TripsThailand.com BANYAN TREE LAGUNA PHUKET

No tree is more revered in Asia than the Banyan whose roots extend deep into the culture, history and legends of the Orient. Generations of travellers have sought shade and rest under its cooling canopy of heart-shaped leaves. The Lord Buddha received his enlightenment as he sat beneath a Bo tree, a type of Banyan. Now this mystical tree has inspired the name of a remarkable new holiday haven — Banyan Tree Laguna Phuket a luxury spa resort.

Banyan Tree Laguna Phuket is located on Bang Tao bay on the north-western coast of Phuket Island in Asia's first integrated resort complex, Laguna Phuket. It is designed to provide guests with an elegant and sensuous environment in which to rejuvenate and relax. The resort calls it the "Banyan Tree Experience", designed to reflect everything the tree stands for in Asia, not simply the name. Guests will find the same peace and tranquillity as did the travellers of old while enjoying modern five-star luxury.

Opened in September 1994, the resort offers 98 luxuriously appointed villas surrounded by lush tropical gardens and Asian water courts. Fifty-two Garden Villas offer guests their own secluded haven, of 170 square metres. The split level living and king-size bedroom area creates a hedonistic Thai ambience in which guests may luxuriate.

The bathroom has an open-air sunken bath as its main feature. The height of luxury are the 46 Pool Villas! With a total area of 270 square metres, these Villas offer all the facilities of a Garden Villa with their own 9x3 metre pool in the walled secluded garden. In addition there is a Thai sala for relaxing and dining. Amenity standards include a video player and CD player. Tapes and discs are available from the Resort Hosts in the Library.

If you can persuade yourself to venture out, the Banyan Tree Spa offers relaxing and rejuvenating massages and body treatments in a tropical garden environment. The spa offers sanctuary, the essential key to vibrant health and beauty based on a unique blending of ancient Eastern healing and relaxation techniques with the best of European rejuvenation therapies. The philosophy is to help guests feel reinvigorated and relaxed. Six types of massage including Indonesian, Swedish & Lomi-Lomi, facials, body treatments and hair care are available.

Other body-pampering luxuries include saunas, steam rooms, Jacuzzis, loofer scrubs and aromatherapy. For those feeling the pressures of modern living, there are even stress management courses to steady the nerves and bring down pulse rates. Sports and water sports are another major feature. Facilities include an 18-hole championship golf course, tennis courts, windsurfing, scuba diving and sailing.

Sumptuous meals served at the resort's five restaurants cater to a variety of tastes. The Watercourt offers innovative Asian cuisine in a romantic, intimate setting. Saffron has a selection of the most delightful curries in Asia for dinner, while the Banyan Cafe is an informal open dining restaurant overlooking the golf course and providing international and Asian dishes. The Spa Lounge tempts health-conscious diners with a quality, well-balanced menu. The Thai Sala presents fine Thai dishes beneath a canopy of stars.

Banyan Tree Laguna Phuket is also the only resort in Phuket to offer custom-made luxury vans at guests' disposal. Each van has been personalized for the exclusive resort and fitted with leather sofa and armchair, bar service and music system. Finished with a colourful paintwork of a Banyan tree, the service allows the resort's guests to travel in luxury, while enjoying a drink and listening to their favourite music.

The Banyan Tree Laguna Phuket luxury spa resort is part of a new international chain of resort hotels owned by Thai Wah Resorts Ltd, the hotel investment arm of the Wah Chang Group and operated by Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts. Other properties are situated in the Maldives and on the islands of Bin tan and Bali in Indonesia.