Villa Yeti

Villa Yeti is a 518 square metre sea-view villa built squarely with families in mind, and it solves the problem most villas of this size don't. Three of the four bedrooms are kings with en-suites. The fourth is a purpose-built children's room holding four queen-size bunk beds, which is what takes the villa to ten guests without anyone sleeping on a sofa or a family being split across floors. There are four bathrooms in total, two of them en-suite, plus a guest toilet.

The feature that tends to sell it is the cinema room. On a beach holiday it earns its keep twice a day — in the middle of the afternoon when the sun is at its worst and children need somewhere cool and dark to be for an hour, and again after dinner when the adults would quite like the terrace to themselves. It is a proper room, not a television in a corner.

Outside there is a private pool with a sun terrace, and a barbecue for the evenings when nobody wants to drive out. The kitchen is equipped for a group of ten rather than a couple — dishwasher, washing machine and dryer, full-size appliances and a Dolce Gusto coffee machine. The sea view runs north across Choeng Mon bay towards the small island of Koh Fan.

For catering, the villa's Thai chef will cook breakfast at 500 THB per person per day, or take on the full day at 2,500 THB with guests covering the shopping. With a group this size that is usually the easier arrangement, and it is considerably cheaper than eating out three times a day.

Guests have complimentary use of the estate's clubhouse and its 24-hour gym, the tennis court by the entrance, and the twice-daily shuttle down to Choeng Mon beach. The estate is gated and government-licensed, with 24-hour security and its own management and maintenance team on site seven days a week — the kind of back-up that matters when you are travelling with children and something needs fixing.

Choeng Mon beach is shallow, calm and one of the safest on Samui for small children, with restaurants and a morning market behind it. For families who want the space and privacy of a villa but the reassurance of a managed estate with staff on hand, Yeti is one of the easiest recommendations on the island.