Azerai Ke Ga Bay

Style

High-gloss hideaway

Setting

Chill-out coast

Adrian Zecha has the uncanny ability of knowing exactly what holidaymakers want. It’s why the staff at the cult Aman hotels he formerly founded are almost supernaturally attuned to guests’ whims. And, as a pioneer of the world’s finest minimalist hotels, he understands that luxury can mean simple and stripped-back. With Azerai Ke Ga Bay (one of two Azerai hotels in Vietnam), there’s little embellishment to the glossy white decor – and there needn’t be, because the sparkling waves of the East Sea, lush ginger gardens and golden sands do the heavy lifting for head-turning. Spa treatments using ancient Vietnamese wisdom, placid pools dotted throughout and locally fished and grown dishes are assuredly decadent, but in a place where cosseting staff speak a range of tongues, the lingua franca is still simple pleasure.

Facilities

Rooms

56 suites, including 21 with private pools.

Checkout

12 noon, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 2pm.

More Details

Rates usually include a buffet-style Continental or à la carte breakfast, bike hire, a welcome drink each, tote bags and bottled water in rooms.

Fitness Center

Free Internet Access

Laundry

Pool

On-Site Restaurant

Room Service

Spa

At the Hotel

Spa with sauna and steam room, beauty studio, gardens, kids’ room, games room, table tennis, pétanque, beach volleyball, living room and lounge, boutique, laundry service, free WiFi. In rooms: TV, sound-system, minibar, tea- and coffee-making kit, air-conditioning, bathrobes and slippers, bottled water.

Our Favourite Rooms

Suites and villas capitalise on the estate’s spaciousness – at the very least you’ll have 65sq m of space to play in. Design harks back to the Vietnamese retro-modernism of the Fifties and Sixties, with natural stone and timber finishes and a light beachy colour palette, given texture with rattan and seagrass matting, wood screens and pebble-wash flooring. All bear a calming simplicity – after all, this is an off-shoot of the famously minimalist Aman brand – with a luxurious feel, but the private pools in the upper-tier suites add some swagger to the serenity.

Poolside

Bring an array of swimwear, because you’ll spend a lot of time frolicking like a fish in the hotel’s two pools. They are both squirrelled away in a peaceful courtyard, overhung with 50-year-old frangipani trees.

Spa

Wave-like stroking, pressure-point stimulating, beachy visual aids: spa therapists here have an alleviating arsenal – including tips and tricks gleaned from ancient Vietnamese holism – to gently cajole guests into calmness in six frangipani-scented treatment rooms (including doubles for couples). Pampering starts off with a consultation and includes a complementary steam room and sauna session. Alongside soothing signature journeys, there are massages, facials, wraps, reflexology, and scrubs made using dragonfruit, coffee or rice. Plus a gentle, ginger-scented hair-washing experience. There’s a Jacuzzi and a gym with high-tech cardiovascular and strength-training equipment, and manicures and pedicures in the beauty studio polish off the spa spoiling. When you’re done you can relax along the oceanfront looking out to the lighthouse.

Packing Tips

You won’t need a beach bag – there’s a branded tote in each room. Bring knockabout gear, so you’re ready for bombing through dragonfruit farms on a bike or romping through ancient salt lakes.

Also

A ritual befitting a stay as refined as this (albeit with more of a Vietnamese flavour), complimentary afternoon tea is served in the living room from 3.30pm to 4.30pm daily – it includes tropically flavoured cakes and other traditional treats.

Children

Welcome; little Smiths can stay in the Deluxe and Pool Suites.

Gallery

Food & Drink

Top Table

Sitting on the deck by the bay – watching the tide roll away.

Dress Code

Bright like tropical fish, to pop against the monochrome: flashes of turquoise, gold and coral; liquid-like silks; plucked-from-the-ocean pearls.

Hotel Restaurant

Here the landscape pretty much doubles as your menu: fat fruits from the plantations, salt from the flats and fish from the sea will all end up on your plate. Say, in a green-mango salad with prawns and calamari, coconut pork belly and lemongrass chicken. The grill is laden with lobster, whatever the sea brought in that day and grain-fed beef, and of the more international picks we like the braised short-rib with apple and ginger and truffled Vichyssoise. And at lunchtime get stuck into a torpedo-size bánh mì or zingy summer rolls.

Hotel Bar

What to drink when the sky starts to blush? Take a spin on the colour wheel – most of the bar’s signature cocktails are named after vibrant hues, say the Purple Lady with dragonfruit juice and sparkling wine, or a Jade with vodka, Midori and cucumber. The bartenders know the classics too.

Last Orders

Breakfast runs from 6.30am to 10am and you can take afternoon tea from 3.30pm to 4.30pm. Dinner is from 6pm to 10pm.

Room Service

Dine in the peace and privacy of your room from 7am to 10pm (in-room breakfast will cost you extra).

Planes

Tan Son Nhat International in Ho Chi Minh City is the most convenient transport hub for reaching the hotel. It’s a three-hour drive along palm-tree-lined roads from the hotel. Alternatively, Cam Ranh International is a five-hour drive along a spectacular coastal route. Transfers from Tan Son Nhat International Airport can be arranged by the hotel (US$150 one way, for up to three guests; US$216 for up to seven guests).

Trains

Bình Thuận station is around an hour’s drive from the hotel and it’s a stop on the epic North-South railway that runs between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh, making it a convenient point to hop off if you’re on a cross-country trip. Alternatively, ride from Ho Chi Minh to Phan Thiet station (a four-hour journey), from which the hotel can pick you up for US$36 one way for up to three guests, or US$51 for up to seven guests.

Automobiles

Alongside your licence, you’ll need an International Driving Permit to take the wheel in Vietnam. Whether you want to or not is another story, as the roads can be poorly maintained, death-wish motorcyclists are many and drivers on the defensive. For this reason, car-hire in Vietnam almost always comes with a private driver, or the hotel can help to arrange transfers (around US$130 one way for three guests; US$185 for up to seven guests). There’s free parking on site.

Worth Getting Out of Bed For

Far from the clamour of Vietnam’s cities, Azerai Ke Ga Bay enjoys a peace you can only find while deeply entrenched amid nature. The East Sea and its beachy fringe stretch out before the estate, while salt fields, ginger gardens and nearby dragonfruit plantations spread lushly inland. To the north lies a rocky headland and Ke Ga Island, topped by a French-colonial lighthouse built in 1899 (accessible on foot at low tide), and to the south, rippling russet-hued sand dunes. With five kilometres of tropical shoreline at guests’ disposal, you’re sure to find a sunbathing spot to maroon yourselves on. Those who get restless after a few supine sessions can sail, paddleboard, windsurf, kite surf or go wild swimming. In Phan Thiet to the north, the two-hour hike up Tà Cú Mountain takes you through thick rainforest and ends with Buddhist statues and an eye-catching pagoda at the top (those taking it easy can ride the cable-car). Less exerting is exploring the still-standing temples of the Cham Kingdom at Tháp Po Sah Inu. And, those looking to swing should head to the 36-hole PGA NovaWorld golf course, a 20-minute drive away. Or, you can simply spa, swim and relax in exotic splendour back at the hotel.

Earn or Redeem Points with World of Hyatt

This Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in the World of Hyatt loyalty program. As a member, you can earn and redeem points and enjoy exclusive benefits for qualifying nights. .