Phuket Oceanfront Event Venue Opens December 2025

A new Phuket oceanfront event venue on Bangtao Beach, KALIDO, has opened in December 2025 with uninterrupted views of the Andaman Sea and a fully weather ready design. The stand alone space sits on the southern tip of Bangtao Beach in Phuket, Thailand, and is aimed at destination weddings, milestone celebrations, and corporate buyouts that want privacy instead of a shared resort ballroom. Travelers flying into Phuket International Airport (HKT) can now add a purpose built, sea facing venue to their short list when comparing where to host ceremonies and gala dinners.

At its core, the launch changes how larger events in Phuket can be staged. Instead of adapting hotel restaurants or beach clubs, planners can book KALIDO as a dedicated canvas, then layer in their own decor, production, and catering choices while drawing accommodation, transport, and support from the wider Twinpalms Hotels and Resorts portfolio.

The venue itself has been designed from the ground up for events rather than retrofitted from a restaurant or lounge. KALIDO is a stand alone building with no on site rooms, which means every booking has exclusive use of the main hall, oceanfront lawn, driveway, and photography areas without in house guests walking through. A flexible layout and neutral white and grey palette allow the space to swing between minimalist ceremonies, cocktail receptions, and large scale gala dinners without fighting an existing theme.

Capacity is a key part of the pitch. Official figures describe room for up to 240 guests for seated dinners and up to 400 guests for cocktail style events, with the lawn acting as an extension for ceremonies, pre dinner drinks, or performance staging. That puts KALIDO in a middle ground between small boutique villas and the largest resort ballrooms on Phuket, which will be relevant for couples inviting big multi generational groups or companies running incentive trips with a few hundred delegates.

Weather and comfort have been built into the structure rather than treated as afterthoughts. The main event space has a retractable roof that can be closed for daytime heat, monsoon showers, or strong winds, and opened again when conditions are calm for open sky dinners. An integrated pulsed air cooling system and air conditioned facilities back up the open design, which matters in Phuket's humid climate, particularly between April and October. For planners, this means less risk that a passing storm will force a last minute move to an indoor ballroom with very different aesthetics.

Privacy is another differentiator. KALIDO uses a private driveway and adjacent parking area, with controlled access for guests, suppliers, and staff. In practice, that reduces the chance of coach drop offs mixing with resort guests or beach foot traffic, and it makes it easier to manage security for corporate launches, high profile weddings, or cultural ceremonies that need clear separation. For travelers who value discretion or who are hosting VIP clients, that control over the perimeter may matter as much as the sea view.

Visual storytelling has clearly been considered. The site highlights a long ceremony aisle that leads toward the sea, a wide oceanfront staircase, and uninterrupted horizon backdrops as signature photography points from arrival through to the final toast. For couples planning multi day destination weddings, that means more variety in photo settings without having to shuttle to separate beaches or viewpoints. For brands planning product launches or gala evenings, those same sightlines can frame stage builds, projection walls, or media moments with the Andaman Sea in the background.

Behind the scenes, KALIDO includes an open kitchen and venue chef, with options for plated set menus, family style buffets, and tailored menus that can accommodate Halal, Kosher, and other dietary requirements. That flexibility matters when guest lists bring together different cultures and expectations, or when a corporate client wants to match a menu to a brand concept. The operator also mentions an on site operations manager as standard and optional upgrades such as live music, fireworks, and custom decor, though specific packages and local regulations around pyrotechnics will need to be clarified during planning.

KALIDO's ownership context also matters for travelers. The venue sits within the Twinpalms Hotels and Resorts ecosystem, which includes Twinpalms Surin Beach Phuket, Twinpalms MontAzure Phuket, and Twinpalms Tented Camp Phuket, plus venues such as Catch Beach Club, Wagyu Steakhouse, Andaman Cruises, The Lazy Coconut, and KOZO Handroll Bar. This means groups can spread accommodation across multiple properties at different price points while using the venue as a central hub for main events. Twinpalms also operates a limousine service connecting its properties and venues around Bangtao and Kamala, which can simplify shuttles between hotels, the beach clubs, and the event space.

For international travelers, the logistics start at Phuket International. The drive from the airport to Bangtao Beach is typically 30 to 40 minutes in light traffic, but planners should treat 60 minutes as a safer baseline for group transfers, especially in high season and around sunset when coastal roads are busier. Guests arriving on late night flights should avoid scheduling tightly timed welcome dinners on the same evening and instead use KALIDO for the main event on a later day, which gives more buffer for flight delays and immigration queues.

Season also matters when choosing dates. Phuket's drier, more stable weather typically runs from December through March, which aligns well with KALIDO's promise of sunsets over the Andaman Sea and open air receptions. During the wetter months, outdoor elements can still be used, but the retractable roof and cooling systems become more important and planners may want contingency layouts that keep formal parts of the event inside the main hall while using the lawn only when conditions allow.

Budget conscious groups will need to compare KALIDO with conventional resort packages. A stand alone venue with exclusive hire, private access, and flexible catering often carries higher line item costs than a bundled hotel ballroom package, but it can also reduce the need for heavy decor to disguise a generic space, and it may give more control over bar, entertainment, and supplier choices. For some couples and corporate planners, that tradeoff will be worth it if the goal is a fully custom environment with a strong sense of place, rather than a standard banquet room that could be anywhere.

Travelers considering Phuket for a wedding, anniversary, or corporate retreat should start by clarifying guest counts, desired event timings, and tolerance for weather risk. KALIDO will likely suit groups in the 80 to 240 guest range who want a sea facing ceremony and dinner in one cohesive venue, plus the option to scale cocktail numbers higher. Once provisional dates are chosen, the next step is to check venue availability, ask for sample layouts that match ceremony and dinner plans, and map those against flight schedules into Phuket International and room blocks across the Twinpalms properties.

In the coming months, KALIDO is likely to appear more often in Phuket wedding and event marketing, and it may shift some demand away from multi use resort spaces toward dedicated oceanfront venues. For travelers, the practical question is whether the combination of privacy, design control, and built in weather resilience justifies choosing this purpose built site over more conventional beachfront hotels or villas.

Sources

• Kalido official site, about and key features
• Breaking Travel News, Phuket's only private oceanfront event venue now open
• Twinpalms Hotels and Resorts, official site
• Twinpalms Surin Beach information including transfers to venues
• Twinpalms Bangtao Phuket Tented Resort overview