contact with the outside world

We took a taxi booked through the hotel for a 1-hour round trip – 700 THB. It took around 5–10 minutes to get to a large 7-Eleven with a good selection – the girls loved that.

Just getting out of the resort required 3 internal stops before we reached the car park that connects the hotel with the outside world – so “getting out” is a bit of a project. Again, it naturally depends on where on the resort you’re staying.

Pools & spa

There’s a huge pool close to the beach with a waterfall and rocks, and a large infinity pool by Saitara with a pool bar.

We didn’t really use them, because the pool and the view at our villa were so fantastic.

There’s also a spa and beach massage.

Beach massage costs 800 THB for 1 hour and has to be booked the day before. That said, we could see that same-day slots were often available.

Our pool villa

Ocean View Pool Villa

We stayed in an Ocean View Pool Villa, and the villa was genuinely lovely – with an absolutely fantastic pool and an incredible number of beautiful details.

The villa consists of:

  • a large living room with extra beds made up for the children
  • fridge and kitchenette
  • a large dressing room between the living room and the bedroom/walk-in wardrobe
  • bedroom with a double bed and access to the pool and bathtub
  • a beautiful outdoor bathroom, as long as the entire villa

There is:

  • an outdoor shower
  • a regular shower cubicle
  • a double basin
  • dressing gowns and slippers

The terrace area is large and well thought out, with:

  • 2 sun loungers
  • 2 lounge cushions by the pool
  • a dining table with 2 chairs
  • a parasol

You lie completely undisturbed, and the only sounds are birds, monkeys in the distance – and the occasional buggy.

The pool really is a masterpiece. Infinity, large and with a fantastic view – and both sun and shade.

The housekeeping was excellent and was typically done while we were at breakfast.

There can be a slight drain smell in a few places around the resort and in the bathroom, but it wasn’t much of a nuisance.

Stranden – flot, men afhængig af tidevand

Stranden er flot og der er rig mulighed for liggestole og senge. Men vandet varierer rigtig meget. Vi havde desværre flest dage med ret grumset vand og kun en enkelt dag med næsten krystalklart vand. Dog ændrer det sig hurtigt og i løbet af et par timer var vandet grumset igen. Ved lavvande er der mange sten, og det skal man være opmærksom på. På stedet kan man låne kajakker, paddleboards, liggestole og håndklæder. Men muligheden for vandsport afhænger af vandet. Husk også at man ikke bare lige er på stranden. Glemmer man noget på værelset, er det transport igen – og man kan nemt være væk 30–40 minutter for at komme frem og tilbage. Det afhænger naturligvis af hvor på resorter man bor.

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Food and restaurants – average hotel food

The food at Santhiya is rather dull – absolutely not a gastronomic experience. It’s classic hotel food lacking in authenticity – a little overpriced, but it works fine for a quick lunch. The highlight was a pizza, which says something about the level.

The menus are fairly similar at the two restaurants and offer:

  • Thai
  • Italian
  • Western

If you’re staying here for a longer stretch, I’d definitely recommend eating at the small, charming places along the beach. It often costs a third of the hotel’s prices, and the atmosphere is really lovely.

There’s also street food in the evenings in the little town nearby – it looks wonderfully cosy.

Because of illness we never got to eat anywhere else – and most days it was room service, as we were really poorly and took it in turns to be ill.

Price level

  • An ordinary lunch with a little food and drink for 2 adults and 2 children costs around 600 DKK
  • Dinner at the hotel can easily run to 1,000 DKK if you also order a glass of wine with the meal.
  • At the hotel you should budget 1,200–1,800 DKK per day for food for a family of 2 adults and 2 children – depending on your choice of drinks, of course.

We received a voucher worth 1,000 THB per day that could be used for food and drink – it’s deducted at check-out.

Everything is ordered via their tablets or by scanning a QR code, which works fine and means you avoid waiting for the bill and awkward tipping moments and so on. A fee is added on top of all prices.

As most communication takes place via the app/QR code, it also means the staff’s English is limited, which makes it difficult to deviate from standard orders.

As a rule it wasn’t possible to adapt the dishes, as the staff mostly didn’t understand what you were asking for.

