Six Senses Ninh Van Bay
Location
The hotel is arranged around its own cove, across the water from the busy, holiday-resort town of Nha Trang. From the nearest international airport (Cam Ranh), it’s a 35-kilometre drive to the Six Senses jetty; from there, a speedboat will deliver you to the hotel.
Style and Character
Six Senses Ninh Van Bay was designed with an end goal of privacy and seclusion: the resort is spread out in a way that means you’ll seldom see other guests, except in the restaurants or by the pool. The rooms – designed as self-contained wooden villas, with a rustic, romantic decor – are tucked away in various locations along the rocky peninsula.
Service and Facilities
The butler service on offer is excellent: a knowledgeable guide will be assigned to you on arrival, ready to talk you through the excursion options on offer each day (yoga, tai chi, boat cruises, fishing trips) and make sure your schedule fits them all (if you want it to). Hop on a buggy or bike to reach the jungle-surrounded spa for yoga classes up in the hills or treatments in bamboo huts. As well as tennis courts, there is an outdoor gym; though you’re likely to get just as fit from scaling all the resort’s precipitous steps and walkways.
Rooms
Treehouse-style, thatched villas are strung along a pathway over the rocks or along the beach, with some set back in the hills. To reach the farthest Water Pool Villa is no mean feat and not for the faint-hearted. The decor is simple (it’s the landscape that does the talking), but stylish and sumptuous: rooms are hewn from wood, with big beds, large TVs and luxurious linen. Some have sea-facing bath tubs and private pools built into boulders – not that you need a pool when there’s a ladder straight down into the sea on the deck. Others have direct access to the sandy shores; or kitchens and multiple bedrooms for groups and families.
Food and Drink
Much of the resort’s produce is grown in the extensive kitchen gardens. Restaurants are helpfully named according to their location, making them easy to find: Dining by the Bay overlooks the water and is a popular choice due to its varied menu (dishes range from zesty Asian salads to slabs of Australian Wagyu). Dining by the Pool is the barefoot, beachside option, for casual lunches and vast calzones courtesy of the Italian chef. The most fancy is Dining by the Rocks, set high on a cliffside and offering fine-dining with South-East Asian flavours.
For special occasions, the wine cellar can be transformed into a boutique restaurant for two; and for when the walk to the communal areas seems too taxing, room service, swiftly delivered in wicker backpacks, is a welcome treat. Breakfast is an impressive array of typical Asian, American and Continental components, with a whole temperature-controlled room devoted to cheese, meats and fruit.