At the far end of Boat Lagoon Marina, Soho Pool Club opens its doors every day at 8 am, with free entry to the pool. It’s part pool club, part restaurant, part social hub: a Thai and Western kitchen, cocktails and mocktails, a sports lounge upstairs, and Soho Wellness. An infrared sauna and ice bath, right next to the pool. The setting does a lot of the work too, as a waterfront spot at the marina with the kind of relaxed feel that makes it easy to lose track of how long you’ve been sitting there.
Soho Wellness sits just steps from the pool, part of Soho itself rather than a separate building next door. Guests sauna in a five-person Clearlight infrared unit, then move into a cold-plunge ice bath, a practice known as contrast therapy, and finish in a small lounge with herbal tea and mineral water. The sauna side is aimed at deeper detoxification and easing muscle and joint tension, while the cold plunge is there for reducing inflammation and sharpening focus afterwards. Walk-ins are welcome, and no prior experience is expected.
"People come back for the food as much as the pool", Paul said. "The khao soi’s built its own following at this point."
Food is where Soho has built its own local reputation, separate from anything to do with boats or sauna sessions. The kitchen runs Thai favourites, Western dishes, and healthy salads and lighter plates, alongside cocktails, mocktails, wine, beer, and fruit smoothies, and both its khao soi and its Soho Smash Burger have picked up their own followings among regulars, with one recent review calling the khao soi the best outside Chiang Mai. Upstairs, The Clubhouse runs as a sports lounge with a full bar and screens for live games, and the air-conditioned Andaman Dining Room hosts private dinners, birthdays, corporate events and the occasional bucks or hens party, separately from the main poolside area.
The crowd shifts through the day. Mornings tend to bring Simba Sea Trips guests in for a light breakfast before their boats leave, along with locals stopping in before work. By afternoon it’s a mix of returning tour groups, expats and holidaymakers settling in by the water, and by evening The Clubhouse fills up for whatever game happens to be on.
Soho happens to be the departure point for Simba Sea Trips, the boat tour operator that shares the same marina base. Tour guests get a light breakfast at Soho before boats leave in the early morning, and the buffet lunch on several of Simba’s tours is served back at Soho once the boats return, which means the pool club sees a steady flow of tour groups on top of its own regular local and expat crowd. Soho also houses Simpro Academy, a racing and flight simulator centre, all on the same site.
The club is operated by Andrea and Paul Chappell, and runs daily from 8 am to 10 pm, with the kitchen open from 11 am to 10 pm, at 23 Boat Lagoon Marina, Moo 2, Koh Kaeo, Ampur Mueang, Phuket 83000. Walk-ins are welcome for the wellness side too, though calling ahead is an option. Bookings and enquiries: sales@simbaseatrips.com or +66 81 787 7702.
Between the pool, the wellness side next to it, and a kitchen that’s earned its own name separate from both, Soho ends up being three different reasons to visit built into one marina-side address, and most people only find out about the other two after they’ve already walked in for one of them.