Avana Retreat

Style

High-tier cultural hotpot

Setting

Mai Chau mountain valley

Vietnam’s Avana Retreat is an otherworldly stay in the greener – and maybe more fantastical – Emerald City, a lush rural region of Mai Chau: all deep leafy valleys, flower-dotted peaks and the kind of picturesque clouds you’d expect angelic hosts to hang out on. It’s luxurious, with a three-tiered pool, happy hours that lose track of time, a whole enclave dedicated to spa healing, and flavoursome bowls of pho. But it also has more layers than its terraced paddies, celebrating Thai, Hmong and Muong cultures with a museum in a traditional stilted hut, village visits and free craft sessions. A richly immersive stay all round.

Facilities

Номера

36, including 31 suites and villas.

Checkout

11am, but flexible, subject to availability and a charge of 50% of the room rate if checking out between noon and 6pm. Earliest check-in, 2pm.

Больше сведений

Rates include breakfast, fresh fruit in your villa and afternoon snacks at the Cloud Pool Bar.

Also

The winding walkways and hillside setting make this stay unsuitable for guests with mobility issues.

Фитнес-центр

Бесплатный доступ в интернет

Прачечная

Бассейн

Рестораны на территории

Обслуживание в номерах

Спа

At the Hotel

Lush gardens and terraced paddies; stilted-house museum; spring-fed lagoon; waterfall; spa with a herbal room and koi pond; yoga and meditation pavilion; fitness centre; open-air cinema (in season); boutique; chicken farm; fishing pond; kids’ club; charged laundry service; and free WiFi. In rooms: iPad (for room service, buggies, the concierge and more); minibar; coffee- and tea-making kit; and air-conditioning.

Our Favourite Rooms

This corner of Mai Chau has very few – if any – bad angles it seems, so whether your hideaway’s set on-high or tucked away into the trees, you’re guaranteed a soul-stirring slice of greenery, mountainside, trickling stream, or a valley overhung with a heavenly under-lit layer of cloud (if you’re visiting in autumn). The Senna Villas are the stand-outs for having the handful of the property’s private pools. There are two-bedroom hideaways for families and groups, too.

Poolside

Built to resemble the terraced rice fields it overlooks, the three-tiered Cloud Pool might offer the most spectacular swim you ever take, with far-reaching views across Mai Chau valley from all aspects. Water is filtered in from the waterfall. The top two decks are for lazy soaking and gentle paddles, and the 50-metre lower deck is for athletic laps. While you dry off, order drinks from the bar and admire the scenery from a lounger. And, while you can’t frolic in the waterfall, you can enjoy more intimate swims at the Hidden Spring Lagoon.

Spa

Forget plinky-plonky muzak and token houseplants – at Avana Retreat’s Orchid Spa you get the real deal, with streams burbling tranquilly by, the distant rush of the waterfall, chatty birds, and profuse plant life springing up around the stilted thatched huts of its tucked-away enclave arranged around a koi pond you can meditate beside. Therapists have a knack for herbology and traditional healing methods, and fragrant natural oils are prepared in the dedicated herbal room; all this comes together in detoxifying scrubs and wraps, brightening facials, soothing massages and signature journeys mixing and matching all – or a rose-scattered couple’s treatment. And, for some mind and soul massaging, with singing-bowl meditation, daily hatha and yin yoga morning sessions, breathwork, and sound baths, the Hmong Cottage is a pavilion hidden in the trees. (Meditation sessions must be booked two hours in advance, yoga 10 hours and private classes 24 hours.) A fitness centre has motivating leafy views, too.

Packing Tips

Bring yoga gear and shoes that won’t get shredded while trekking. But otherwise, save room for pieu scarves, brocade and batik hangings, rattan baskets, scented candles and local silverware (which is highly symbolic and said to have protective properties), made either by a local village person or by you onsite.

Also

Avana Retreat’s uniforms are inspired by the costumes of the Blue Hmong – an ethnic minority residing in Mai Chau – with ornamental blue batik fabrics, which are embellished with appliqué, cross-stitching and patchwork.

Дети

Younger guests will feel like they’ve been plonked into The Jungle Book with all the run-wild fun involved; a free kids’ club offers local arts and crafts and movie nights, and there’s a dedicated menu in the restaurant.

Галерея

Food & Drink

Top Table

Have a table for two set up for a seven-course meal at the Hidden Spring Lagoon or beside the Pung waterfall cascades; flowers abound and lanterns hang from tree branches and dot the decks.

Дресс-код

The bolder the batik, the better.

