Gardens, outdoor pagodas, a lake with water lilies, aquariums in the bathrooms: it's not Changi, but it's the most beautiful airport in the world

Fabulous terminals, lounges like rain one more luxurious than the other, and then more waterfalls, gardens, streams. The airports of Singapore Changi and of Doha Hamad Are always at or near the top of any of the world's best airport awards.

But always there is another airport in Asia that can boast gardens, streams and even a lake with water lilies and multicolored carp. It is not as luxurious as the other two, but it is certainly very beautiful. And unique. It is located on Koh Samui, which is the coolest of the Thai islands located in the China Sea, that is, east of the Malacca Peninsula, less than an hour's flight south of Bangkok.

Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Banyan Tree: if you're looking for a hotel in one of the extra-luxury hotel chains, there is and the Poodle left a piece of his heart at the Conrad which is at the opposite end of the island.

And the airport has its own something chic about it from the moment you disembark there. Of boarding bridges there is no sign, and so arriving passengers find at the foot of the aircraft ladder from which they have just stepped off a kind of 'toy train': an uncovered multiple 'carriage' vehicle on which one sits on comfortable benches.

From there, with a commute of only a few seconds (too bad). you land at one of the arrival pagodas, which have wooden columns and ceilings at the center of which runs the ribbon that returns your luggage to you.

Please note: the pagoda has a roof to protect passengers and luggage from downpours, but no walls. And of course the air conditioning is not there, replaced by the breeze blowing in from the sea.

Surprising, the airport is, even for those who leave. Not so much for the outdoor check-in (those are also there in other airports also in Asia and also in Africa), which though are really impressive.

 

But for what comes next: a true shopping and food & beverage 'mall' that is nothing more than an avenue lined with trees and dotted with plants and flowers.

After a walk of a hundred meters among boutiques, bars and small restaurants and past a curious, mock control tower, you reach the security checkpoints. Which overlook a pond with water lilies and colorful fish.

Passed X-rays are reached the gates, i.e., other wooden pagodas furnished with wooden chairs and sofas and making it very 'shabby chic'', as we would say at home.

The view is of the gardens that line the various pagodas of the arrivals and departures, as well as the runway, where they whiz by (braking or roaring at full power) mostly Bangkok Airways' A319s and ATR72s..

The Thai airline was awarded for the eighth consecutive year last June as 'World's Best Regional Airline' at the Skytrax Awards 2024.

The carrier, which from Koh Samui Flies not only to Bangkok (Suvarnabumi and Don Mueang) but also to Chiang Mai, Krabi, Pattaya, Pukhet and Hong Kong, shares runway and pagodas with Scoot, the low-cost Singaporean.

Ah, Even going to the bathroom is an experience on Koh Samui: toilet urinals, in fact, are placed under large aquariums In which colorful fish swim.

The only 'downside' is the lounge reserved for domestic passengers: the Blue Ribbon Club is really modest in looks, comfort, and food and beverage offerings.

By the way, being enclosed, there is air conditioning there. At refrigerator temperatures that punch up against the 30-odd degrees outside. In short, it's one of those rare cases where. outside is better than in the lounge.

Then you get on the incredible little trains and off you go. So much in the middle of nature that the Poodle here also had a snake emergency.

• bangkok airways
• kph samui
• USM