Some decide on their vacation based on the destination!
And then some (no names being mentioned) will choose an entire two-week, multi-destination vacation around two countries based on a hotel!
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Who. Does. That? I won't call names here but I like them. Because, I'd been paging through the travel bible (as you do) when these awesome photos held my gaze seeping through my wanderlust.
Where is this place?
Quickly scanning the article. Da Nang, Vietnam, the article slowly revealed. Lured, Vietnam moved from number umpteen on the wish list to number two on the bucket list and a two-week date in the diary with InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort, culminating that two weeks. Such was the pull.
Touched down at Da Nang International Airport, our feet barely grazed the floor as we exited the door. Another thirty-minute drive, mostly hugging the beautiful coastline of the Son Tra Peninsula, pass the tallest buddha in all of Vietnam and be still - West Indian wiles attracted Vietnamese smiles at the hotel's reception.
Now, this is where I tell you this resort is the bee's knees, the absolute cat's pyjamas with chef's kisses!
Greeted by the calm of trickling water from the nearby fountain and staff addressing everything from a cool towel to your luggage, your nostrils awaken to a lemongrass fusion you'll later become very familiar with throughout the hotel. The black and white interior, injected with red, yellow and green accents and the myriad of textures throughout - gives your sense of smell, a carnival awakening!
Seventy-two acres of this mountainside belong to the resort, and when you stay, it becomes yours, and okay, you share with troops of monkeys. Only fair, they were there first. Some one hundred and ninety-seven rooms to choose from and they'll all offer sea views over the bay. Be that a 3-bed villa with an infinity pool or one of the classic suites.
Getting around this resort on foot promises a workout in itself. Remember, it's on the side of a mountain. And if you are slower to find your bearings, the chance of being misguided. There is, however, a buggy service, and that's always only a phone call or hand signal away.
Cloud and Shower
Our room opened to a balcony and a survey of the rooftops and the sprawling bay before it. So did the bathroom with its crazy, sexy, cool interior. Lovers of glossy hardwood flooring will find lots of this in the room, complemented with matching large hardwood beds.
Floor-to-ceiling glass walls line one side of the bathroom, while on the other side, the door opens, laying you bare to your balcony and beyond while standing under your private monsoon shower. His and her sinks, the deepest bathtub ever to be sunk into and evocative toiletries the likes I've yet to grace eyes on anywhere else. It is sure to bring out the naughtier side.
A little story. One morning in the rain shower, wide-eyed, I looked up to see a member of housekeeping cleaning the glass outside.
AHH Hello, I'm having a shower here!
Unsure if she heard me or possibly unimpressed from having seen one too many naked bodies (I am laughing at this now), she finished the glass and disappeared.
Those glass panels needed cleaning too! I suppose.
Beds are plush, indulging. You know that statement, I wonder what it is like sleeping on a cloud. Well settling on to that mattress, under that duvet and between those pillows is still my very best experience of it. Nothing else has come close.
Restaurants at InterContinental DaNang Sun Peninsula
Breakfast is worshipped here not just for its revival of the palate in the morning but as a feast on the eyes and the olfactory. All this made especially enviable from a cushioned conical booth with unended views over the South China Bay at Citron.
Food is taken seriously at this resort with its French restaurant La Maison 1888 honoured with the repute of being the first restaurant in Vietnam to feature a Michelin-starred chef. The world-renowned Pierre Gagnaire. It's worth knowing non-residents of the resort can also book to dine here.
Though it was Barefoot, with it's seafood menu and where we did dine barefooted became our go to for lunch and dinner. The baked fish is unbeatable.
Away from that, it was the L_O_N_G Bar at the beach that summoned all interest. Cocktails and pink-hued wines sipped from nine until nine on oversized day beds shared with newfound friends. Though, the nesting chairs were our fave!
Settled in, we cared little to leave the resort but the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hoi An, a jaunt away, became a must. The tug was painful, but with the resort offering a twice-daily shuttle bus service to and from Hoi An and us wanting to see as much of Vietnam as possible, we swapped the pleasure of the resort for the joy of Hoi An.
The ancient town of Hoi An is buzzy, but worlds away from anywhere else you'll visit in Vietnam. Truly worthy of its place on the UNESCO list and should be placed on your Vietnam tick list.
Travelling with kids? You will note the thoughtfulness placed in the resort's design here. From kiddie options at the spa to the dedicated kids' club's noticeably unnoticeable location next to The L_O_N_G Bar.
If recalled, at the beginning of this post, I mentioned some photos that stirred this twelve-thousand-mile round trip.
You'd be forgiven should you, too, find yourself succumbing to the seduction of this resort. It is, after all, eye-candy on the outside and, once inside, leaves you drunk and in love with it.
Going to the Son Tra Peninsula, Vietnam? Make staying at Intercontinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort, your resort of choice. You'll be sure of one thing, you'll not sleep on beds like theirs anywhere else.
