Our honest review of hotels in Vietnam

Six Senses Con Dao

The hotel is located just a one-hour flight from Ho Chi Minh City, on the island of Con Dao. The airport is tiny—you can collect your luggage within minutes—and the transfer to the hotel is very short, around twenty minutes.

The setting is absolutely stunning. The resort stretches along a vast beach where it stands alone, giving you the feeling of being at the edge of the world. And to make things even better, the beach isn’t just large—it’s particularly beautiful, framed by cliffs on either side.

I may be exaggerating slightly when I say you’ll be completely alone on the beach—that’s not entirely true. You’ll be sharing it with countless small crabs and, more importantly, turtles. The beach is known as a nesting site where green and olive ridley sea turtles come to lay their eggs. Watching baby turtles hatch is a magical experience not to be missed (between May and December).

The hotel remains true to the Robinson Crusoe spirit of Six Senses. The rooms are made of wood and decorated as simply as possible—perhaps a bit too simply for our taste, with some areas in need of renovation (those decades-old light switches 🙂).

Many of the suites are duplex, with the bathroom located on the lower level and accessed via an outdoor staircase, which isn’t always very practical. (There is still a toilet on the bedroom level.) But if you forgot to remove your makeup, you’ll have to step outside, go downstairs, and re-enter the bathroom below.

That said, the view from the bedroom balcony is absolutely breathtaking, and the private pool on the ground floor, next to the bathroom, is a real highlight.