This Bill Bensley-designed resort is set on the palm-frilled fringes of Danang, with endangered red-shanked douc langur monkeys and Sunda pangolin for neighbours. It has unforgettable sea views, romantic rooms and a luxurious spa.
Location
In a golden sand bay tucked away inside the Son Tra Nature Reserve, an area also known to locals as Monkey Mountain. The resort has its own zoologist and there are rope ladders to help the local primates navigate around the resort – it’s not unusual to see macaques swinging from your balcony. Most travellers come to this part of Vietnam to visit Hoi An and the hotel runs a free shuttle bus to the centre of the historic town several times a day. Danang Airport is a 45-minute drive away.
Style and Character
Designed by esteemed Bangkok-based designer Bill Bensley (also responsible for The Siam in Bangkok, Shinta Mani Wild in Cambodia and Capella Ubud in Bali), every inch of this beautiful resort channels the grand residence of a Gallic globe-trotting lord – large white maisons with shuttered windows and black-tiled roofs, huge citrus-coloured silk chandeliers, hand-carved stone elephants, gardens overflowing with enormous scented blooms, and a quaint funicular making its way up and down the hillside.
Service and Facilities
The service, although always delivered with a smile, felt scripted, with staff apparently unable to deviate from the rule book when met with simple requests. My food orders and bills were mixed up more than once in various restaurants, and housekeeping neglected to replace some of the amenities. The facilities cover everything you would hope from a five-star resort – and more, including two swimming pools (one infinity and one children’s), a gym, recreational spaces with pool tables and movie screenings, a spa from fancy Thai skincare brand Haarn, and a mani-pedi studio from Bastien Gonzalez, podiatrist to the stars.
- Bar
- Beach
- Fitness centre
- Kids’ club
- Laundry
- Parking
- Pool
- Restaurant
- Room service
- Spa
- Wi-Fi
Rooms
The 201 rooms and suites range from spacious rooms positioned high on the hillside with large balconies and panoramic sea views, to three-bedroom beachside villas with stripy private swimming pools. All are decorated with the same flair as the public spaces, using black and white as a backdrop to four-poster beds billowing with white muslin, dark wood furnishings upholstered in pops of colour, and eye-catching artworks. Bathrooms are sybaritic, with huge slipper tubs and a stock of Haarn amenities.
Food and Drink
Breakfast is served in all-day dining restaurant Citron but while there was a large selection to choose from – tropical fruit, cheeses, eggs, bacon, pastries, dumplings, noodles – the fresh juices were watered down and the overall quality wasn’t good enough to stop it from feeling repetitive after a couple of days.
Burgers, seafood, pasta and other popular snacks are served at beachside restaurant Barefoot. Maison 1888 by Pierre Gargain, housed in a romantic recreation of a French colonial mansion, is the hotel’s showpiece restaurant, with excellent if extremely pricey tasting menus from £139 for four courses – disappointingly some dishes arrived lukewarm at the table.
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For any further information, kindly contact us at +84.936.600.886 or +84.946.762.224 for free guide.
