The Best New Openings in Thailand, From Buzzy Bangkok Restaurants to Koh Samui Resorts

The Land of Smiles is once again beaming: After two years of border closures, lockdowns, and COVID flare-ups, Thailand's government recently announced that it will finally make visiting (almost) as frictionless as it was before the pandemic: As of May 1, fully vaccinated Americans are no longer required to test nor quarantine upon arrival, and only need an approved Thailand Pass (which requires a COVID-19 Vaccination Certificate and proof of an insurance policy covering at least $10,000) to enter the country. 

And luckily, the pandemic hasn't brought all development to a standstill: From a wellness retreat on an island in Bangkok's Chao Phraya River to grassroots creative hubs that blossomed in the far south, the past two years have seen dozens of exciting new projects pop up all around the country. Below, the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and things to do in Thailand—from Bangkok and Chiang Mai, to beaches in the south—to bookmark for your next visit.

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Bangkok

Don't make a beeline for the beach after touching down in Bangkok: With tourist droves still a thing of the pre-pandemic past, there has never been a better time to stick around the capital for a few days.

Last years' buzziest hotel openings were the Capella Bangkok and Four Seasons Bangkok, which share a marble-walled estate along the Chao Phraya River. Capella's trump card are its riverside villas—the first of their kind in the city—that open to private plunge pools in a lounge-y garden right on the waterside. Next door, the Four Seasons' seven bars and restaurants are worth hitting up even if you're not spending the night. Highlights include the real-deal Cantonese dim sum at Yu Ting Yuan, and drinks at Argentina-inspired BKK Social Club that taste as if they've come straight out of Buenos Aires.

To shake off those pandemic-induced jitters, RAKxa offers plenty of remedies. At this next-gen wellness retreat on a jungle-clad island just outside Bangkok's city limits, you can hop between cryotherapy booths, crystal healing sessions, vitamin-packed IV-drips, and traditional Thai therapies (Tok Sen hammer massages, and medicinal herb-burning treatments) performed by a doctor whose ancestors practiced at the court of King Rama II.

This June, the city's already star-studded hotel lineup will shimmer even brighter with the arrival of The Standard, Bangkok Mahanakhon, which will turn the top floors of the landmark Mahanakhon tower into a boldly patterned hideaway spearheaded by Spanish artist Jamie Hayon. It comes hot on the heels of the brand's Thailand debut three hours south, where The Standard, Hua Hin (a Hot List 2022 winner) channels Miami-meets-Hollywood vibes as a sunshine-yellow beachside retreat.

After more space? Splurge on the four-bedroom Siri Sala for full access to a gorgeous riverside villa just a short ferry-hop from the Grand Palace. Other perks include a private chef, a 65-foot saltwater pool, and a guided cruise around the khlongs (canals) of Bangkok Noi.

The latter won't beat the three-day journey on board the new Loy Pela Song river cruise, though. This jewel-box of a boat takes you past frozen-in-time villages and candy-colored palaces on the way to Ayutthaya, Thailand's temple-studded former capital. On-land excursions include tuk-tuk tours around local markets and monasteries, but the four lofty staterooms, open wine bar, and on-board menus curated by hot-shot chef Thitid Tassanakajohn make staying on board just as alluring.

On the food front, Chinatown and its surrounding districts are the place to be. This cacophonous corner of town was already buzzing before the pandemic, but a slew of new restaurants have further upped its cool quotient. Among them is Aksorn, a snug rooftop spot by Australian chef David Thompson, who uses his mid-century cookbook collection as inspiration for family-style tasting menus of curries, Thai salads, and stir-fries. At the dimly lit Small Dinner Club down the street, Melbourne-trained chef Sareen Rojanamatin cooks, in his words, “Thai cuisine [that is] pulled apart, questioned, and reimagined.” It translates into 10- to 12-course menus of unconventional combinations and cooking techniques (think horse mackerel with watermelon and black sesame, or dry-aged duck with banana) served to only 12 diners per night. Over at Potong, housed in a 120-year-old apothecary down a narrow alley off Chinatown's main drag, chef Pichaya Utharntharm draws on the flavors of her Thai-Chinese upbringing and presents contemporary riffs on Chinatown staples such as Peking duck and oyster omelets. The checkerboard-patterned tea parlor-slash-concept store Citizen Tea Canteen of Nowhere finds inspiration in the same streets and translates the scents and flavors of Chinatown into unique cha yen (Thai milk tea) blends.

Noteworthy newcomers elsewhere around town include JHOL, a fine Indian restaurant that zeroes in on the flavors of the country's coastal regions; North, which draws inspiration from Northern Thailand's Lanna cuisine; Bauhaus-y comfort food spot Chim Chim; and Aromkwan, a meat-centric smokery where Thai, Malay, and Indian flavors meet and dinners finish with guitar serenades by chef-owner Vishanu Prempuk.

Chiang Mai

Thailand's northern capital has fully embraced its position as the country's crafts hub with the May 2021 opening of Kalm Village, a cluster of charcoal-black, Thai-inspired houses in Chiang Mai's moated Old Town. With several boutiques selling everything from local ceramics to Indonesian batik-printed shirts, a textile library, gallery space, and a rotating roster of talks, workshops, and exhibitions, Kalm has already grown into the craft-centric community space the city was still missing.

