Kimpton Maa-Lai Bangkok 

Contemporary Thai flair

With its striking but unpretentious design, excellent food scene and welcoming atmosphere, this boutique-style hotel ticks all the boxes.

This first outing in South-East Asia for the California-based Kimpton brand has been abuzz since it opened thanks to everything from its creative, art-filled and nature-influenced contemporary design to the perfectly pitched culinary offering. Its permanently bustling bars and restaurants include a rooftop eyrie for chilled-out barbecues and a pet-friendly ground-floor café with an enticingly globetrotting menu. There’s a subtle health-conscious appeal to the food, with local ingredients to the fore, though if you overindulge, you can work it off with a personalised workout in the colourful gym, a few lengths in the infinity pool or a brisk pedal around one of the city’s largest parks on a hotel bicycle. A cocoon of a spa, as beautifully designed as the rest, offers therapies designed to heal body, mind and soul: the signature customisable Time Stops, for instance, is 200 minutes of massage, physical activity and nutrition. The hotel wins for its location, too: in one of the Thai capital’s smartest areas, with embassies and gleaming offices for neighbours and the palm-studded expanse of Lumpini Park on the doorstep.

Why we love Kimpton Maa-Lai Bangkok

  • The interiors are cool without being cold thanks to the clever use of natural materials, indoor greenery and colourful modern artworks

  • You could eat here every day for a year and never get bored, whether you have a passion for salad bowls or prefer something from the grill

  • The award-winning spa is a wellness-boosting retreat from the urban bustle with an enticing menu of therapies for women and men

  • It is in a prestigious leafy neighbourhood just north of the sprawling Lumpini Park and is blessed with great public transport connections

5 stars
Nov - Apr
Bangkok
11½ hours
In the prestigious Lumpini district, north of the park of the same name, close to various metro and Skytrain stations
Approx. 35 minutes’ transfer from Bangkok International Airport
Luxury

Facilities

  • Restaurants & bars
  • Spas & wellness
  • Activities
  • Diving & Watersports
  • Sustainability

You can eat your way around the world, from Venetian-style tapas to North African tagines, courtesy of the hotel’s imaginative dining options and their customer-friendly opening times.

CRAFT
Take a table on the terrace for speciality coffees, craft cocktails and anything from all-day breakfast options to poke bowls and Waygu burgers.

Ms Jigger
The hotel’s lounge-styled cocktail bar and restaurant serves stylish Italian dishes at lunch and dinner, while grazers won’t be able to resist the menu of cicchetti, the perfect accompaniment to a signature ‘narrative’ cocktail.

Stock Room
Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, this casual venue has six different food stations covering the ground from chorizo burgers to Indian curries and an equally all-encompassing drinks list.

Bar Yard
The award-winning rooftop bar is like a cross between a tiki bar and a backyard barbecue, with DJ sets in the evening. Come for craft beers and cocktails and stay for South American cooking served al fresco.

Maa-Lai Library
Open from Wednesday to Sunday, this laidback 30th-floor venue provides a modern bookish setting for immaculately presented and prepared afternoon set teas.

With far-reaching views from the terrace and dainty nibbles served in wooden ‘books’, tea at the Maa-Lai Library is an elevated experience in more ways than one.

Inspired by nearby Lumpini Park, Amaranth Spa’s restful interior of natural neutrals and soft greens is the perfect setting for a range of treatments using organic ingredients. Enjoy muscle-easing massages and signature therapies that combine ancient Asian techniques with the latest cosmetic discoveries.

The airy gym is well stocked with cardio and resistance machines, kettlebells and a punchbag, and there’s a programme of group classes such as yoga, Pilates, martial arts and Thai boxing. If you prefer to be outside, you can pick up a map of jogging and cycling trails through the park and a complimentary bicycle.

There's a shuttle to the Bangkok Transit System at Chit Lom and Mercury Ville Department Store or use one of the hotel's bikes to explore nearby Lumpini Park. At the hotel, you can learn the art of creating the perfect cocktail with a lesson from the resident mixologist.

There’s an indoor-outdoor infinity pool surrounded by greenery on a third-floor rooftop.

The Kimpton Group’s environmental policies embrace everything from minimising water use and using non-toxic cleaning products to sourcing as much as possible from local suppliers.

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