Hotel Review: Hyatt Regency Hua Hin

I was a hectic time in Bangkok and now came the time to relax.  Hua Hin has a 5 mile long beach about a 3 hour drive south of Bangkok located on the Gulf of Thailand.  It was discovered in the 1920's by King Rama VII and today houses the official royal residence of the sitting King.  Our stay here would be for 3 nights with the Hyatt Regency Hua Hin, a Category 4 property.  This 5 star 204 room hotel located on 12 beachfront acres was meticulously landscaped and private.  In one word the property was magnificent.  Upon check-in were were ushered to the Regency Club check-in desk and provided a beautiful room.  Everything here spoke of lush gardens and greenery.  Once we arrived at our room we found a great bottle of wine, a decadent chocolate cake and some local fruits as our welcoming gift.

The very unassuming entrance below does not do justice to what is to come.

What you see upon entering the entrance pavilion

Regency Club pavilion and check in

Entrance to the Barai suites and McFarland House via the guarded beach

View of the property from the beach

Tranquility pool - one of 3 pools on the property

Entrance to the suites

Beach view from Regency Club breakfast area

Entrance to the spa.  

Spa entrance from the parking lot.

Bathroom in a Regency Club room

Standard Regency club room with balcony

Breakfast area for Regency Club members.  Breakfast eggs made to order, selections included both Western and Asian entrees

The bridge signified the entrance to the Regency Club section of the property, there was a sign posted asking that only Regency Club guests enter

"Inside" breakfast seating although there were no walls, cocktails were also served here

This pool was for Regency Club quests only although were were free to use any of the other pools on the property.  The separation of guests made for a very tranquil stay.

Lazy river pool

Part of main pool

One of several bridges on the property.  This one happened to go over a section of the lazy river.

Part of this pool had a sandy graded entrance to the water which made it popular for parents with small children

View of Hua Hin beach looking south.  The tide was out.

View of beach looking North.  Vendors did hawk local goods and beach services like horseback riding, jet skiing, parasailing etc. but the Hyatt property was guarded and they could not enter.  If you wished to buy something you negotiated from the wall of the property.  Vendors were prohibited from entering.

One of several water falls that flanked the lazy river.  The top of the water structure contained a jacuzzi.

The Regency club members had their own clubhouse, pool, beach access and the sense of privacy achieved by this defined separation which made the stay all that more relaxing.  Rooms were large, clean and comfortable. Breakfast, afternoon ice cream and evening cocktail hour were inclusive of the Regency club membership.  Our room reservation came with a buy one get one spa treatment at the world class Barai spa.  We took advantage of the offer and booked traditional Thai massages.  I make it a point to have massages on vacations and usually stick with the resort speciality.  Thai massages involve the masseuse actually mounting the massage table with the client and the manipulating the body during the massage which can become quite painful.  The facilities within the spa were phenomenal, like nothing I have ever seen.  No photographs were allowed so make sure you click on the link above highlighting the Barai spa to see parts of the interior we had the chance to experience. we took in a steam bath before our massage and some tea.  Obviously, some fang shui was involved in the design.  It was definitely a mind, body spirit adventure.  The focus was on the elements of water, earth, air, and fire.
There was no need to leave the resort, but should the desire strike, there are at least 9 world class golf courses nearby along with several National parks for whatever adventure you'd like to persue.  While the Regency Club had their own pool, there was a much larger pool attached to a lazy river flanked by waterfalls and a pretty cool water slide that even as an adult was worth a spin.

                                                      

A shuttle would transport you to town where the was an excellent night market with some of the freshest most amazing seafood I have ever eaten could  be found.   I really can't complain about anything at this facility, we actually considered rearranging the remainder of the trip to continue on at this property, it was that wonderful. The staff did everything they could to accommodate our request including personally driving us to the bus station and acting as translator so we could buy our tickets for transportation to Phuket.  The Hyatt Regency Hua Hin was definitely the highlight of our two week stay.