Hotel Restaurant

With a waterfall cascading nearby, duck pond by the door and fragrant breezes floating in from the paddies, Green Chilli Restaurant is a peaceful thatch-roofed dining spot. Within there’s a ring of green, thanks to the 360-degree windows, sofas with batik and brocade cushions, and woven-rattan light fixtures. The beef pho is the signature dish a warming bowl of pungent broth, flavoured with fish sauce, coriander, star-anise, cinnamon, pepper, grilled onions and ginger, with an eyebrow-raising splash of Muong Khuong chilli sauce, which rings true to northwestern cuisine. But other authentic eats include duck grilled with spices, lemongrass and shallots; goat ribs with chrysanthemum and pineapple; green carp and bamboo-broth hotpot; lobster with seaweed and pickled ginger; or banana-flower salad with dried buffalo meat. And, there are the less authentic, but still delicious, pastas, pizzas and fusion dishes (truffled rack of lamb, cognac-flambéed prawns) too. But, you’re pulled right back into the locale on Saturday nights when indigenous Xòe dancers arrive. Afternoon tea (2pm to 5pm) adopts Vietnamese flavours, with tiger prawn and mango spring rolls and fried-pork ‘pillow cakes’, piña-colada sponge and sticky-leaf panna-cotta; and fragrant leaf teas and tropical juices. Have it served privately in the Hmong Cottage or by the lagoon for an extra charge.

Hotel Bar

The Cloud Pool Bar is set beside the hotel’s three-tiered swimming spot and shares the sweeping views of mist-swathed Mai Chau Valley. Exotic cocktails are a speciality – especially the potent Fingers of the Dragon, with apricot brandy, vodka, fermented hibiscus flower and passionfruit – alongside all the classics and there’s a lengthy wine list, too. Happy hour is extended here, with free snacks served between 4pm and 5.30pm, and buy-one-get-one-free drinks from 3pm to 6pm. For abstainers, there’s a long and enticing lassi list as well.

Last Orders

The Cloud Pool Bar serves its last pour at 10pm.

Room Service

Mealtimes seem just that bit more magical taken on your terrace overlooking the valley – use your room’s iPad to order breakfast between 7am and 10am, then all-day dining till 9pm.

Planes

The closest international airport is Hanoi’s Noi Bai, around a four-hour drive away; transfers can be arranged for VND500,000 a seat, one-way, with pick-ups at Hanoi Opera House (from 7.30am) and Big C Tran Duy Hung (from 8am to 8.15am). And domestic arrivals can touch down at Cat Bi, a five-hour drive away, which also has some direct connections to China.

Automobiles

Avana Retreat’s serene green location is largely due to it being sequestered away in Mai Chau’s mountains. Once onsite you won’t really need to leave, but wheels will be essential in ferrying you there and back. You’re a two-hour drive from Pu Luong, Thanh Hoa and Moc Chau; a four-hour drive from Hanoi or Ninh Binh; and a six-hour drive from Ha Long. There’s free parking when you arrive.

Worth Getting Out of Bed For

For a pottering-about-in-paradise kind of stay, Avana Retreat keeps the curious and culture-seeking very busy. After all there’s the natural Pung waterfall (set at the heart of the estate) to marvel at, lush lagoons and primaeval forest to explore, and ethnic villages, each with their own traditions and rituals to discover. Many activities are included in your room rate: you can meet the chickens on the cage-free farm and collect their eggs, feed the ducks or meditate by the spa’s koi pond; craft a candle with a signature scent in free sessions at the herbal room; cast a line into the fishing pond; learn Vietnamese at the Hmong Cottage; flip through the library’s tomes; meditate, contort with different yoga styles or zone out to singing bowls; and express yourself through batik painting (Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 1pm or 2.30pm). Take a tour of the onsite stilted museum (2.30pm to 3pm daily), a dwelling built in time-honoured fashion, housing jewellery, costumes, musical instruments and more from the region’s three native groups: the Thai, Muong, and Hmong peoples; followed by a brocade- and rattan-basket-weaving lesson from the lady manning the loom outside (Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from 2pm to 4pm), and roasting corn and sweet potatoes over a fire (every Friday during winter). Hop in the hotel’s Jeep for a jaunt through the rice-field terraces, or give your camera something spectacular to capture, going ‘cloud hunting’ from the hotel’s viewpoint (the best time is around October). Trek through the forest to the Hmong village of Cang with a native guide or Thai village Buoc to hear resident Mr Nhieu’s tales of the past and maybe catch a Xòe dance performance; and tag along with the chef to Bao La market, where silkworms, stink bugs and ant eggs for sale let you give insect protein a go. For an extra charge, you could gently kayak through the water-lily fields of Ba Khan Lake in the foothills of the Thung Khe Pass; roam Pu Luong Nature Reserve and spy butterflies in Cuc Phuong National Park; kitesurf along the coast in Phan Rang; pay your respects at Po Long Garai’s temple complex; zip through the Ha Giang loop on motorbike; and see extinct volcano Ham Rong Lake’s coating of Da Quy blossoms throughout October and November.

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. .