Unexpected pleasures at JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort & Spa: From organic farms to baby sharks

What do you do when you find yourself with land to spare after turning part of 88 lush acres into an enviable eco-luxury resort? If you’re the JW Marriott Bonvoy Khao Lak Resort & Spa, you dedicate 27 acres to what may be the largest organic farm of any resort in the Asia Pacific. Like any other visitor to Khao Lak – Phuket’s sleepier cousin, just an hour north by car – we’d come to this impressive sprawl for the stunning beaches and thoughtful hospitality. Yet, we found ourselves staying for the baby sharks (more on that later) and the compost, believe it or not. What can we say? When you leave behind a crowded city like Singapore, the effect of the resort farm life can be surprisingly delightful.

Tucked between a private stretch of beach and acres of tropical gardens, JW Marriott Bonvoy Khao Lak is known for its staggering number of swimming pools (over 20), gorgeous beachfront and generous family-friendly suites. But its latest offering, a six-course dinner experience titled Sown & Reborn, was what drew us here… Well, that and the prospect of lying on a fabulous beach.

Offered at the hotel’s Drift Beach Bar & Grill, Sown & Reborn is an elegant evening that begins, if you fancy a sunset walk, in the resort’s farm. A chef leads you through hydroponic greenhouses and neat garden beds teeming with roselle, holy basil, morning glory and dozens of vegetables grown on soil nourished with tons of food waste that the hotel turns into compost. In the first quarter of 2025, it converted 8.5 tons of food waste into compost for the farm and repurposed four tons into edibles like croutons and juice (754 litres of it) from fruit trimmings.

Their finest efforts, however, are on display in the Sown & Reborn menu, where produce from the farm is parlayed into dishes that also make creative use of food that would otherwise be thrown out. To wit: A velvety potato espuma, which sits beneath an addictive fried poached duck egg, is made from leftover potatoes. Vegetable scraps are dehydrated and pulverised to form an “umami powder” that intensifies the flavours of a tom yam-inspired broth. Bread crusts and eggshells are crushed and recycled to create pasta. This “circular pasta”, though, isn’t quite a draw since it was impossible to ignore the fact that our noodles tasted like they were speckled with eggshells. That aside, the effort is commendable and the meal suitably delicious.

JW Marriott Bonvoy Khao Lak’s accommodations are famously family-friendly, particularly the spacious two-bedroom suites, which feature a roomy living room, two bathrooms, and direct pool access. Designed like a lagoon, the pool loops around the property like a lazy river, providing what feels like private bays for pool-facing rooms.

One afternoon, we swapped our pool time for a guided kayaking jaunt through the resort’s mangrove forest, on a trail that weaves gently through shallow channels, shaded by nipa palms. At times, the only sounds were the wind breathing through the canopies of screwpine and mudskippers skimming the water’s surface. As the dusk slanted its golden light onto the mangrove, we clambered out of the kayaks and into a sunset yoga class on the pavilion overlooking the lush waterway.

Another hallmark of the resort is its lesser-known conservation project: A bamboo shark nursery. Created in partnership with a local marine conservation charity, the nursery rescues fertilised bamboo shark eggs, offering them protection from the multiple threats that place almost all sharks in endangered territory. Among them are rays and crabs that regard shark eggs as food, and fishing nets in which the eggs often end up as bycatch. When the eggs hatch and the pups turn six months old, they are released to the ocean.

There is little reason to venture outside the 88-acre resort, but the intrepid will find plenty to do and see in Khao Lak town, a 15-minute drive away. Naturally, local dining options abound. Try the popular Go Pong for fiery traditional Thai fare or Ruanthai Kitchen for classic Southern dishes. Alternatively, take a left along the beach that fronts JW Marriott Bonvoy Khao Lak and you’ll find a row of humble local eateries that serve an encyclopaedic selection of Thai dishes about 300m away. A short drive inland leads to Ton Chong Fa waterfall, where shaded trails lead to cool forest pools. If you’re the diving sort, a day trip to Similan Islands will shore up dramatic rock formations and a chance to dive with manta rays and, if you’re lucky, whale sharks. The Surin Islands are further out, but you’ll be rewarded with scenic snorkelling sites in shallow coral gardens.

We are the chilling-out sort, which meant we never ventured far from the resort. Between the bucolic beach days buoyed by cocktails and pad Thai on the shore, walks on the farm, and the almost 2km track that winds through JW Marriott Bonvoy Khao Lak’s JW Garden, it was remarkably easy to stay in and soak up the fantastic hospitality. And isn’t that the point of the best resort holidays?