Jah’s First Holiday @ 7 months old – Dewa Phuket

I mentioned in an earlier post that one of the key to selecting a holiday destination for our family is to choose somewhere that we have been to before or are familiar with. Phuket and specifically Dewa Phuket was a destination and resort that we have been to twice prior to Jah’s arrival.

We went there as a couple in 2010 and again for our babymoon in mid 2011. The flight time to Phuket from Singapore was a mere hour and 40 minutes and the resort was located on Nai Yang beach which was about a 5 minutes drive away from Phuket International Airport. While this meant that it was far from the hustle and bustle of Patong Beach, we actually preferred a quiet place for relaxation.

Dewa Phuket has 3 different room types – Pool Villa (with its own outdoor plunge pool), Family Suite (with 2 bedrooms, a balcony and a fully equipped kitchen) and Junior Suite (with 1 bedroom, a balcony and a kitchenette). Both the Family Suites and the Junior Suites are located in the main hotel block while the Pool Villas are in a private cluster.

Pool Villa Private Plunge Pool

Pool Villa Interior

We stayed in the Pool Villa on both our previous trips and chose to stay in one again as we wanted to be able to provide Jah with a calm and private area for his first dip in the pool. We had built up this image in our minds, of Jah giggling away in the water or being a total water baby. But I suppose he decided to be a water baby in his own little way. He was calm to the point of sleepy and decided to take a nap in his float. I suppose that’s the more adult way of enjoying a swim?

This is super relaxing!!

As Jah was too young to appreciate and enjoy the kids facilities in the hotel which includes a Kids Club, a Toddlers pool and baby-sitting services, we spent most of our time hanging out in our villa. However we made sure to equip the room with necessities as well as toys for him. The resort very kindly provided us with a baby crib and a playpen and the rest of the items were rented from a local baby hire company (Phuket Baby Rentals). The items were delivered and set up in our villa before our arrival and picked up after we had checked out. We rented an exersaucer, step stool, changing pad, bath tub and a sterilizer for 4 days and it only cost us S$50!!!

Playpen to ‘contain’ a cruising baby – Absolute necessity!

Jah entertaining us with his exersaucer tunes while we try to have an in-villa romantic dinner (part of the package)

A full breakfast was included in the room rate and in fact the breakfast was quite the highlight for us! While most hotels/ resorts these days would provide a buffet spread, Dewa Phuket offers an Ala Carte Buffet Menu which you can order from. This means freshly cooked, piping hot food served to your table! Perfect when you have a baby or kids at your table and making multiple trips to the buffet table can be chaotic!

Beachside cafes and Thai restaurants were only a leisurely 15 minutes stroll away and you get rewarded with a nice beach view while enjoying your tom yum soup and beef fried rice or a good and cheap seafood meal in the evenings. So no, we didn’t have the shopping or the nightlife found at Patong Beach but there was still tons to eat! When we were too lazy to walk out for a meal, we would stay in and order from the Room Service Menu which was pretty good too!