Mr & Mrs Smith Villa Mahabhirom

Sugar palms and hanging orchids line the black-tiled pool and bamboo groves of Villa Mahabhirom, a village complex of traditional, teak-built Thai abodes, each raised on stilts and filled with eclectic antique art. Each two-storey villa has an airy, glass-fronted ground floor and a cosy, wood-floored upstairs, with bathrooms dressed in indulgent Italian marble. And if you think the hotel’s name is quite a mouthful, wait until you taste the restaurant’s aromatic curries, catfish salads and punchy prawn pad thai, all cooked from handed-down homestyle recipes.