The Sukhothai is a magnificent example of everything that is best about Thai luxury hotels - interesting and arresting architecture, understated elegance, comfort and luxury. These top Thai resorts have to be experienced to be believed. Everything is so easy on the eye, backside, palette and ear that even the most stressed guests will relax.
The hotel is namedafter the Sukhothai dynasty, which preceded the Ayudhaya dynasty, which preceded today's Rama dynasty. The Sukhothai is regarded by many Thais as a utopian period where the arts flourished and the monarchs were monks rather than Gods (most kings spent a lengthy period before ascending the throne in the orange robe). Click here for more on the Sukhothai period of Thai history.
The architecture and artwork of the Sukhothai hotel strongly reflects this period of Thai history. The stone friezes in the lobby and in every bedroom may be reproduction, but they don't look it, and most people will appreciate the inspiration and the quality of the cracftsmanship that went into the originals.
The Sukhothai showcases some particularly imaginative designs features, like the collonade of columns leading from the lobby to the pool area. Each column is faced in a silk fabric which is brown when viewed from directly in front and green when viewed from an angle. As you walk along the collonade it appears that the columns change colour as you walk past them, from green to brown and then back to green again.
If the antiquated feel evoked by all the classical statuary makes you wonder whether you will like a hotel which sounds more like a museum than a place to have no fun, then be reassured, as there are contemporary touches that bring the design bang up to date and rescue the hotel mfrom feeling stuffy and old-fashioned. An example of such a contemporary piece is the striking modern staue, modelled out of luminous red ceramics and representing a bamboo grove, that fits surprisingly well in with the ancient-inspired decor style with which it is surrounded.
Even the wide and well-lit corridors in this art-gallery impersonating hotel are lovely - natural light slants across them, admitted by large wooden grills and softly immulanting the silk wallpaper and making it glow in a pleasing way.
The hotel is in boring Sathorn zone, but thankfully is not too far by taxi from the hopping nightlife at Nana, and also from the main shopping zones. The location is a definite minus mark, but very few guests at this stunning hotel care.
Accommodation
Superior 38 sqm
These are rather too small to be recommended, as most people will prefer staying in a larger room in a less exalted establishment.
Deluxe 45 sqm
These sizable rooms are as classily decorated and furnished as the rest of the hotel. The light green stone frieze at the head of the bed is a highlight in these wooden-floored rooms, where the quality hardwood writing desk offers a comfortable place to catch up on email.
There is a surprising fault with this room type, which is that the sofa is not big enough for two poeple.
Deluxe Executive 76 sqm
The room decor mixes the very old and the ultra-modern to spell-binding effect. Burnished silk upholstery and subtle carpetting provide a great backdrop for inlaid woodwork and stone friezes from the Sukhothai period. The silk curtains have the same green/brown sheen to them used to such arresting effect in the lobby.
Everything from the huge sofa to the classy writing desk is in perfect taste, in a scene so harmonious that many guests spend unusual lengths of time in their rooms.
This is particularly true for honeymooners, for whom the bathroom provides an interesting romantic option - a bathtun surrounded on three sides by mirrored walls.
Deluxe Suite 76 sqm
Thesunits are the same as the Deluxe Executive units, with a wall separating the bedroom from the living room. For a couple the Deluxe Executive units work much better than these units.
For parents who want to put an extra bed into the living room, these are a possible choice, but not a recommended one, as the partition wall rather spoils the spacious feeling of these units.
Prices
The above rates are net per room per night and inclusive of service charge and breakfast for 2 people.
