— About Us —
We were here before the guidebooks.
Three decades of travelling, living and building friendships across Southeast Asia. Every recommendation we make is earned, not researched.
Three decades of travelling, living and building friendships across Southeast Asia. Every recommendation we make is earned, not researched.
There is an island in Phang Nga Bay — tucked between Phuket and Krabi, largely invisible to the traveller in a hurry — called Koh Yao Yai. In the early 2000s, it was a different world entirely. No electricity after dark. A local man who looked after us completely — cooked our meals, gave beach massages as monkeys played in the trees above, built fires on the sand each evening as the last light left the sky.
One evening, I ordered wine and cheese. The owner came to find me — not embarrassed, just gently puzzled — to explain that the island had neither. Both were on the mainland. He could send word by boat. It would take two days.
Two days later, it arrived. And when it did, the whole island seemed to know. Staff and locals came running down to the beach — not to serve the order, but to share it. Wine and cheese, passed around in the firelight, on a Thai island that had gone to extraordinary lengths simply because a guest had asked.
That is Southeast Asia at its truest. Not a service standard. Not a brand promise. A genuine, unhurried, warm-hearted response that went so far beyond the expected that thirty years later it remains one of the most vivid memories of a lifetime of travel. It is also, in a very real sense, why Lotus & Fairways exists.
There are more stories — islands in Thailand where money wasn't used at all, a Vietnamese village where we were the first Englishmen anyone had met, golf courses played at dawn with no one else on earth in sight. We're writing them up in our Journal as we go.
Read Our Journal →
Lotus & Fairways was founded by specialists who had spent decades travelling Southeast Asia personally — not on press trips or fam tours, but as independent travellers who fell in love with the region and never quite managed to leave it behind.
We have stayed in the hotels we recommend. We have eaten in the restaurants we suggest. We have driven the roads, taken the boats, hired the guides and formed genuine, long-standing friendships with the people who make great travel possible on the ground. Those friendships — with hoteliers, guides, chefs and operators across Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia — are the real product.
We are also, genuinely, family specialists. Southeast Asia is one of the world's great destinations for families travelling with children — if you know where to go, how to pace it, and who to trust. We have been planning multi-generational journeys for three decades.
We don't recommend anything we haven't experienced ourselves. If we can't speak to a hotel, experience or destination from direct personal knowledge, it doesn't appear in an itinerary.
No templates. No group tours. No itinerary that exists before your conversation with us. Every journey is built around your group, your pace and your idea of the perfect holiday.
Southeast Asia is extraordinary for families — if you know where to take children and how to pace a trip for mixed ages. We have been planning multi-generational journeys for thirty years.
We will tell you if a destination isn't right for your dates, if a hotel doesn't match what you're imagining, or if a course is overrated. We would rather lose a booking than send you somewhere you won't love.
Our partners across Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia are people we have known for years. That means better rooms, better access, better experiences — and someone who picks up the phone if anything goes wrong.
Every booking is fully ATOL protected. Your money is safe, your holiday is guaranteed, and you travel with the confidence that comes from booking with a UK-registered specialist.
Every Lotus & Fairways journey begins with a conversation — not a form, not a brochure, not a price list. Tell us what you have in mind and we'll tell you honestly whether we can make it happen.
Get in Touch →