With the absence of tourists, it has been quiet on the hotel front, and the just-opened Meliá Chiang Mai is one of the few noteworthy arrivals since the pandemic started. Taking over a 22-floor tower in the heart of the city, the third Thai property from the Spanish hotel brand delivers two restaurants, a fully kitted-out spa, and the city's highest rooftop bar with brilliant views of the Northern Thai mountaintops. For a more low-key stay, consider Wood and Mountain Cabin: This straight-lined hillside hideaway in the rural Mae Rim district is built from shou-sugi ban-burned wood and furnished with hand-crafted fabrics and furniture by the owners' own design studio.

New cafes and restaurants have come and gone like they always have. Clued-in locals rave about Maadae Slow Fish Kitchen, a slow-food-centric spot in the Thapae East arts venue where young-gun chef Yaowadee Chukong charcoal-grills, cures, and curries sustainably caught seafood from Thailand's south. Coffee aficionados should stop by the new Akha Ama Phra Singh, where beans from local farms end up in slow-bar coffees and bags to brew your own at home.

Phuket and nearby beaches

Picking a five-star stay on Thailand's largest island has never been easy (there are simply too many options), and with the arrival of V Villas Phuket, that choice is even harder to make. Among this hotel's many calling cards are private infinity pools at each of the 19 multi-bedroomed villas, switched-on butler service, and a chic sky bar with 360-degree views over the emerald-green waves of Ao Yon Bay. Further north, the Banyan Tree group has expanded its multi-hotel hub on Bangtao Beach with Banyan Tree's Veya, an all-villa spa resort where sleep rituals, mindfulness workshops, and a plant-forward Asian-Mediterranean restaurant help you reach a state of post-pandemic bliss.

In other news, day trips to Maya Bay, which closed in 2018 due to overtourism, are once again possible. The pandemic lull has given the limestone-flanked bay (made famous by Leonardo DiCaprio's smash-hit movie The Beach) time to restore, and the national park has imposed a visitor cap to keep the beach clear from coral-trampling crowds. Among the new outfits offering all-out island-hopping trips is the new 137 Pillars Spirit, which can also organize jaunty overnights on board.

Phuket's new headline-grabbing food hotspot is Jampa, a sibling to the island's only Michelin star holder PRU at the Trisara resort. At this ambitious farm-to-table restaurant in the heart of Tri Vananda wellness community (which is slated to open in 2023), Dutch chef Rick Dingen uses produce from his adjoining organic garden and small-scale farms and fisheries around the country for intricately plated concoctions of grilled beetroot and kaffir lime, or whole red mullet with young leek and green mango. Better yet: A strict zero-waste ethos. Dingen and his team use kitchen leftovers as farm compost and animal feed and source all their ingredients as sustainably as possible.

A 90-minute drive north, resort town Khao Lak has emerged as Thailand's de-facto surf hub. A handful of low-key stays (the Peranakan-inspired Hotel Gahn and The Place among them) welcome salt-haired beach bums for après surf fun, though families will find the new Avani+ Khao Lak more suitable: this oceanfront resort comes with a rock-climbing wall, a fitness center with all the bells and whistles, and the largest kids club in the region.

Southern Thailand

While developments on its island neighbors Koh Tao and Koh Phangan have been on a slow burn, the past two years have seen resorts on Koh Samui pop up like mushrooms. Just before Thailand closed its borders in 2020, Meliá Koh Samui debuted on Choeng Mon Beach and was soon followed by the Hyatt Regency Koh Samui, which brought along candy-striped swimming pools and a wide range of breezy oceanfront suites. The Centara Grand, a mainstay on Chaweng Beach, has re-emerged after a two-year makeover and now goes by Centara Reserve Samui. The resort now looks 20 years younger (courtesy of New York City-headquartered design firm AvroKO) and has been zhuzhed up with a toes-in-the-sand beach club, a terrazzo-clad wellness center, and a gorgeous gin bar serving more than 100 different labels. The island’s latest arrival is Kimpton Kitalay Samui, also on Choeng Mon Beach, whose design combines Thai teak and wickerwork with jolts of indigo and whose perks include loaner bicycles for jaunts around the island, access to multiple lagoon-like pools, and early-morning yoga classes.

On the Andaman Sea side, Banyan Tree Krabi took over one of the prettiest stretches of Krabi's Tubkaek Beach at the end of 2020. From its gold-accented lobby and its 72 suites and villas (each with their own private pool and Jacuzzi tub), views of Phang Nga Bay’s dramatic karst formations are bewitching, but there's more to love: The Rainforest vitality pool lounge comes with every type of aqua-fun you can imagine—steam rooms, ice fountains, and massage pools—and the funicular ride up to the hilltop Thai restaurant is worth it for the sunset drinks alone.

For a cultural hit, head down south to the seaside town of Songkhla, where the pandemic has expedited the transformation of its crumbling old quarter into Thailand's next creative hub. A southern outpost of the Thailand Creative & Design Center is set to open here later this year, while the clay-tiled tearoom and gallery space Titan and vinyl listening bar 22 Nakhonnok have already helped it turn into a rendezvous for Thailand's artsy set.