Casually framing Choeng Mon Beach just a few steps from the shore, Kimpton Kitalay Samui is a timeless new emblem for the island’s tropical charm, transforming the simplicity of times gone by into a distinctly fresh and modern experience, where the pace is a little slower and the attitude a little bolder. It’s a village-like island enclave overlaid with serenity and adventure, where beautifully stripped-back exteriors give way to the unmistakable air of a newly reinhabited settlement, alive with curiosity and intrigue. It’s a place where perfect strangers run into each other before pausing for chatter, meandering through the uncharted possibilities. Perfectly set among beautifully double-tiered, stilt-suspended platforms that hint at a thriving fishing community, Kimpton Samui brings out the romance of a village intimately connected to the sea. Here, an easy sense of veranda living presides as guests return to an analogue pace of life, coming and going as they please, at once together and apart. Once indoors, the immediate base note of rustic sophistication gives way to a stronger sense of pattern and weave – especially pronounced within the 21 Villas, 13 of which sit directly on the beach - where hints of a nautical personality slowly reveal themselves. In the social spaces and throughout the rooms, rich touches of rusty orange and ocean hues punctuate an earthy palette, while an elegant whimsy comes through the handcrafted, Thai-accented styling.