Guest Reviews

Mathis Retreat: "Magique"

Nous avons passé 4 nuits dans cet endroit magique et reposant, un véritable havre de paix... la directrice de l’hôtel (Karine) est une encyclopédie et pourra vous conseiller sur ce qui est incontournable à Bali en fonction de vos attentes... nous attendons qu’une seule chose c’est de pouvoir retourner

Neeleshwar Hermitage: "Neeleshwar Hermitage peaceful and comfortable"

"Do not be put off by the proud boast that Monty Don has been a visitor, this is a very nice hotel indeed. The bungalow style rooms are very nicely appointed, comfortable, and even the cheaper rooms are spacious. When booking, look at the hotel plan on the hotel website and they will try to book you into your selected choice. During our stay the hotel was occupied almost entirely by English couples of a certain age so do not expect a great deal of exited activity, but that is not the point of this hotel. It is quiet, peaceful, and a great place to recover from a journey to the subcontinent and recover from jetlag. The gardens in which the rooms are set are beautifully kept. The staff are a delight, have good english, and nothing is too much trouble for them. The food is very good; there are two restaurants which is a good effort from a relatively small property. This hotel is highly recommended. There is one quirk. Visitors to Kerala should know that very few hotels have full liquor licences. Neeleshwar Hermitage supply a very limited but entirely satisfactory choice of wines and very cold beer at a fair price for a top Indian hotel. I don't think spirits are available at all, soft drinks like Coca cola are strongly discouraged as their own enormous selection of fresh juices are provided. Try their freshly squeezed orange juice with your contraband duty free gin. There is no fridge in your room. Booking seven months ahead we were not able to incorporate a trip on their boat 'Lotus' so I can't report on this but it is clearly a popular choice. Room Tip: Look at the hotel plan on the hotel website and request it on making your reservation"

Flower Island: "Tropical Island Paradise"

My wife and I sent several wonderful days at Flower Island Resort. We made the special trip to see the Jewelmer Golden Pearl Farm on our second day. There we were shown how the oysters are propagated and grown. The crew there showed us the process of grafting oysters(where the bead is inserted in to the gonad) as while as the harvesting of the lustrous Golden Pearls. Our room was very comfortable traditional native hut with modern conveniences such as air conditioning and hot running water. We really enjoyed the wide variety of meals especially the pearl meat salad. There is a trail to a tower at the top of the island that gives you a 360 degree view. Another path takes you all the way around the island in about 35 minutes.

Dewakan: "A star on the fine dining stage of Malaysia"

Let me go straight to the point. We went here mid October and tried Dewakan's 17 course menu, one regular and one vegetarian (available upon request when you make your reservation). They dealt with the vegetarian request so, so well. The kitchen created completely new dishes that they'd never had on the menu before - razor clams, squid, red snapper, mushroom tarts, you name it. All presented and explained really well. Lots of delicious courses on both menus. The highlights were the duck (roasted to perfection), the lowland vegetables, the prawn umai, the mango curry and the slow cooked red snapper. The rice porridge with razor clams was also a pleasant surprise (served with ox tongue on the non-vegetarian menu). The service was great and the venue is nice and stylish. Dewakan is a little off track, probably a 35-45 mins drive from KLCC, but it's so worth it! Next time (because we will come back), I also hope there are sweet wines/ dessert wines available by the glass too. Cannot wait!

Inle Princess Resort: "Outstanding"

"Another wonderful stay at Inle Princess Resort. The review is rather similar to previous ones, but we find everything at the resort just excellent, the chalets, restaurant, spa, bar, the newly redesigned gift shop, the swimming pool and again, above all, the people. Several staff members speak some basic German and Spanish and I encourage guests to give them a chance to practice their language skills. Rent a bicycle and explore the countryside, nearby villages, markets, or the Maing Thouk forest monastery, just ask at the front desk. The food, whether Burmese or Western, was always delicious. We simply followed the recommendations of the chef (Nwe Oo) or of one of her assistants (Mo Kham). The homemade Frangipani ice cream is among our favourite desserts. The special dinner on the ""honeymoon island"" just for us was an absolute highlight. Very impressive is the social responsibility of the resort owner family, supporting the local population in many ways, e.g., most recently, construction of a new high school nearby (""Bamboo School"") is under way."

