When I was researching where to stay in Phuket for our current trip, I came across the Sunwing Kamala and I instantly knew I had found the perfect choice for us. It sounded like the most family friendly hotel I have come across since staying in the Falkensteiner Family Hotel in Croatia last September.

Not only are there 7 pools, a kids club and a host of other amenities for kids, but it is a hotel that specifically targets families. I have no idea why there aren’t more hotels that do this as it’s wondefufl to stay somewhere where basically everyone has kids. Everybody is so much more relaxed.

When I knew we were on to a total winner, however, was when I read about their “happy baby studios”. These sounded absolutely perfect for our first trip with our new baby and it sounded like exactly the type of hotel that I like to share about on here as it really did sound so perfect for families.

So did it live up to our expectations?

Click here to see the latest prices to stay at the Sunwing Kamala Beach.

Sunwing Kamala Beach Review

Sunwing Kamala Beach exceeded our expectations. It’s an absolutely fantastic resort for families.

From the moment we walked in the door we knew we had come to the right place. We were all given a welcome drink on arrival and there is even a kids area at reception with small bean bags and a TV playing kids shows.

When we hit our room, we were even more certain that we had found somewhere quite special.

Our room – the “Happy Baby Studio”

The Happy Baby Studio is amazing. They are set up perfectly for families with babies or toddlers and work well for preschoolers too.

For a start they are on the ground floor so it’s nice and easy to get in and out. They also have a private outdoor area complete with table and chairs, two lounge chairs and a clothes drying rack. They also have a gate to help keep kids contained. This was not just good for the kids, but meant we could sit outside when baby J was sleeping.

It only gets better inside. They have a king size bed and a huge couch that doubles up as two beds for kids. They also have a kitchenette area with a decent size fridge, microwave, sink and a whole lot of crockery, cutlery and glassware. They also have special kids’ crockery and cutlery. There is a good amount of cupboard space and drawers so we were able to unpack completely.

The bathroom has a shower and comes with a baby bath, stool and potty. There’s even a special nappy bin.

In the main room there was even more baby/toddler gear including a high chair, pram, cot, change mat, bouncer, bumbo and, Z’s favourite, a big mat with roads on it so he could play with his cars. There’s even kid sized gowns and a towel that kids can wear.

The amount of useful items is just so amazing that it simply does not even come close comparing to anywhere else we have even heard of. I had to take a photo of some of it…

There is also great attention to detail with things like padding on the corners of furniture. The cleaners even cleaned any used bottles we left out!

If you don’t want all the baby equipment then there are other room options too. All rooms have the same general set up with the king size bed and couches that can convert into beds. You can also have balconies or rooms that have direct pool access from their balcony (and these ones also come with a free mini bar on arrival). There are also family suites that come with an extra bedroom.

Pools, pools and, oh yeah, more pools

If there is one thing that I will never forget about this resort, it is all the pools. They seemed to be everywhere and there is 8 pools all up if you include the small toddler pool. The other 7 pools are all a very decent size and I think six of the seven had a beach entry – meaning they work very well with very young kids.

We made it a challenge to play in all of them so I can assure you they are all awesome! Three of them also have decent sized water slides and these are fun too. Thrilling enough that kids up to about twelve seemed to love them but not too scary for my younger kids.

There is also a pool bar at one of the pools. It serves delicious drinks both alcoholic and non alcoholic. If you want to be even more active, there’s a volleyball net set up in one pool and basketball goals in another.

Kids club

There is a great kids club. It’s a lovely place with activities and friendly staff that seem to genuinely love playing with the kids. The downside is that they state that they don’t take responsibilty for the kids. You are allowed to leave them and it is well supervised, but since they won’t ensure that your kids stay put, we didn’t feel safe doing so.

We seemed to be alone with worrying about this though. We spent a lot of time there and many people seemed to leave their kids without a worry. It is also possible to hire a babysitter and they can spend time with them at the kids club so that you don’t have to worry.

