Zhiwa Ling: "Beautiful hotel in Paro, Bhutan"
This is a beautiful hotel in the magical and serene Paro valley in Bhutan, a place as faraway as one can imagine and more than a bit like the fictional Shangri La. Constructed in the architectural style of the country, it is a gorgeous property, with lots of open space. Rooms are located in about eight separate buildings, four to six rooms per building, all with balconies facing the nearby river. Our room was spacious and very nicely decorated; it included separate tub and shower, comfortable king size bed, balcony seating area and more than ample closet space. The fitness center is reasonably well equipped and situated in a large, attractive space adjacent to a large indoor swimming pool. The lobby and public meeting spaces are distinctively and comfortably furnished and decorated in the local style. The staff is as gracious and anxious to please as one can find in a hotel anywhere. This is a top tier hotel by any standard.Rachamankha: "Impressed"
Stayed here for our honeymoon and wow was it a great choice! The pool is stunning and the grounds are something super special. You feel like royalty here. The staff wants nothing more than to help and please you and do such a great job of making your stay lovely! They gave us fee champagne upon arrival and the manager was so lovely. Airport pickup with them went swimmingly and the breakfast was five star every morning! Couldn't be more full never ending amount of food offered! Room service was a delight as well. Only thing I would say is stay away from the burger and the dinner at the restaurant both were below average. Other than that everything was five star perfection! Will never forget this place!!Les Maisons d’Itac: "BEST PLACE EVER! Suite Télémac ❤️"
"It's been a long time since I've been in the Philippines and it was his first time to go for a proper visit (stopped over on the way to Australia back in '99). I wanted to make sure he sees how beautiful the islands are and make him experience local culture and the Filipinos signature hospitality without compromising some luxuries. Boy, oh boy, this place made an impression! Our first time in Cebu coming from an awesome 3 days in Boracay, we thought this place will have to work really hard to impress us. We arrived at the Cebu Mactan airport and was picked up by a friendly ""Kuya"" that we arranged with Sir Bryan. His car was clean and he let us do a bit of shopping at the nearby Savemore supermarket while he waited at the parking lot. I admired his patience. He told us it'll take around 3hours to get to the resort and I thought we were ok with it. I am not a very patient passenger, plus we just came from a tiring flight and barely had time to rest. I kept thinking that I made the wrong decision with booking this property because it was miles and miles (and miles) away from the airport. Eventually, we arrived at the resort late at around 8pm and it was already dark so I was like, ""okay, give it a chance in the morning"". We were lead to our private villa and I was pleasantly surprised at how perfect it was with our own pool, 3 rooms, a hut and a cabana! Sir Bryan called one of the girls to fix us a meal and it was delicious. I am not kidding, it was. We were the only guests because it was the town fiesta (festival honoring the feast day of their patron saint) and Sir Bryan was worried that guests might not be happy with the noises the parties might cause. I was warned about this beforehand but we were totally ok and were actually planning to join the party. In the morning, we woke up and our jaws dropped after realising how gorgeous the whole property was. Breakfast was unforgettable, especially the fresh mango smoothie/shake (so sweet and not even a grain of sugar was added in it!). On other days we had different fruit shakes and the staff made sure they were all fresh and perfect. The food, as I've mentioned, is simply perfect. Loads of activities around and we were luck enough to join the fluvial parade during the town feast and we had so much fun chasing and trying to get the passengers on the other boat as wet with sea water as we can. We ended up getting back after around an hour soaked, but incredibly happy. We had our first try with stand up paddle-boarding and it was great! People who like their own space and respect other people's will fall in love with this place. The marine sanctuary right in front of this property is a great indicator they care about the earth. It is one of the best holidays and resort I've been to. We left with a heavy heart and wished we could've stayed a bit longer. Will definitely try and visit again if we ever go back to the Philippines."The Samar: " Something else"
" Siem Reap itself is something else. You can feel certain peace and tranquility immidiately after you land there. When you check in to hotel Samar Villa & Spa, this feeling of serenity and relaxation comes to it's full power. It is situated just a bit outside of the city centre limits, which is actually great. Tuk tuk is affordable so a 4,5 minute ride to the Siem Reap centre is really not a problem. On a contrary, nice way to cool down after a hot day in Angkor temples, before you step into the Samar swimming pool. Check in procedure is really smooth and relaxing, with nice welcome drinks and towels provided for all. Hotel is not big, so even if they are full, you are almost all the time alone and you feel like you have it all just for yourself. Staff are very nice and provide help but privacy in the same time, which we appreciated highly. Rooms are so nice, in french colonial style, maintained well, decorated with style. Breakfasts were so delicious, there is no buffet, but you can order your daily choice and they will prepare it for you. Very tasty. Some of the comments before were negative (eg maintainance, insect spraying,...). We found them not to be true, and as far as insects are concerned, of course they have to spray, but as the end result you can have nice relaxing evenings without bugs and mosquitos. They do it during the day, when all/most guests are out, exploring temples.... All in all, i really hope me and my family will come back to Cambodia and Siem Reap soon. Then we will stay in Samar again for sure! It is for every recommendation."Tugu Bali: "A rare gem"
"I stayed at Tugu hotel with my wife and my little one and we absolutely loved it. A rare beautiful place in the middle of a lush garden. They did an incredible job to maintain this historic place. The mystique beach of Canggu is one step ahead which can be enjoyed thanks to a very convenient ""green beach deck"" to enjoyed all the facilities of the 5 stars. The service is excellent. The Indonesian food very tasty and I simply loved the surprising Japanese restaurant. We need now to test the Tugu hotel in Lombok !"Golden Buddha Beach Resort: "Supporting the Local Community-True Eco Tourism"
