JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort & Spa

Travel 60km north of Phuket into Phang Nga province and you’ll arrive at JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort & Spa. Located right on a pristine golden sand beach, this gem on the south western coast of Thailand is a peaceful alternative to bustling Phuket. Surrounded by diverse natural beauty on all sides, including the azure waters of the Andaman Sea, coconut groves, granite mountains and tropical forests, choosing to stay here not only offers easy access to the sweeping beaches, but also to the diverse national parks in the area. JW Marriott Khao Lak boasts a wide variety of rooms, suites and villas to select from, many of which have direct access to the lagoon style pool, which is one of the longest in Southeast Asia and sits at the heart of this picturesque luxury resort. There are multiple restaurants and bars to choose from, a full programme of activities to keep you entertained, and stunning sunset views to marvel at after a relaxing day at the beach.

JW Marriott Khao Lak drone 1
JW Marriott Khao Lak pool

Our Deluxe Lagoon Pool Access room was elegant and spacious, with Thai design features throughout. We loved the bed because it was supremely comfortable, we loved the bath because it was big enough for two, and we loved the day bed as it allowed us to relax with views of the inviting pool and verdant gardens. But it was the signature pool access that we loved the most, there is something pretty special about being able to slide into the pool direct from the comfort of your own room. And what a pool it was, meandering 2.5km throughout the resort there was certainly plenty of exploring to do before heading back to the comfort of our room!

JW Marriott Khao Lak room 3
JW Marriott Khao Lak room 2

The Vegan Food

The expansive Waterfront restaurant is at the heart of all things culinary at JW Marriott Khao Lak. The all day dining restaurant is where we enjoyed breakfast on each day of our stay, and where we discovered a wide array of vegan options. Choosing to sit outside in the adult only area proved to be a great decision, as the main restaurant was super busy during the weekend when we visited. With vegetarian and vegan options clearly marked on the buffet and live stations, we knew we were in for a treat. We ordered oat milk lattes and ABC juices (apple/beetroot/carrot) to start and then moved on to explore the exciting options available. These included vegan waffles, scrambled tofu with veggies, and a perfect masala dosa that transported us from southern Thailand to southern India. Each and every one of these dishes was not only delicious, but was oh so simple to order. The egg station had scramble tofu as an option on the sign board, the waffle station have vegan waffles and the noodle station have vegan noodles. This is exactly how it should be, food equality for all guests and very easy for the staff team.

JW Khao Lak vegan waffles

As usual, we ate too much on our first visit (for research purposes of course) but we were still excited to return for our next vegan breakfast bonanza at JW Marriott Khao Lak. And return we did, only to be further impressed by the vegan options and the service from the kind and attentive team. Special thanks to Khun Jay C who looked after us during breakfast each day. We ate our way around the globe again, with vegan noodle soup with tofu and veggies, uttapam with channa and chutney, vegan pancakes, hummus, salads, pickles and flat breads for those Middle Eastern vibes, followed by a spicy and flavour packed Thai red curry with tofu and vegetables so we remembered exactly where we were! Breakfast at JW Marriott Khao Lak was everything we could have hoped for and more.

JW Khao Lak vegan noodle soup
JW Khao Lak vegan uttapam

The vegan friendly vibes continued during one of our lunches when we dined at Sala, there were vegetarian, vegan and plant based options on the menu, whilst the knowledgeable and friendly staff team were able to assist with any changes that were needed. We enjoyed beetroot and roasted carrot salad, guacamole and veggie pizza from the menu which were all 100% vegan, the pizza even had vegan mozzarella which was very exciting! We also ordered tacos which had non vegan tzatziki as one of the ingredients, but once swapped for the vegan chipotle mayo it was also fully vegan. All of the dishes were healthy, nutritious and delicious, making for the perfect plant based light lunch. Our favourite? Well, it’s a hard call but any pizza that has vegan cheese is a winner in our book, so despite everything being excellent we would have to choose the vegan pizza as our favourite option.

JW Khao Lak vegan salad
JW Khao Lak vegan pizza

Our evening at Olive commenced with the warmest of welcomes, followed by freshly baked focaccia, tomato sauce and roasted garlic which was all served to our table whilst we perused the drinks menu. An alcohol free mocktail and a chilled glass of Heineken Zero were our choices, and they turned out to be very good choices indeed. Our meal started with bruschetta and a delightful tasting and beautiful looking beetroot carpaccio. The finely sliced beetroot was topped with a root vegetable puree, creamed avocado, hummus and balsamic caviar. It was outstanding and the perfect way to commence our meal. Next up was a bowl of spaghetti arrabiata and pumpkin gnocchi, both were full of flavour and delicious. These were served at the same time as our wood-fired pizza, which had an excellent homemade vegan mozzarella, and provided the perfect end to our Italian evening.

