LWSY Vietnam ~ Six Senses Ninh Van Bay

A paradise found, and never forgotten.

Listen to this, fifty-nine pool villas including one and two-bedroom Hilltop Pool Villas, Beachfront Pool Villas which are undergoing a beautiful re-design (making them my recommendation if you’re planning a visit), Water and Rock Pool Villas (we had one of those – honeymoon central), the impressive The Rock Retreat (with it’s own private jetty for ultimate privacy) and the three-bedroom Hilltop Reserve (where the Jolie/Pitt clan may or may not have visited recently). All villas here at Ninh Van Bay have a private pool and are located on the beach, over the water, between the rock formations or on the mountainside. There is no bad room, so you’ll never find yourself thinking you wish you were in a different category villa. This is one of the most jaw dropping, romantic places I have ever stayed, and this was my experience…

Six Senses Ninh Van Bay is set on its own picturesque bay which gives the instant private island feeling that makes this place so secluded. We had been in Vietnam a week already, and as many other guests do, we made this our last stop, for a 3 night stay. The hotel has a sister location in Nha Trang just 30 minutes away where we had been for the night, so our transfer was taken care off. Just a short car ride to the private dock to board the speedboat to the jetty at Ninh Van Bay.

A sweeping beach and lofty mountains create the atmosphere of a private island. Contemporary Vietnamese architecture blends with a classic style amongst the natural surroundings. We were greeted by our island host, Thai who was to be our butler for the stay. Anything we needed, Thai was just a text or call away. I had thought we were staying in a beach villa, so imagine my absolute delight when our golf buggy passed the last one on the stretch of beach. This could mean only one thing, we were on our way to a rock pool villa. Voted the most romantic hotel room in the world last year, I wasn’t quite prepared for the feeling that came over me when we arrived. You can see the jetty in the image above, and circled in red is our villa, so yep, pretty secluded.

Thai driving us to our villa

The walk to our villa begins

Up and up and up…

…until we made it to our secret hideaway.

There were literally no words for this, our bathroom. There still aren’t, you can just imagine. With the Rock Retreat just in sight along the bay, we were completely secluded and as every guest must feel, the luckiest couple in the world.

Our Rock Pool which just looks scooped out of the rock. I spent most of my days dipping in and out on an hourly basis. The left villa houses our bedroom and giant bathroom, the right villa is our living room/dining room and second bathroom. This area can be converted into a second bedroom for teenage children.

We ordered a late lunch which was delivered in a woven 3 tiered backpack, unpacked and served to us in by the shutters overlooking the bay. Now there’s a happy way to begin your stay at Ninh Van Bay.

As the sun began to set we called on Thai to collect us and drive us down to the beach for a sundowner in the hammocks overhanging the beach. With a handful of couples surrounding us, we couldn’t have felt anymore peaceful. A walk along the jetty reveals the utter beauty of the Dining by the Bay and Dining by the Rocks restaurant. Drinks by the Bay features an authentic wine cave which Etienne was very happy to visit.

International and regional specialties are offered at Dining by the Bay, but for our first night we were off to Dining by the Pool for their street food market style dinner which is held once a week. The pool restaurant also offers the perfect lunch spot in the shaded treehouse style restaurant.

Dining by the Rocks high up in the hills above our villa provides an intimate setting with breathtaking views over the bay and features family-style or Vietnamese a la carte set menus at dinner.

The street food market night offers authentic food stalls which you can make your way around or just take plates back to your table. A fab treat reminding us of our second night in Hanoi and our food tour. It made it easier for us to identify certain delicacies!

____________

A bright new day in Vietnam and a beautiful 30 minute walk from our villa to breakfast across the beach. As all villas have pools the beach stays relatively deserted through the day, giving you your own sense of privacy as you discover new nooks to siesta in.

The Water Pool Villas

Etienne taking in the beautiful morning sun before breakfast…

Pho for breakfast?

A wide choice of activities are available at the resort, including windsurfing, diving, water-skiing, tennis, hiking, snorkelling, canoeing, fishing and much more. Mainland cultural and shopping excursions can be arranged with experienced guides. We decided to canoe to the local lobster farm. The local floating fisherman spend months a year living on their floating homes tending to their schools of fish and lobster.

We canoed right into one of the lobster farms to say hello to a local farmer, an incredible sight, before tying up our canoe to hop onto one of the floating farms to take a closer look.

_______

Lunchtime was to be a DIY affair as we were invited to take part in an authentic cooking class for the afternoon. With a tour of the herb and vegetable gardens to understand some of the flavours were were going to use, it was a beautifully fragrant afternoon. Learning how to make Vietnamese hand rolls, and fish stew left me with a taste to make more of an effort in my own kitchen.

As the sunset on our second evening, we had the pleasure to spend the early evening with Hilton Grant Hastings, the General Manager of the resort with drinks on the jetty below the restaurant.

Dining by the Bay below

______

Our third day at Ninh Van Bay was spent exploring some of the other villas. One of my favourites is this Beach Villa, newly renovated and utterly beautiful. With the bedroom and indoor/outdoor bathroom on the ground floor, and upstairs an authentic living room overlooking the tree tops to the beach ahead.

A Hilltop Villa above, I’d love to come back in a few years and stay in one of these magical villas.

Discerning spa goers will be pampered with traditional Vietnamese treatments and award-winning Six Senses Spa Signature therapies. We were guided by the hotel lifestyle consultants for the ultimate holistic journey. Their massages are one of the best I’ve ever experienced, and it was the perfect morning retreat before our last lunch at Six Senses Ninh Van Bay.

Lunch by the pool before taking the boat back to Nha Trang and on to Hanoi.

A quick 20 minute rest to try and squeeze every last second out of our stay…

…and off we went. I have never had the feeling of not wanting to leave more than leaving here…

Now, how do I get there I hear you say? The road transfer from Cam Ranh International Airport (CXR) takes approximately one hour to the hotel boat dock inNha Trang, then board the resort’s 20-minute boat transfer to Ninh Van Bay. We travelled from their sister hotel, Evason Ana Mandara where the Ninh Van Bay team took care of our transfer, about 30 minutes from their boat transfer dock. Easy peasy, air conditioned and wifi connected.

This magical opportunity was made possible with thanks to Perowne Charles Communications.

Ninh Van Bay,
Ninh Hoa, Khanh Hoa,
Vietnam
T +84 58 3524 268

To view rates via my favoured booking agent, Tablet hotels, just click here.

LWSY