"After spending a week at Golden Buddha, my greatest appreciation of the resort I can't emphasize enough (beyond the seclusion in a mesmerizing natural environment unparalleled in my experiences living in Thailand) is their mission to support the local community with true eco-tourism. I was amazed and overjoyed to learn all of the staff members, from the smiling and friendly faces behind the bar counter to the women working in the kitchen to the maintenance men who wave as you walk by, are all local people from the small fisherman village on the other side of the island. I actually had the opportunity to visit the village, Tey Pey Yoi, through an eco-tour offered by the resort where guests have a chance to learn from local school children the art of batik painting while contributing positively to the community and school as guests. My experience with our tour guide Eak was absolutely AMAZING. His giant genuine smile and his passion and local expertise about the wildlife we saw as we crossed the savannah to reach the village was the highlight of my stay at Golden Buddha (listening to the whistles he knows by heart to communicate with different birds isn't something you easily forget). The village itself is incredibly humble and reflective of a very low standard of living, with stilted one room homes over the water or small concrete houses covered by tin roofs on the sand. While the village way of life is a beautiful culture to witness and set in an awe-inspiring backdrop of local fisherman boats, mangrove trees, and mountains from the mainland, it brings a reality to where Golden Buddha's staff come from, and made even more clear to me the dedication and mission of the resort to train and offer employment opportunities specifically to the inhabitants of the island. They even hire an English intern every season to provide free English language lessons to the staff, an opportunity I can now fully understand after visiting the humble and under-funded school where most of the staff recieved their education. In a competitive tourist industry near places like Phuket and Khao Lak, Golden Buddha is true to the label ""eco-tourism"" by being an integral contributor to the local community. Knowing I am directly helping contribute to the livelihoods of the warm and beaming staff who made my stay so welcome gives me a feeling of pride as a traveler who is intentional about the footprint she leaves behind as a guest in a foreign country."tugu bali: "We wanted a WOW !!!!!! place to send our first Christmas! We found it! Hidden Secret"
"My boyfriend and i wanted a WOW place to spend Christmas. I went on internet and typed : "" best places to spend Christmas"" and i found an article from Condè Nast saying : Bali, and the best hotel to go : Tugu Hotel ! So i booked. The hotel is amazing since the owner is the biggest art collector of Indonesia, you can really feel a good ""vibe"" BUT the service is even more amazing. We rented the Dendari Suite(we had our private pool and private court yard with a fish pound, with a private swing bed !!!. They brought us to our room at midnight after a 30h flight ..., candles were lit, encent was burning on the way to our door AND our HUGE bath was filled with warm water, flowers and lemongrass essential oil..... WOWWW, the rest was just like that, there is only 21 rooms so the concept is that you can have your breakfast, lunch diner where ever you like, at the beach, at in the Chinese Temple, in your room, near the pound whereever ! The food at the hotel is great, i would really advice you take the romantic package !! It comes with a 2h30 pampering at the spa that finished with them washing your hair, outside, on an antique chair, WOW ! Kadet at the spa is amazing, Khrischna our waiter was so nice loving and caring like the rest of the staff. Kelly, the hotel manager was there for us if you need her and made sure our stay was perfect! The only thing, and i told it to Kelly is that there internet site does not show how great this place is!!! I want to go back !!!!!!!! "Flower Island Resort: "Best Island in Philippines"
"When you arrive to Flower Island you feel like you have arrived to heaven!! My husband and I booked 2 nights in late September but once we arrived we immediately decided to extend to 3 nights. Luckily we were the only guests on the island and the stuff upgraded our room to the golden one. The room was very comfortable and clean and the view is amazing!! The water is crystal clear and you can do a lot of activities like snorkeling and kayaking. The staff were amazing, all of them are very nice, kind and with good vibes! We did the tour for the pearl factory and it was very interesting to get familiar with the process; after the visit, we had a private picnic for us on beautiful island nearby. Finally the food was DELICIOUS, every meal was different from each other. Don't hesitate to reserve this place, we highly recommend it!! Thanks again to the staff that made our honeymoon unforgettable!!"Noel Rodrigo’s Leopard Safaris: "Amazing Safari – we loved it"
"A big thank you to Sajith and the team at Leopard Safaris, we stayed here as Part of our honeymoon trip around Sri Lanka and we were not disappointed, we were even presented with a chocolate cake to share with the camp. The food for every meal was traditional Sri Lankan food and it was great to try lots of new dishes. We stayed in the Tusker tent which was brilliant there was so much space in the room, air con, safe, and the open air shower was brilliant. It's so well built if your not a fan of camping this is room for you as it's basically a five star bungalow. Getting up at 4:45am for the early morning safaris was a bit hard, but getting all of the great sightings of the animals especially the baby elephants and leopards. Sajith is and extremely knowledgable bird and wildlife guide and a brilliant photographer too, so if you have any questions he will be happy to help. I managed to get some brilliant photos and I was using a pretty basic Nikon camera I have uploaded on here so if your keen on photography you will love it. Everyone we stayed with in the camp were also lovely especially Terry and Jo which made the whole experience brilliant. If you are thinking of going on a safari in this area stay here as these guys really know how to look after you, track and view all the amazing wildlife that live in Sri Lanka! Stayed February 2017, traveled as a couple"Jing’s Residence: "Somewhere different with old style class"
A different location, a relatively small, old walled city and accomodation to match. The only downside would be Pingyoa has too many shops selling virtually identical goods! The city wall is well worth a walk around.Travel Asia with Secret Retreats
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