Zazen Boutique Resort & Spa in Bophud

This weekend we are enjoying a sat at Zazen Boutique Resort & Spa in Bophud. It's not our first visit here, here you can read a review of a visit to their restaurant back in 2007, one of my very first reviews on this blog, during one of the very first months since I started the blog. We have been back a few times and enjoyed the restaurant, but we never stayed here before. Now, Alexander and Ti, the owners and managing directors, were so kind to invite us for this weekend's stay.

As it happened to be, last week my wife and me also celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary, so the invitation couldn't have come at a better time.

The reception

Immediately upon arriving you feel at ease and are taken care of by the very friendly staff at reception. There are two separate lounges where you can wait for all the check in procedures to be taken care. A welcoming drink is offered and everything went very smoothly and before you know it, the friendly staff (did I mention this already?) shows you the way to your room, with the suitcases following within moments and you get a tour of the resort and the restaurant. Very efficient and very friendly.

The bed in our Garden Villa, very welcoming with a few nice little touches like a welcome note and the towel folded as an elephant

There we were in our Garden Villa, a 65 square meters big villa, with two extra beds for the children an a baby cot for our two year old baby girl. Today we had the baby cot taken out, since our baby girl sleeps with us in our big bed. This is in typical Thai style and it makes you wonder how we managed ending up with 3 children. Although, that's a different story.

A Garden Villa from the outside

Our Garden Villa is lovely, the picture shows the big king size bed with lots of pillows to chill out. There's a very inviting and relaxing Moroccan Lounge with a large day bed (which now was turned into a bed for one of our older children), making you slow down and enjoy your stay at this Boutique Resort.

The view from our room

The Zazen Boutique Resort & Spa in Bophud is truly Boutique! This can be found back in many different ways and loads of small details that make your stay here extra memorable and enjoyable. How about a silk dressing gown with silk indoor slippers in the room and there's a also a chess game for you in the room and I'm writing this review with the help of the very fast wifi throughout the resort and this all comes besides the usual amenities you would expect, like a very well stocked fridge, a 32" flat screen TV with 30 channels, an electricity adapter, hair dryer, safe, a private balcony with sun-beds and table, an open-air outdoor Balinese bathroom with hot tropical rain and hand showers and lots more.

The only thing that we miss in our rooms, is the bidet sprayer or shower in the bathrooms, a very typical Thai institution when it comes down to bathroom utilities. We're so used to this as a Thai family and we find it surprising that they're not available. Western visitors to the resort probably would not miss this utensil at all, unless they lived for prolonged times in South East Asia. It's however a minor inconvenience which we will surely and easily survive!

It's all there and presented with an eye for detail and to really make your stay memorable and enjoyable and so far we're having a great time.

Besides the Garden Villa's there are also 5 Beachfront Deluxe Bungalows and 10 Garden Deluxe Bungalows. As I said before, with only a 25 luxury Villa's and Bungalows, it's indeed 'Boutique' and a quiet getaway.

Zazen restaurant with 'Le Salon de Ti' on the second floor

Near the beach you can find the 'heart' of the resort, the restaurant area, with upstairs 'Le Salon de Ti' for an afternoon high tea or to enjoy the Dilmah Tea Bar with a choice of 23 hand-picked fine tea varieties but also a whole new range of amazing tea-based cocktails. Dilmah is a world renowned tea brand from Sri Lanka.

Zazen Restaurant is famous throughout Samui island for its deep, romantic atmosphere and delectable East Meets West cuisine from master chef, Matthias. A dinner review will follow soon.

In this area you can also find the 'Rouge Lounge & Bar' with a view over the ocean and the beach for pre and post dinner drinks with a huge selection of 30 wines by the glass and an extensive wine list numbering over three hundred wines, on display in a freshly created glass cellar and cocktails from a range including exclusive surprises and many specialties.

The Wine cellar of Zazen Boutique Resort & Spa in Bophud is located under ground with the ceiling fo the cellar made out of glass, which gives you the opportunity to look into the cellar from above. The cellar holds 900 bottles of wine with another 200 bottles of white wine and rosés being kept in fridges. For more interesting facts about wine tastings, their range of corkscrews, the wine list and more, please follow this link.

If you're a cigar aficionado. there's also a humidor which offers one of the biggest selections of cigars on the island with over 60 different cigars ranging from Cubans over Dominicans to Honduran fine quality cigars, well stored and taken care of.

Thai cooking classes can also be followed here and are a lot of fun with a very practical learning curve!

Something that also caught our eye, is another small detail that makes a stay here so enjoyable is the grooming and friendliness of the staff. All the female staff was absolutely taken with our 2 year old daughter, which was a pleasure to experience.

Le Spa Zen, the entrance

Alex and Ti also invited us to a Thai massage in their 'Le Spa Zen' and I love a good Thai massage and the masseuses at 'La Spa Zen' definitely know how to to give you a proper and relaxing Thai massage. You have the choice of eleven different traditional massages and treatments, five different body scrubs, four different body wraps, four different facials and eight different hand and foot care treatments. This alone can keep you busy for the duration of your stay.

Before the massage you are asked to fill out a short questionnaire that will help the masseuses to give you a massage or treatment the way you like and prefer it, light, medium or strong but it also inquires about any special preferences or body parts that need extra attention. Our massage was excellent and an hour flew by, it could have gone on for another hour at least! Right now, once this post has been completed, me and my wife are actually off for another Thai massage and one more hour of pure relaxation. 'Le Spa Zen' is a very important part of the resort and it's concept and once here, you better not miss out on one of their treatments! Check out the menu here.

Part of the breakfast buffet

We had dinner last night at the restaurant and it was delicious. A write up will follow soon and this morning we were back in the restaurant for breakfast. Still full from yesterday's dinner, it was hard to choose from all the inviting breakfast offerings. The Zazen  breakfast buffet ranks easily among my top breakfasts I had the privilege of enjoying so far. As already mentioned before, more eye for detail and small surprises make me already look forward to tomorrow morning. How about dried dates, figs, cranberries and apricots, walnuts, almonds and pumpkin and sunflower seeds, home made rye bread, sparkling wine, a wide range of eggs in almost any style you wish, Asian food options, Belgian waffles, Parma ham and Emmental cheese and yogurt with various different cereals, home made jams. The list goes on. Simply delicious and very enjoyable and tasty.

The beach front early in the monring

As you can see, we're having a very hard time indeed! It's time to get ready for another Thai massage treatment. It's a dirty job but somebody's gotta do it and I am volunteering for this one!

By far Zazen Boutique Resort & Spa in Bophud is the best family-run boutique resort on the island and we can highly and warmly recommend it.

Please check the links below to book your own stay at Zazen Boutique Resort & Spa in Bophud;

Book Zazen Boutique Resort & Spa in Bophud with Agoda

Book Zazen Boutique Resort & Spa in Bophud with Hotels Combined

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Camille