The kids absolutely loved it and any moment we weren’t in a pool, they wanted to be there. There are regularly scheduled activities, most of which are free with the occasional paid one if it’s something special. For example, we paid 150 baht so the kids could paint ceramic statues.

Massages

Oen of the many things I loved about the Sunwing Kamala Beach is the fact that there was not just one, but two massage parlours and the prices were very reasonable. In fact, I am not sure I have ever seen one of these services at a hotel cost the same as what it does down the street, but the prices at the Sunwing were the same.

Because I want to make sure I only recommend things that are fabulous, I was kind enough to try out the massages for myself. It was fabulous! Especially having one by the beach with the sound of the waves. I do warn you, however, that if you decide to partake in this activity that you wear bathers! My clothes were somehow whipped off within a minute and I hadn’t thought to wear mine!! 😀

There were also many kids having massages, having their nails done and getting braids (at the one by the pool, not the one by the beach where I ended up nearly naked thankfully!) so it’s a great opportunity to introduce your kids to these experiences.

Restaurants

We tried both the restaurants at the Sunwing Kamala Beach and there is room service as well. It is all reasonably priced, similar to surrounding options, and in fact it was cheaper for us since the kids ate free. One restuarant is by the beach (Fino) and other by the pool (La Tasca).

The food at both the restuarants is fabulous. It’s the best food I had while on this trip. There are a lot of Thai options as well as a lot of international options. One time I had a mexican choice which was an interesting Mexican/Thai fusion which was just delicious.

What I also loved about the restaurants is that kids eat free with a paying adult. There is a kids menu to pick from and I was so thankful that it didn’t suffer from the same fate as most kids menus the world over – it actually had local food on it and was not all fried choices.

I so often gripe when we are both travelling and at home in Australia about how many kids’ menus are just full of crappy fried food. Our kids love eating different types of food and I find it ridiculous how little this preference is catered to on menus unless we want to buy adult servings. This is definitely not the case at the Sunwing. Our kids were able to order Thai choices on the free kids menu and they also offer child servings of choices on their main menu for half price. In peak season, they also have a childrens buffet which is free.

We ate the buffet breakfast every morning which is good too.

Other facilties

There are also many other facilities at the hotel. There is a self service laundry as well as a laundry service. There are also places nearby which will wash your clothes and charge by the kilo.

There is a medical clinic, shop with all essentials, mini soccer field, playground and a gym next to the kids club so you can work out while your kids play. There’s table tennis tables and pool tables.

There’s also an activity schedule for both kids and adults. I liked how the kids were included with everything. For example, the water aerobics class had plenty of babies as well. I did a cocktail class which was fun with some great benefits 😉

Location

The location of the Sunwing Kamala Beach could not be better if you want to stay in Kamala. It’s right on the beach and probably in the most central location of any in Kamala. Within minutes we could walk to the main strip. There is a public playground and market stalls next door and the beach around is lined with restaurants and massage places. Many of the restaurants actually had big toys out the front which made it super easy for us to eat out with our kids. It’s a very kid friendly location, and we really loved Kamala.

On Friday nights, there is meant to be a big market on the street side of the resort and we also saw a market there on other nights too. Phuket Fantasea is about a ten minute walk away.

Our verdict

We are massive fans of this resort. So much so that we have gone from thinking we would spend a school holidays at home next September to planning to come back here. We so rarely visit a place twice that I think that illustrates really well how much we think of this resort and staying in Kamala in general. It suited our needs and wants so perfectly and I think that we will appreciate all the excellent facilities here even more next year when baby J becomes the most difficult age to travel with – a one year old! The older kids are also huge fans.

It really is a combination of everything that makes for a very enjoyable family vacation. The happy baby studio is just perfect, the food is great, there’s fabulous, cheap massages and there is so much to keep our older kids happy (4 and 6 when we visited). We will definitely be back!

Find more information on their website or click here to see the latest prices.

You can also read our full guide to visiting Phuket with kids including our top 20 attractions.

Disclaimer: We were guests of the Sunwing Kamala Beach. As usual, all views are my own.

Tags:  Accommodation Thailand Travel Blog