We did manage it once at Saitara, though, where we were served by a really sweet waiter who spoke good English.

Breakfast – the beach beats the top restaurant

Breakfast is served in two places:

  • Saitara Restaurant – at the top of the resort – access only if you’re staying in a pool villa
  • By The Sea – right on the beach – open to all guests

We had breakfast in both places, and we clearly preferred By The Sea.

It’s more manageable, airy and relaxed. Saitara is beautiful, but big and a little confusing – especially when there are lots of guests.

So there’s no need to feel hard done by if you don’t have access to Saitara. We thought the breakfast on the beach was clearly the better one.

Gourministeriet's Hotel Rating

Overall rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

Location

Beach

Room & comfort

Value for money

View

Food & restaurants

Breakfast

Service & communication

Transport options

Family-friendliness

Overall rating

Dianna -Gourministeriet

Santhiya Koh Yao Yai is certainly luxury on a grand scale – luxury in the form of the view, the surroundings and the beautiful villas. Because it is beautiful, lush and immaculately kept – and no doubt perfect for families with children who want everything in one place.

But for us it simply became too big and too impersonal. We were left with a slight “conveyor belt” feeling, and that’s a shame, because the place really is beautiful.

The food is dull and lacks authenticity, and since food means an enormous amount to us when we travel, that was a big minus too.

We prefer something more intimate and smaller – a place where you “recognise” the staff and they recognise you. Authentic food that makes you curious and leaves you wanting to try more.

That’s why Santhiya Koh Yao Yai ends up with 3.75 out of 5 stars from us.

A place we fell head over heels for was Pimalai on Koh Lanta – you can read about it here.

Santhiya Koh Yao Yai – through our lens

Here I've gathered all the photos from our stay at Santhiya Koh Yao Yai – from the resort's beautiful setting in the jungle and on the hillside to the villa, the private pool, the food, the breakfast and the beach and communal areas. The photos give an honest glimpse of the atmosphere, the architecture and the details that are hard to capture fully in words – and are intended as a visual supplement to the review, so you can form your own impression of the place.

Address

88, Phru Nai
Ko Yao District
Phang Nga 82160, Thailand
#Thailand2026

Contact

Phone: +66 76 592 888
Email: info.syy@santhiya.com
Website: santhiya.com

2 Comments

  1. Linette

    Tak for din anmeldelse – den forberedte os. Vi var på rolige autentiske og chill Ko Lanta og tager pt de sidste 3 dage i Thailand på Santhiya. Her er fyldt med danskere og vi er vilde med beliggenheden, naturen og udsigten og alt det smukke træ, som villaerne er i. Men det er også det. Vi synes modsat dig ikke at afstanden og transporten er et issue. Og vi bor i den eneste 2-etagers (connected floors) villa – der er placeret længst væk.

    Maden er sgu træls og al form for autencitet er væk. Så ja, vanvittigt flot og fancy. Men det bliver ved det.

    Pizza og burgeren på dine billeder er hvorfra – restauranterne?

    • Hej Linette

      Tusind tak for din feedback på mit post 🙂
      Ej men vi var også vilde med Koh Lanta – absolut vidunderligt sted 🙂

      Ja udsigten er virkelig smuk der – naturen også og omgivelserne også.
      Vi troede måske, at vi synes afstanden var ekstra træls, netop fordi vi var dårlige og overskuddet ikke var der – men vi mødte flere som delte samme holdning.
      Blev i mon kørt i golfvognene? Vi kunne se, at de blev brugt ved de villaer der lå højest 🙂

      Ja maden er virkelig ikke noget at skrive hjem om, og jeg vil faktisk sige at deres pizza var højdepunktet 😉
      Både pizza og burger er fra stedet.

      Jeg undrer mig faktisk også over at så mange skrev til mig at de synes det var det mest fantastiske sted de havde været, og det skulle vi glæde os til.
      Sådan havde vi det absolut ikke – og maden er jo også en kæmpe del af det at rejse, så der skuffer det virkelig.

      Rigtig dejlig dag, jeg håber I får nogle skønne dage 🙂

      Warm wishes, Dianna