“You want to celebrate an anniversary somewhere warm without sharing a pool with forty strangers or eating breakfast in a buffet line that smells like scrambled eggs and sunscreen.”

If you and your partner have been staring at the same grey sky for months and need a reset that doesn't involve a wristband or a resort shuttle, Three Monkeys Villas in Patong is the play. It's a small collection of private villas tucked off Nanai Road — close enough to the chaos of Bangla Road that you could walk there if you wanted, far enough that you absolutely won't hear it. This is the kind of place you book when the anniversary trip isn't about doing things. It's about doing nothing, together, in weather that makes you forget what a radiator looks like.

The setup here is simple and that's entirely the point. You get your own villa — not a hotel room someone's calling a villa, an actual standalone space with a private pool, outdoor area, and the kind of quiet that makes you realise how loud your normal life is. There's no lobby scene, no check-in queue, no elevator small talk. You arrive, someone hands you a key, and you disappear. For a couple marking an occasion, that privacy is the whole product.

Inside the villa

The villa interiors lean tropical-modern — think dark wood, clean lines, white linens, and enough space that two people with open suitcases won't be tripping over each other. The bed is generous and firm in the way Thai hotels tend to get right, and the air conditioning works like it has something to prove. The bathroom situation is solid: a proper rain shower with decent water pressure, and enough counter space that you're not balancing toiletries on the edge of the sink like you're playing Jenga.

But the private pool is what you're really paying for. It's not Olympic-sized — it's a plunge pool, big enough for two people to float around with drinks without bumping elbows. You'll spend mornings here doing absolutely nothing, and that's the correct use of this space. The outdoor loungers face the pool, there's shade when you want it, and the walls around the villa are high enough that you genuinely feel like you're the only people there. No one's watching you read the same page of your book for forty minutes because you keep falling asleep.

Now, the location. Nanai Road sits on the hillside above Patong, which means you're a ten-minute walk or a quick tuk-tuk ride from the beach and the main restaurant strip. The immediate surroundings are residential and quiet — a few local restaurants, a 7-Eleven for water and snacks, and not much else. That's a feature, not a bug. You're not here to be in the middle of things. You're here to have a base that feels like a home, then venture out when the mood strikes.

“The walls around the villa are high enough that you genuinely feel like you're the only people there — which, for an anniversary, is the entire point.”

For dinner, skip eating in and head down the hill. Patong has genuinely excellent Thai food if you walk past the tourist-facing spots on the beachfront. Ask your host for a recommendation — the small family-run places on the Nanai Road sois will feed you both for a fraction of what you'd pay at a resort restaurant, and the food will be better. For a splurge night, Baan Rim Pa on the cliffs north of Patong is the anniversary dinner spot in this part of Phuket — book a sunset table.

The honest thing: this is a villa, not a full-service hotel. There's no concierge desk, no room service button, no spa you can wander into at 3pm. If you need that infrastructure, you'll feel its absence. If you're the kind of couple who's happy to sort your own plans and just wants a beautiful private space to come back to, you'll wonder why you ever stayed in a hotel. Also, the hill. Nanai Road has a proper incline, and walking back up after a beach day in the heat is a workout. Budget for tuk-tuks or rent a scooter if you're comfortable on two wheels.

The plan

Book at least three weeks out during high season (November through March) — these villas are small in number and couples snap them up. Request a villa with the most tree coverage around the pool if there are options; it keeps the water cooler and the space more private. Stock up on drinks and fruit at the Makro or Tesco Lotus on the way from the airport — your villa has a fridge and you'll want cold water poolside without walking to a shop. Don't bother with Patong's beach clubs; your private pool is better. Do book one dinner at Baan Rim Pa and one night out on Bangla Road, even if it's just for the spectacle.

Rates for a private pool villa start around 108 $ per night in shoulder season, climbing to 185 $ or more during peak weeks around Christmas and New Year. For what you're getting — a private villa with your own pool in Phuket — that's genuinely strong value compared to the beachfront resorts charging three times that for a room where you can hear the corridor.

The bottom line: Book a tree-shaded villa, grab supplies on the way from the airport, eat dinner down the hill, and spend every other minute in your private pool pretending the rest of the world doesn't exist. That's the anniversary.