There is a moment, somewhere between the entrance and your tent, when the present tense loosens its grip. Something shifts. The movement of canvas fluttering gently in the breeze, the brass fittings catching the afternoon light in a place rendered in immaculate, hazy sepia, the low hum of cicadas tuning up for the evening: it is the set of a story from another era, a world of slow, soundtracking ceiling fans, letters written by hand, and expeditions that have not yet acquired an itinerary.
If you have watched Out of Africa with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford and found yourself coveting a certain vintage safari style, nostalgic for the golden age of travel, you are not alone. The romantic notion of this kind of adventure has held travellers in its grip for the better part of a century, and shows no sign of letting go.
In the wrong hands, it can feel trite, as if every luxury hotel PR deck from Botswana to Rajasthan has borrowed the same mood board. But when it’s pulled off with real conviction, it works.
Twinpalms Tented Camp, an adults-only retreat that opened in December 2023, is one of the most convincing attempts to pair modern comfort with old-world charm we’ve encountered, in actual Africa or, erm, out of it, borrowing the romance of the safari lodge but putting a distinctly Thai spin on things. It also marks the Twinpalms group’s first foray into the luxury tented-camp concept, and it exists because of one man’s obsession.
Olivier Gibaud has run Twinpalms as General Manager since the group’s Swedish founder Carl Langenskiöld opened the first property on Surin Beach in 2004. A trip to South Africa and India had left him with a specific preoccupation: luxury tented camps. During Covid, with nowhere to go and time to fill, he ordered a tent from Dutch design studio Escape Nomad and put it up in his garden near Phuket Town (sounds a bit like my Covid, but swap Phuket Town for Stockwell, and garden for living room, pretending it was Glastonbury). One tent became five. He named the project Aladdin Luxury Camp, handed it to his son Sebastian to run as a separate business, and it still operates today near Royal Phuket Marina.
But the idea didn’t stop there. Gibaud’s enthusiasm for the format eventually won over the Twinpalms group, which opened its first five tents on Bang Tao Beach in December 2023, and added a further 24 around a purpose-built lagoon shortly afterwards.
The Location
The first thing you notice once you’re through the gate is the stillness. Not the absence of noise, because the crickets see to that, a wall of sound so appropriate for the setting it almost feels piped in. Rather, it’s the absence of a particular noise that follows you around Phuket’s west coast: the low-grade drone of a place that has been packaged for consumption, the nondescript ‘tropical vibes’ playlist, both aural and aesthetic. The tented camp isn’t that.
Sitting pretty around a purpose-built lagoon, the camp occupies a strip just back from Bang Tao Beach, set apart from it in a way that most of Bang Tao’s west coast properties are not. Across from the site, livestock graze open land, a reminder that this part of Phuket still has a rural hinterland that the tourism boom has not entirely consumed.
The world outside feels considerably further away than it is. The beach itself is a two-minute walk from the lagoon tents, though nobody here expects you to walk. This is still five-star luxury after all, just dressed up a little differently. There is no neighbourhood to wander here, no street food strip a short walk away. The camp sits on Bang Tao Beach Road, which is functional rather than characterful, and guests without a scooter or taxi are largely dependent on the Twinpalms network for eating and drinking.
Given the quality of what that network offers, this is less of a limitation than it sounds. A buggy is on hand whenever you need it, shuttling guests between the tents and Twinpalm’s Catch Beach Club and Lazy Coconut a few minutes up the road. A separate shuttle connects all other Twinpalms properties, including Wagyu Steakhouse at the Twinpalms Surin and Shimmer at Twinpalms MountAzure.
A bit further out, Boat Avenue and Porto de Phuket are around three kilometres inland, with the best concentration of international restaurants in the area and a well-stocked supermarket. Surin, a smaller, more boutique stretch of sand with its own strong café and dining scene, is just over two kilometres south. That trusty shuttle will take you there if you get itchy feet.
Character & Style
But why would you, unless the mozzies have feasted on your ankles, of course? This is the kind of place you come to switch off, to digitally detox, to linger…
…but not to do any actual animal spotting, we should add. If you came expecting an actual safari, you’re in the wrong place. But you didn’t, did you? Because you did your due diligence and read this first. The most exotic wildlife you will encounter at Twinpalms Tented Camp is a handful of cows grazing across the road, the occasional soi dog sniffing around, some carp doing lazy laps of the lagoon, and a rotating cast of brightly coloured birds.
