There’s something almost indecent about Ao Kiew beach. The waves break with just enough roughness to be stimulating, foaming water spurts a few feet up the glistening wet sand, then ebbs away sensuously, giving the grains a last, delicate grope. No wonder Paradee, the only resort on this perfect bay, discourages children from staying. The place should be X-rated.

Sorry if I’m getting a bit worked up here, but if you’d been to Ao Kiew, you would too. Whatever the other writers in this special section may say, if you’re in a romantic frame of mind, this is the place for your winter shot of sunshine. It’s not difficult to reach, it’s idyllic, it’s luxurious and there is - sublimely - almost nothing to distract you from the important business of wallowing in your personal beachside pool and watching those waves do their stuff. Well, nothing apart from each other.

Which is all rather surprising, because Paradee just shouldn’t be here. It’s on a Thai island called Ko Samet, which doesn’t offer this sort of thing. Or didn’t. To explain, I’ll have to backtrack for a moment.

Everyone knows that Thailand has some of the best beaches in the world, perfect for a fly-and-flop holiday. Well, perfect up to a point: they’re great for the flop bit, but the flying is always that bit more than you bargained for. If you’re making for the big hitters, such as Ko Samui or Phuket, you haven’t just got the flight to Bangkok - you’ve got to change planes there, with all the waiting around and hassle that involves, and get another flight south before the final drive to your hotel.

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Then, all the week you’re there, you look forward to the same rigmarole in reverse.

Wouldn’t it be great, then, if there were somewhere handier, without that gruelling extra flight? Step forward Ko Samet. The beaches are the equal of anything further south, and it’s a rather relaxing two-hour road transfer (plus an exhilarating 10-minute speedboat ride) from Bangkok airport. Much quicker, much less faffing about.

Which is all well and good, but convenience counts for nothing if there’s nowhere nice to stay when you get there. Up to now, it’s been basic and tatty - in fact, some of the north of this long, thin island was messily overdeveloped and all but ruined.

Happily, long, thin islands have two ends. Paradee, Samet’s only five-star hotel, was opened last year at the nice one. And boy, is it nice.

Ao Kiew bay is textbook stuff, a gently curving 200yd crescent of powder-perfect sand, book-ended by rocky headlands and fringed with palms.

Around it, there’s a smattering of simple, luxurious thatched villas, designed with flair by a local architect and finished with an obsessive eye for detail - private infinity pools, polished wood floors, gorgeously chunky teak and rattan furniture, elegant four-posters, beaten copper basins and outdoor monsoon showers, all built around the existing shoreline trees (you might find a trunk growing up incongruously through your sun deck).

It’s completely secluded, too: you could be at the end of the earth, always assuming the end of the earth came with butlers, a spa, a soap menu (I chose lemongrass) and a decent wine list.

Paradee can take 110 guests, though you’d never know - it spreads out over both sides of the island, so you’re hardly crowded. That tranquillity may explain why the Thai royal family favours the place: when Princess Siriwannawari Narira-tana came, she banished her entourage of 200 (yes, 200) to a couple of navy boats anchored discreetly offshore.

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