Centara Reserve Samui

Rooms and decor

Centara Reserve Samui was the Centara Grand Beach Resort Samui, open since 1994. In 2021 Centara closed it for a full renovation and reopened it as the brand's flagship luxury property under the Centara Reserve name, upgrading every standard along the way. The resort has 184 rooms in a Sino-Portuguese colonial style that mixes teak, marble, and the kind of southern-Chinese-meets-Portuguese furniture you'd expect. Rooms start at the 45 sqm Reserve Premium and run up through the Kids Suite Beachfront to Pool Villas of more than 100 sqm. Marble bathrooms come with rain showers, and premium rooms and up add an in-room jacuzzi. Real reviews on Trip.com (9.2/10) mostly agree on the same points: the design feels brand-new, the in-room products are recognisable brands, the beds are soft, the Wi-Fi is fast, and the staff pay attention.

Food and amenities

The heart of Centara Reserve is the Reserve Host — a personal butler who looks after every guest for the whole trip. It starts with in-room check-in and welcome drinks, then runs to booking tables at the resort restaurants and the popular spots out in Chaweng, arranging Ang Thong boat and snorkel trips, setting up beach picnics for couples on the private sand, and handling turn-down service with fresh fruit every evening, all answered over WhatsApp 24 hours a day. The resort has 4 restaurants: World, the main venue serving the international breakfast and lunch buffets that reviewers praise for a full kids menu and a wide Thai-and-international spread; Reef, a beachfront seafood restaurant; Citrus, the coffee-and-bakery cafe; and the Rejuvenate Pool Bar serving organic smoothies and tapas. There are 3 pools — a 25-metre main adult pool, a family pool with a shallow waterslide, and a shallow kids pool — plus a clearly separated Kids Club and playground. The beachfront Cenvaree spa and a 24-hour gym round it out. Overall it scores 9.2/10.

Location and getting there

Centara Reserve sits at the far south end of Chaweng beach, where a 200-metre private beach is cut off from the busy middle of Chaweng by a small rocky rise. That makes it noticeably quieter than the centre, yet it's still only a 5-minute drive to Chaweng Walking Street and its restaurants, pubs, and bars, with a free resort shuttle running every hour from 09:00 to 23:00. Samui Airport is 9 kilometres away, a 15-minute drive, and the resort arranges a private transfer for about $34 to $51. Lamai is 15 minutes by car, and Bophut Fisherman Village another 15.

Things to know before booking

Straight talk to help you decide. First, the rooms cost more than the old Centara Grand rates because this is a new flagship: prices start around $329, while the old Centara Grand started at roughly $143 to $200. Some reviews feel the rooms aren't as big as the price suggests next to peer luxury hotels like Vana Belle, which costs about the same but gets you a pool suite — so if your budget is tight, look at Vana Belle or Anantara Bophut. Second, the private beach isn't right by Walking Street; it's a 5-minute drive to the nightlife. The upside is the quiet, but if you want to walk to Walking Street from your room, look at the central Mercure Chaweng Tana instead. Third, the family pool gets crowded in peak season from December to February, when the kids pool fills right up — try the quieter adult pool.

Our take

Centara Reserve Samui is the most well-rounded choice for family-friendly luxury on Koh Samui. You get a Reserve Host who arranges everything, a Kids Suite, a playground, and a separate family pool, on a private beach quieter than central Chaweng but only a 5-minute drive from the nightlife. If the trip in your head is bringing the family somewhere genuinely luxurious with a full kids program, and the price isn't a sticking point, this is the answer. If you're a couple after a pool suite at a lower starting rate, Vana Belle suits you better. Overall we give it 9.2/10, best for families who want luxury with a full slate of kids' activities, and for couples who love butler service.