It is not safari, not remotely, but the sensibility is there, and it works in setting a tone. In the evening, the camp takes on a different character entirely. Sitting in the main lodge makes you feel weightless and timeless, especially out on the deck with a sundowner in hand, watching the day soften and the sky’s reflection settle on the water. You could be anywhere, at any time, in any century, the decorative silver pineapples on your table and the real thing in your cocktail the only clue you’re at 7.88° N latitude. Try plonking yourself here and guessing the decade without context; you’d struggle.
The tropical garden is still in its infancy, but there is enough lush planting to give the camp a real sense of seclusion, and the curling lagoon lends a stillness to the communal areas that the beach itself cannot. There’s a meditative quality to the whole setup that encourages you to breathe deeper, further reflected in the eco-sensibility of the operation. The tents have been designed to keep their environmental footprint minimal, and once the lease on the land expires it can be returned to nature far more easily than a concrete resort could manage. Build lightly, leave lightly.
Service is excellent in the particular way that only the very best hospitality is: things get done before you realise you need them, your tent turned down and your sundowner topped up, a buggy appearing without you signalling that you wanted one, all of it happening in the background.
The Tents
The camp is a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, increasingly something we look out for when choosing a hotel, a real marker of quality. Twenty-nine canvas tents are split between two distinct settings: five by the beach, and twenty-four arranged along a lagoon designed by Bangkok-based landscape architect Martin Palleros. Some tents come with private plunge pools, and there are two-bedroom configurations for groups.
The tents themselves were designed by Anneke van Waesberghe of Escape Nomad, the Dutch studio behind properties such as Indonesia’s Sandat Glamping Tents. Step inside and the canvas rises to a peaked canopy that gives the space a surprising sense of height, a breathability, while the wooden frame of the four-poster bed echoes that upward geometry.
The palette is restrained: muted neutrals, beige canvas walls, dark wood, white linen, polished concrete underfoot, fabric blinds that roll up completely to open the tent to the garden. Zebra-print cushions on the sofa at the foot of the bed are an obvious nod to the safari concept, pitched at exactly the right level of wink. Everything else is warm and unshowy. The effect is not minimalism so much as careful editing. It feels comforting to settle into a space that’s clearly had so much consideration.
The desk looks like it belongs in the study of someone who writes letters by hand: director’s chair, brass reading lamp, a decorative globe for good measure. Spin that thing to your heart’s content, playfully pretending to randomly choose your next destination (just us, then?). Despite the period-piece atmosphere, the modern conveniences we have become accustomed to all abound: air conditioning, rain showers, a Nespresso machine with the owner’s bespoke blend of coffee in the pods, complimentary Wi-Fi. Yes, there is Wi-Fi.
There is not, however, a television, and that absence is one of the best things about the place. Most hotel TVs the world over offer one English-language channel, and it’s the news, so you end up watching the world’s various catastrophes unfold from the comfort of your holiday, which rather defeats the point of being on one. Sometimes it’s better to have the option removed entirely. The Wi-Fi does mean you could, in theory, doomscroll from bed, but doing so in a luxury tent feels perverse. The building is gently encouraging you to put the phone down, and it’s a credit to the place that most guests are more than willing to take the hint and oblige.
Outside, a cushioned daybed swings beneath a covered terrace, and beyond it, the plunge pool. This, more than the bed or the sofa, is where the days actually happen. Guests drift from one to the other and back again, a book open on the daybed, a half-finished drink on the edge of the pool, the afternoon softening around them. The whole setup lets you move from bed to sofa to daybed to pool without ever feeling like you have left one continuous, cohesive space.
That indoor-outdoor fluidity is the thing the tents do best, and it is also, not coincidentally, very Scandi. Friluftsliv, literally ‘open-air life’, is the Nordic idea that being partially outdoors, consistently, is better for you than being either fully indoors or fully exposed. The tents are an architecture built around that idea.
Back inside, and the minibar menu card lists prices that suggest it is there for convenience rather than profit (two Singha clock in at a reasonable 130 baht, £3, for instance). The fridge itself is a thing of beauty, a retro trunk-style unit in cream with tan leather trim that looks as though it has just come off a 1930s expedition. It is one of those details that tells you the people who designed these tents were thinking about every object in the room, not just the big pieces. A subtle reminder that this is still luxury; crisps come in caviar or black truffle flavour, both the esteemed Torres brand.
The mosquito net was not strictly necessary during our stay, but we drew it anyway. There is something about being cocooned under a gauzy canopy that makes you sleep better, even safer. Twinpalms provides a beautifully scented citronella spray too, which is a nice touch. It’s an aroma that always brings a nostalgia for holidays in this part of the world, and I’ll now forever be reminded of staying in this handsome tent when I smell it.
After dark, a few more buildings in the surrounding area light up, and the thump of music from a neighbouring venue carries on the breeze. The tents on the lagoon side are well insulated by distance and planting, and the noise barely registers.
