Review of Six Senses and Evason Hua Hin, by John Borthwick

The gate sign says 'The Evasons', plural. You head to the Six Senses and Evason Hua Hin, as opposed to its neighbour, the 'ordinary' Evason Resort (as if any Evason could be called ordinary). Seclusion and space seem to have been the marching orders for this luxury hotel's architects, landscapers and designers. It's a world of its own in here.

Eventually, you might poke your head outside and take the short walk to the beach or head to this luxury hotel's Six Senses Earth Spa, a cluster of beehive domed, ochre-walled treatment rooms. Spas are proliferating at such rate that soon we might need to re-badge Planet Earth as Planet Spa. With ever increasing competition, top spas are having to deliver better treatments than ever, while striving to differentiate themselves from their "sounds-similar" competition. This hotel has an advantage, being old hands, so to speak, in the luxury spa business with their long established, in-house Six Senses Spas.

The "laying on of hands" has long had spiritual connotations. So it's not surprising that the secular ritual of a spa massage can, at its best, take you to other, ineffable places. This luxury hotel's Six Senses Earth Spa enhances that possibility. Its domed massage pavilions resemble a Native American pueblo floating amid lotus ponds. Once within your silent, tranquil dome, the ritual is familiar: nominate the massage you want and the pressure (go for "strong"), then surrender to the moment and your masseuse's hands. Where you'll go depends on where you're at, as they say.

Among the many "pluses" here is the skilled and sensitive treatment. In the right hands, the experience here can be almost transcendental. Then, too soon (no matter how long a good treatment is, it always ends too soon), you gently return to Planet Earth. Of the numerous treatments available, the top-of-the-line offering is the Ultimate Experience Spa Package, which features six nights in one of this luxury hotel's Pool Villas with breakfasts, plus Bangkok airport transfers. Its spa treatments include scalp massage, facial, manicure, pedicure, holistic massage, herbal body glow, milk bath, foot acupressure, Thai massage and more. All for 63,860 baht per person, twin share. Or, there's the more affordable three-night Rejuvenation Spa Package.

The pale sandstone and pavilions of the reception-restaurant areas at this luxury hotel give way to a woodbrick-paved avenue off which the villas - single-storied and double - are hidden. Once within your compound's adobe walls you never really need to re-emerge. It's all in there. A Pool Villa Suite at this luxury hotel, for instance, has an 11-metre swimming pool with shade sala and sunken tub; two self-contained, fully separate rooms (for one or two couples, or for parents and kids) with two of everything; and 345 sq metres of compound space. However, do beware of the slippery-when-wet outdoor stone floor. Somewhere there is a butler on call; as are your meals, should you wish to do the Full Garbo recluse thing.