Charcoal smoke curls off the grill stations at RAVA Beach Club as a whole lobster gets flipped onto the coals, Wagyu sizzling on the station beside it, and beyond the tables the sand runs dark toward Bang Tao Bay. A DJ works the crowd from a booth dressed in string lights while a live vocalist trades sets with the sound system, and the whole beachfront is doing something Phuket’s more formal Christmas Eve dinners deliberately avoid — getting loud. RAVA, the beach club arm of Banyan Tree Phuket, throws the island’s best-reviewed answer to “I want Christmas Eve to feel like a party, not a banquet.”
Why It Earns Its Spot
Banyan Tree Phuket actually runs two distinct Christmas Eve events, and they say a lot about who they’re for: The Watercourt inside the resort keeps things classic and quietly festive — roast turkey, honey-glazed ham, carols floating around a calm courtyard — while RAVA Beach Club takes the same holiday over the property line and turns it into an outdoor party. Charcoal-grilled turkey, lobster, and Wagyu headline a beachfront buffet built for a livelier crowd, with DJs and live vocals keeping the energy up well past the point most hotel dinners have wound down. If you’ve already done a quiet Christmas Eve dinner once and want this year to actually feel like a night out, RAVA is the pick over The Watercourt.
The Experience
Expect open-fire cooking stations doing the heavy lifting rather than a static buffet line — the lobster and Wagyu in particular are grilled to order, which is a genuine step up from the usual festive-buffet reheating. Recent packages have included a bottle of Prosecco per couple as part of the price, and the music program runs a real DJ set alongside live vocals rather than background lounge music, so RAVA leans into “party” rather than politely ignoring the fact that it’s Christmas Eve at a beach club. Tables are set along the sand within Laguna Phuket’s private frontage, so despite the energy, it doesn’t have Patong’s crowd density or noise from outside the venue.
Price and Booking
Recent Christmas Eve pricing at RAVA has run around 6,000 baht net per adult (with a bottle of Prosecco per couple included in some packages) and roughly 2,000 baht net for children aged 6–12, while The Watercourt’s more formal dinner has run closer to 6,900 baht net for adults and 3,450 baht net for children. As with any festive-season event in Phuket, treat these as last season’s reference point and confirm current rates and inclusions directly with Banyan Tree before booking — and book early, since beach club Christmas Eve parties with a fixed number of tables sell out faster than a standard hotel restaurant.
Honest Caveats
This is explicitly the louder, busier option between Banyan Tree’s two Christmas Eve events — if you specifically want quiet and conversational, book The Watercourt instead and skip RAVA entirely, because the DJ and live vocals are a feature here, not an accident. The price sits at the premium end for a beach club dinner, and being inside the gated Laguna Phuket complex means you’re committing to that part of the island for the evening rather than staying flexible to move on somewhere else after dinner. Outdoor beachfront seating also means the usual December-rain caveat applies, however rare.
Getting There
RAVA Beach Club sits within the Laguna Phuket complex on Bang Tao Beach, on Phuket’s northwest coast — roughly 25–35 minutes from the airport (expect around 500–600 baht by metered taxi) and about 30–40 minutes from Patong or Kata. Guests staying within Laguna Phuket can typically reach it by the resort’s internal shuttle or boat; everyone else is looking at a straightforward taxi or Grab ride directly to Banyan Tree Phuket.
The Bottom Line
RAVA turns Christmas Eve into an actual party rather than a formal dinner with festive garnish — open-fire grilling, a real DJ, and a beachfront setting inside one of Phuket’s most polished resort complexes. If The Watercourt is Christmas Eve for the family table, RAVA is Christmas Eve for the group that wants to keep dancing after dessert.
For more honest, on-the-ground guides to Phuket’s beach clubs and where to spend the holidays, keep exploring PhuketInside.