The beachfront tents offer something different, sitting closer to Catch Beach Club, which plays music from mid-morning until around midnight and tends toward the bass-heavy end of the spectrum. Earplugs are made available for light sleepers, and they are worth accepting. If peace and quiet is the priority, ask for a lagoon tent at the northern end of the camp. If the beach club scene and rolling into bed after a decent party is the draw, the beachfront tents put you close to the action, though be aware that the beach itself is a short walk through the Lazy Coconut café rather than directly in front of your tent.
As a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, certain energy-saving measures are in place, such as the air conditioning pausing when the doors are left open. Worth knowing if you like to throw the blinds up and let the garden in without running the AC at the same time.
Facilities & Spa
The camp’s wellness and fitness facilities are designed as intimate amenities rather than sprawling resort-style operations, in keeping with the scale and style of the place. A gym studio with gorgeous handcrafted NOHrD equipment (compact enough that one or two people is the realistic capacity), a four-seat sauna, a couple’s hot tub and an ice bath are all there for guests to use freely. Bikes are available for hire, and morning yoga is offered in the communal area.
The tropical pool, which overlooks the lagoon, is a relatively new addition. It arrived in July 2025, roughly eighteen months after the camp first opened, and was introduced so guests could swim without having to head to Catch Beach Club or The Lazy Coconut every time the mood struck. It’s not a swim-laps-at-dawn size, but it doesn’t need to be. A dip between spa treatment and sundowner, shaded by palms and with the shimmering water just beyond, is exactly the register the camp is pitching at.
On arrival you are handed a glass of fresh coconut water, and it is the best we’ve had in twenty years of drinking the stuff in Thailand. I asked for another. And then another. I then realised it was available on tap at the other side of the reception desk.
There was originally a dedicated spa tent on site, but demand for rooms was such that they converted it into another guest tent, and now the spa comes to you. This is actually the better arrangement. A massage in the privacy of your own tent, with the garden or beach just outside, beats navigating the grounds in a robe, and the post-massage drift off across the bed with nobody to disturb you makes it more restorative too.
The camp runs what it calls ‘daily moments’, small experiences slotted into the day’s rhythm. One afternoon it was a mango tasting. Thai mangoes are one of the reasons to come to this country in the first place, impossibly honeyed, buttery, so pleasurable they verge on the obscene. Nam dok mai at peak season, eaten off a plastic tray from a street cart for forty baht, is better than most desserts served in most Michelin restaurants. The one served at the tented camp, splayed open so each cube was perfectly bite-size, was genuinely the nicest mango I’ve ever eaten. Just look at that deep colour, and its juicy dappling!
Another of the daily moments is the chime hanging at five o’clock. You are given a small brass chime and a pen, write a wish on it, and hang it on a designated tree with the others. I wonder how many folk wish for another night here? We did ours by the lagoon with a cocktail, while a woman played traditional Thai music a few feet away and the sky changed colour over the grounds. The Romans called them tintinnabula and hung them for good fortune, which is more or less what the camp is doing here. A lovely thing, but boy do you realise your handwriting has got sloppy.
Guests get access to Catch Beach Club and The Lazy Coconut, with two passes offering a 50% discount on sun lounger reservations. Worth knowing that a day bed at Catch runs to around 1,500 baht per person at full rate, which is steep even by Phuket beach club standards. The 50% discount takes some of the sting out, but it’s still worth factoring in if you’re planning full beach days.
One small note on the in-tent beach bag: it looks like a complimentary gift, but it is in fact for sale at €65. Worth clocking before you unpack it.
Food & Drink
There is no restaurant on site, and this is by design. A small menu is available via the camp’s app, though food is not permitted inside the tents given the open canvas and the wildlife it would otherwise attract. You can eat at the main lodge, or have a table set up just outside your own.
The menu splits cleanly down the middle. On the Thai side, it’s a tight run of the classics: mango sticky rice, pad thai, khao soi, pad grapao. Nothing you haven’t seen on a hundred menus across the country, but executed with the kind of care that reminds you why these dishes earned their ubiquity in the first place. The khao soi is particularly worth ordering, rich without being cloying, and complex in its dry-spicing. On the Western side, the register is more club-sandwich-and-chips than fine dining: caesar salad, a cheeseburger, a margherita pizza, a roast chicken. Comfort food for when you do not want to think, and all the better for not trying to be anything else.
The main lodge has a bar, and is a lovely space to spend time in the evening, when a fire is lit, a musician plays traditional Thai instruments, and guests drift in for a drink and a game of chess under lamplight. The conversation is lively, dovetailing with the crickets, neither competing, both complementing.
