Hotel Bocage, exclusive minimalism in Thailand’s hip Hua Hin
Like your seaside resorts with a dose of minimalist simplicity? Hua Hin’s newest boutique hotel brings brutalism to the beachfront
What is it? A boutique hotel located on the top floor of trendier-than-thou Seenspace Hua Hin, which bills itself as “Thailand’s first community beachfront mall”. The mall is an open-air, neo-brutalist concrete construction that would look dreary under an overcast sky: fortunately, Hua Hin – the royal resort city about 2.5 hours from Bangkok – sees plenty of sun.
A hotel in a shopping mall? Yuck. Don’t worry about that. Hotel Bocage is the pet project of Thai starchitect Duangrit Bunnag, who’s also behind fellow Design Hotels the Alila Cha Am, the Naka Phuket and Bangkok’s top hipster hangout, the Jam Factory. There’s plenty of pedigree here.
So it’s a beachfront resort? Nope. When we say boutique, we mean it: the Bocage has a grand total of just six rooms, ranging from a standard 40 square metres to an 80 square metre suite – meaning you’re unlikely to bump into any other residents, let alone share a lift with them. It’s the opposite of Hua Hin’s crowded beach resorts: a dose of secluded, minimalist privacy.