Home tour: inside Chandara, Lan Kwai Fong Group founder Allan Zeman’s private estate in Phuket

Each villa enjoys uninterrupted sea views and is supported by amenities including multiple infinity pools, private dining and entertainment spaces, spa and wellness facilities, fully equipped kitchens, and generous outdoor terraces designed for the tropics.

Maintained year-round by a dedicated team of 25 staff, the estate remained strictly for Zeman’s personal use until late last year, when he decided to open it up to guests who share a similar appreciation for privacy, discretion, and the means to enjoy a home of this scale.

Though Chandara was Zeman’s first built property in Phuket, it was not his first commercialised one on the island. That distinction belongs to Andara Resort & Villas, a five-star resort set across the bay in Kamala, known for its expansive villas, residential-style layouts and discreet, long-stay appeal.

This was followed by Aquella Golf & Country Club—technically just north of Phuket in Phang Nga, but often grouped with his Phuket portfolio due to proximity and positioning.

The latest addition is Sudara Residences, a branded residential project in Bang Tao that draws on the same lifestyle-led, resort-adjacent model established by its sister properties that broadens the portfolio by offering a more accessible residential proposition with an emphasis on rental yield and long-term value.

Asked why open up Chandara now, Zeman is characteristically matter-of-fact. “I never built Chandara to flip it or turn it into a business,” he says. “But a place like this shouldn’t sit empty either. It needs to be lived in, looked after, used properly.”

Over time, he came to see that opening the estate to a small circle of like-minded guests would keep it active and well maintained, while allowing others to experience a part of Phuket that is increasingly difficult to access. “If people have the same appreciation for privacy and quality, I’m happy to share it,” he adds.

It was the period leading up to Chinese New Year. Zeman’s wife, Charmaine Zeman, a keen skier, had initially planned to spend the holiday at their estate in Canada. “I have a ski-in, ski-out home,” he says. Zeman, however, has little affection for cold climates. “I hate cold weather. I hate skiing,” he adds.

Recovering from pneumonia at the time and unwilling to travel to Whistler, he suggested a change of plan. Phuket, warm and familiar, became the alternative. Yet with peak season in full swing, securing a room at his preferred stay, Amanpuri, proved impossible on short notice. Instead, the couple found themselves staying at a modest hotel in Rawai, on the opposite end of the island. “I didn’t care,” Zeman says. “The sun was nice. It was a great place to recover.”

It was there, restless and unable to sit still, that he began looking at land—despite a warning from Charmaine. “Just looking,” Zeman recalls saying, what he now calls “the famous last words of a husband”. A local contact told Zeman’s close friend who owned a property nearby about a cliffside parcel above Laem Singh. Zeman went to see it. The access was difficult, the site steep, and the owner reiterated that he was not selling,  intending to keep the land in the family.

“I said, fine,” Zeman says. “But I knew the game, so I asked: ‘if it were for sale, how much would it be?’” A figure was named—five times the market rate. But the view was decisive. A phone call followed, then another. Negotiation ensued. The rest is history.

Stepping out of the car in the estate’s driveway, one is first greeted by an impossibly tall, ancient mango tree, followed by what appears to be a low-rise residential structure articulated in the language of traditional Thai architecture. Beyond the entrance, the view opens to a generous courtyard, and the property begins to reveal itself.

Perched on the edge of a cliff, Chandara unfolds like a dreamscape: lush tropical landscaping, tranquil black-tiled infinity pools and water lily ponds, and a constellation of villas crowned with steeply pitched, multi-tiered Thai vernacular-inspired gabled roofs, scattered across the terrain as though lightly placed. Below, the Andaman Sea stretches out in uninterrupted blue, its surface slowly shifting to shades of orange as the sun sets.

Though Zeman never described Chandara as a deliberate architectural homage to Amanpuri, one does sense the resort’s visual language—brought to life by architect Ed Tuttle in 1988—in the way the estate is articulated.

Zeman reportedly sat down with an architect friend and talked through what he liked to shape Chandara. It is perhaps inevitable that Chandara carries echoes of the resorts Zeman has long favoured on the island, translated into something more personal.

Much of Chandara’s atmosphere also comes from Charmaine, who curates the estate’s interiors with a discerning eye. Oversized vessels are placed throughout the grounds and within the villas, anchoring spaces with a stately exuberance, indoors and out.

Today, the estate can be shared in its entirety, with a minimum booking of seven bedrooms, granting guests access to almost all of Chandara’s villas and amenities.

The bedroom arrangements across the estate are diverse, catering to different ages and configurations within one’s clan—from custom-sized beds for honeymooners to rooms with multiple single beds suited to anything from cousins’ sleepovers to group spa retreats.

One villa remains off-limits, however, housing Zeman’s private bedroom and office, and kept deliberately sealed. Some spaces, it seems, are still meant to remain a mystery.

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