JW Khao Lak beetroot carpaccio
JW Khao Lak vegan gnocchi

Our light lunch at The Deli also gave us the chance to yet again check out some of the amazing olive oils that we had sampled during our meal at Olive. If we weren’t travelling with hand luggage only we most certainly would have purchased some to bring home with us. To start with we ordered two healthy smoothies, and these were followed by a superfood salad and a Lebanese wrap. Both were labeled vegetarian as they included feta cheese, but once that was removed they were vegan. After a long and expansive breakfast just a few hours previously, this was more then enough to satisfy our mild hunger.

JW Khao Lak superfood salad
JW Khao Lak vegan wrap

We couldn’t leave JW Marriott Khao Lak without dining at their signature Thai restaurant, Ta Krai, which is Thai for lemongrass. The extensive vegetarian menu has multiple options that can be served vegan, with many of them using ingredients from the on-site JW Garden, this is zero miles dining in its truest sense. We started with two of their signature mocktails, before ordering five dishes to share from the vegetarian menu. First to arrive at our table were ‘Thod man khao poad’ (spicy corn cakes) served with peanut sauce, and an all time Thai favourite of ours ‘Yum som o’ (pomelo salad). Both were excellent and both were the perfect start to our meal at Ta Krai. We then went on to work our way through a flavoursome yellow curry with roti, phad ka prow with plant based meat, and fried bean curd skin with chilli garlic and green pepper. Everything was delicious and other than eating way too much it was a very enjoyable evening that was one of the culinary highlights of our stay

JW Khao Lak vegan sweetcorn fritters
JW Khao Lak vegan Thai food

The Vegan Essentials

After a long day of travel, to find vegan welcome snacks in our room at JW Marriott Khao Lak was something that made us very happy indeed. All too often, a resort or hotel will ask you about your dietary requirements but this information will somehow get lost, meaning that the welcome snacks are not suitable for vegans. Well done to the team at JW Marriott Khao Lak for getting this right, and well done for having bathroom amenities from Aromatherapy Associates (in refillable dispensers of course) as these are a favourite of ours from this vegan friendly company. In addition to the bathroom amenities being in refillable dispensers, there were of course no single use plastic bottles or plastic straws at JW Marriott Khao Lak which is now ‘the norm’ at Marriott International hotels and resorts worldwide.

JW Khao Lak vegan welcome snacks
Bathroom Amenities

In addition to the plant based food and the multiple plastic reduction initiatives, it was exciting to learn about two more planet friendly projects that the team at JW Marriott Khao Lak are rightly very proud of. Firstly, the expansive and impressive JW Garden where many of the fruits, vegetables and herbs that are used throughout the resort are grown. This is no ordinary resort garden, this signature project that was launched in April 2024 is a sprawling 27 acre organic farm adjacent to the resort. With the passionate and knowledgable Khun Joy at the helm, we have no doubt that the circle of sustainability which she has created with her team will continue to thrive. JW Marriott Khao Lak is also home to the Bamboo Shark Nursery and Conservation Center which is doing incredible work in partnership with the Phuket based Oceans for all Foundation. By breeding and releasing the endangered bamboo sharks, before releasing them back into the Andaman Sea, they are restoring the population which in turn restores balance to the fragile eco system. Our time at the Bamboo Shark Nursery and Conservation Center with Khun Ying was enjoyable and informative, she is clearly knowledgable and passionate about the work they are doing and that was clear to see.

JW Garden Khao Lak 3
Bamboo Shark Nursery JW Khao Lak 2

The Vegan Food Quest Verdict

JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort and Spa is everything that we had hoped for and more. We were hoping for an escape from the city to a peaceful Thai beach resort, and that is certainly what we got. But it was the friendly staff, the plentiful plant based food and the sustainability initiatives that impressed us the most and elevated our stay to the next level. The passionate people who make these sustainability projects a reality and the culinary team who have ensured that JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort and Spa is most certainly a vegan friendly luxury resort are a credit to the resort, and meant that our stay was simply the best. Thank you and keep up the great work.

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We were guests of JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort but please rest assured that their generosity in hosting us didn’t influence our views.

JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort
Khao Lak
Takua Pa District
Phang Nga 82220
Thailand

Telephone: +66 76 584 888
Cost From: £140 / $180 (September 2024)

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