My husband and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary at this Kata resort recently.

1. Rooms: They offer 3 kinds of rooms: pool suites, pool villas and 2 bedroom pool villas. The pool villa is basically bigger than the pool suite and the 2 bedroom pool villa is the biggest. We stayed in a pool suite which was wonderful. The minute you walk in there is a plunge pool which is big enough for a quick dip (but you would not be able to do laps in this plunge pool). They have an open air (but covered) kitchen, dining area and living room right next to the plunge pool, complete with deck chairs for sunbathing. If you're worried about the hot weather they have 2 ceiling fans to keep you cool. The bedroom and vanity area are air-conditioned and very spacious, complete with a plasma TV and DVD player. They cooked breakfast in our kitchen for us every morning and we felt really pampered! The bathroom was open air but covered. This means there is no air-conditioning in the bathroom and once you entered the bathroom room you felt like you were walking outside to a shed. They constructed a mosquito screen that acted like a wall, so you didn’t have to worry about bugs. The thing I liked about the bathroom was the pebbled floor with concrete slabs. I also liked wooden bathtub and wooden sink, I felt like I was living in a rustic farm somewhere. The thing I didn’t like about the bathroom was sometimes it got really warm in there because it was air conditioned. They gave us pool towels, regular bath towels, robes and slippers but unlike the Banyan Tree or some of the other international chains they did not have flip flops and beach bags for the beach. They also didn’t have mosquito coils in the room. We didn’t think these things mattered but if you like these extra amenities then be prepared, Malisa only gives you the bare necessities.

2. Resort facilities: There is a restaurant (open air but covered), library (air conditioned) where you can borrow DVDs, gym and SPA! I got a 30% discount at the spa and had no problems booking an appointment. The best part about the spa was you could book an appointment at any time of the day... it was never packed but they charged you for less than some of the other day spas in Kata! There is no common or inifinity pool but who needs one when you have one in your villa? The resort also offers a buggy service to areas with a 5 - 10 minute walk to the hotel. It was great especially since the weather was so hot! Breakfast was included in our package and you can either have it in your villa or in the resort's restaurant. If you prefer to have breakfast in your villa/pool suite they'll come and cook it right in your kitchen!

3. Kata area: If you're not a big fan of Patong then you'll enjoy the area. We were there in the "rainy season" but it only rained for 5 minutes the whole entire time we were there (4 days)! There are some really fancy restaurants (we went to Joe's South, Mon Tri's Kitchen, etc) in the area but if you like casual places there are tons in the area. The resort is a 5 minute walk to Kata beach but if you don't want to walk you can ask the resort to take you there by buggy. We spent a lot of time relaxing at the beach and most days the beach was empty... there was hardly anyone there.

If you prefer to hang out in Patong then you can always take a Tuk Tuk or taxi to Patong (15 minutes away). DO bargain with the drivers!

4. Overall: We really liked the resort and thought it was perfect for a 4 day anniversary celebration getaway. It was our 4th time in Phuket and we've done a lot of island hopping tours + scuba diving in the area so we were really pleased to have had some quiet time away from other tourists. In fact, we didn't see other guests at the hotel until our last day at breakfast! Amazing...