Maduzi Hotel: "great hotel"

Nice location and the room is nice big and clean, especially the bed is really huge. The staff are so friendly and we had a good experience in the hotel, and also good location which is nearby the MRT and BTS .

Cuca: "Fantastic"

Went to Cuca for dinner on my wife's birthday few days ago. Food, drinks, service were just amazing. Place is not cheap, but everything was soooooooo good. Worth its money to every cent spent. Absolutely,

Villa Song Saigon: "Fantastic boutique hotel, plus free speedboat and minibar"

"We absolutely loved this hotel. Beautiful, quaint, great staff, lovely food and wonderful rooms. It's no wonder that this is the top hotel in Saigon on Trip Advisor (at the time of writing). We stayed in a beautiful room overlooking the pool, with a deeply comfy double bed, separate shower room and washing facilities, TV, private balcony and all the usual mod cons included. Their service is second to none. There's a free minibar in all rooms (including beer, water, milk and juice). They serve breakfast at any time of the day (seriously - you could have it at 10pm if you REALLY sleep in), and it's included in the price of the room. And electricity can be left on in your suite when you leave, meaning those devices that keep dying might actually get charged. They have UK plug sockets too. Best of all, as the hotel is not right in the city centre, they put on a speedboat to ferry guests to the main bit of the city, on a first come first served basis. (Although it was never full when we stayed in May). The boat takes approximately 15-20 minutes, but you'd wish it would be longer, because it's brilliant. The last boat is at 6pm, and a taxi back to the hotel should set you back 150,000 VND. If it's more than that, they've got lost! The pool is excellent, as is their restaurant, which is overseen by Kevin the chef from Luxembourg - who will certainly seek you out to say hello, or offer some food and drink recommendations. Food and drink here, incidentally, is a few more pennies by Vietnamese standards, but very fair when compared to the rest of Saigon, and even better when compared to the likes of London. Breakfast, which I briefly mentioned, is very good. The best we had in Vietnam, in fact. And it offers up some really well done variations of Western classics like pancakes or a full English versus your traditional and excellent Pho noodle soup. (If you're really hungry, you can even have both - in fact, it was them who suggested it, which I greedily accepted). Their staff are great, too. When we wanted to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels, the front desk organised a speedboat to pick us up from the hotel's own private jetty - and one of the highlights of our trip. If I was to take points off this hotel, and it is being picky, then their airport to hotel transfer service is very expensive in comparison to most hotels we stayed at in Vietnam (all of which have a comparative distance from airport to destination). It was a nice air conditioned private car, but then it was no better than every other hotel provided us. And 1,386,000 VND is a bit steep. Full disclosure: they had quoted this price to me some time before we arrived in Vietnam, and I could have shopped around for cheaper prices, so I can't really blame them for quoting a price to me and then accepting it. But it might be something they could look at in the future! The taxi they booked us for our return to the airport after our stay was much, much cheaper at 300,000 VND. So maybe shop around for your original pick-up. I know there's loads of 'taxi scams' in Vietnam, but you should be able to find a decent service for cheaper transfers if you need. None of that dented out love of Villa Song Saigon, and I would have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone. I really miss their speedboat..."

The Island Lodge: "Perfect start to our Vietnamese adventure."

"Beautiful hideaway in the middle of the Mekong Delta. Room, food, staff and pool amazing; we loved our stay. A special thank-you to the wonderful gardener who jumped fully clothed into the Mekong to rescue my bifocal glasses when they accidentally dropped into river ! Thanks Amanda & Martin x"

The Hue House: "Áwesome dining experience"

super delicious foods, beautiful rooftop settings, lovely attentive staff... a wonderful luncheon experience... Will definitely be back!