If you’re keen to surrender the shade of the palms, then you’ll be pleased to hear that you’ll be well fed through the wider Twinpalms dining network. Breakfast is served at Catch Beach Club, a glamorous beachfront venue overlooking the ocean with a part-buffet, part-à-la-carte setup. It’s one hell of a view.
Catch takes on different guises throughout the day. “Start slow, stay for sunset, end up dancing” is their tagline, but that rather downplays the depth and breadth of the food on offer. Food spans the globe. Since you’re here, a Phuket rock lobster salad is a good shout – served with tzatziki, cherry tomatoes and a lemon sauce. The blue swimmer crab salad with mango and tobiko roe and asparagus sounds like an ambitious combination, but works well.
The Friday seafood barbecue is another proposition entirely, befitting of a beach club in the pursuit of being a decadent destination. A step up from the standard hotel buffet, and then some. Unlimited crabs and oysters, sushi rolled to order, an Australian ribeye carving station, a whole chicken rotisserie turning slowly in the corner. A pasta station dishing up made-to-order plates: squid-ink fettuccine, osso bucco, a slow-cooked beef ragù rich enough to stand up in dining rooms several rungs more formal than this one. Proper, grown-up cooking, served on a beach. It draws a crowd, and deservedly.
There is a fire show on buffet nights too, and before you roll your eyes and shield your eyebrows, this one is a cut above. Your standard beach-resort fire twirler typically performs a few competent spins with a flaming staff before retreating. Catch has other ideas. The choreography is tighter, the scale bigger, and the finale sees the Catch logo itself emblazoned in flame on the sand. It is the sort of thing that could feel naff and somehow doesn’t, carried through on the sheer conviction of it all.
Kalido, the group’s restaurant at the flagship Twinpalms Surin resort, is another option, along with Shimmer on Kamala Beach. A shuttle runs between all venues, though it isn’t strictly necessary as Catch and Lazy Coconut are a short walk along the sand.
Lazy Coconut is a real sand-between-your-toes type of place, the pick of the bunch. If you want to get straight to the beach with snacks and drinks, come here. We went for a grilled fish and a som tam platter, and it was generously spiced and then some. Thai spicy all the way, just as it should be. Do be warned that due to the open-air nature of the setup, it gets rather hot in the shacks. You’ll want to bring a portable fan to help beat the heat, or use what god gave you (the sea) for intermittent bouts of cooling off.
Ideal For…
With its lagoon stillness, beautifully realised tents and access to the wider Twinpalms network, the camp fills a gap for adults-only travellers who want the romance of canvas without the compromises that usually come with it. Whether you’re here for a few nights or a longer stay, it works as both a retreat and a base.
Anyone in need of a proper digital detox. The absence of a television, the gentle encouragement away from screens, and the sheer pull of the daybed, plunge pool & lagoon all conspire to get the phone out of your hand.
Romantics and honeymooners. Adults-only, candlelit, with in-tent massages, a plunge pool a few steps from the bed, a safari-style tent that feels lifted from another era, and a lagoon that turns gold at sundown. Few places on Phuket’s west coast handle romance like this.
Couples who disagree about holidays. One wants the beach club, the other wants silence. The camp splits the difference cleanly: lively Bang Tao is a few minutes away, the lagoon tents are a world apart. The best of both worlds.
Writers and readers. The director’s chair, the brass lamp, the daybed, the absence of a television: it’s a room that gently asks what you’re going to do with the day. Bring the manuscript, the sketchbook, the half-read stack.
It’s perhaps less suited to families with children (as it’s adults-only), to also those who want a full-service resort with a concierge, a kids’ club and multiple on-site restaurants, or light sleepers booking a beachfront tent unaware that Catch Beach Club will be part of the soundtrack until midnight.
Why Stay?
Despite its proximity to one of Phuket’s liveliest beach strips, there’s a stillness to Twinpalms Tented Camp that is genuinely hard to find on the island’s west coast. The tents are a feat of careful, considered design, the service is exceptional without being showy, and the Twinpalms network around it takes care of everything the camp deliberately does without. Come for the romance of canvas and brass; stay for the fact that it’s backed up by a group that knows how to run a hotel properly.
Tents at Twinpalms Tented Camp start with the Lagoon Tent – a 538 sq ft canvas with pool and garden views – from as little as £151 per night in low season, rising to over £600 per night in high season.
Address: 202 88, Choeng Thale, Thalang District, Phuket
Website: twinpalmshotelsresorts.com/tented-camp-phuket
If you are heading to Phuket and food is high on the agenda, our guide to where to eat in Phuket Old Town is well worth a read before you go.
