Hotel of the Week: A New Luxury Stay Elevates a Visit to Vietnam’s Breathtaking Bay of Ha Long
The new Intercontinental Ha Long Bay offers a sumptuous environment for experiencing one of the planet’s most jaw-dropping landscapes
Ninety minutes east of Hanoi, the new 174-room Intercontinental Ha Long Bay has solved a serious travel conundrum by turning the mesmerizingly beautiful Bay of Ha Long in Vietnam into a luxury destination. Previously, the majority of local lodgings catered to backpackers, which meant most people visited as part of an exhausting day trip from Hanoi. Now they can not only relax and stay the night, but also seriously savor the spectacular setting.
Thickly covered with tropical vegetation, the dozens of hive-shaped karsts rearing up out of the topaz waters of the bay—which was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994—immediately induce a desire for quiet contemplation, but given the exploding popularity of one of Asia’s top bucket-list destinations, this tranquility has generally been almost impossible to find.
Large parts of French director Regis Warnier’s 1992 film Indochine, with Catherine Deneuve and Vincent Perez were filmed at the Bay of Ha Long, which seeded a yearning in the French speaking world to visit this magnificent place. Now, throngs of day-trippers, most arriving from China, reach the destination by motorboat, brandishing their selfie sticks and buying tropical fruit to feed to the plump monkeys that live on the approximately 2,000 islands.
At the newly built $100 million hotel, almost every room includes a balcony offering a sweeping view of the islands that punctuate the distant horizon. Nearby luxury charter outboards make it possible to plan a day trip to the islands that avoids primetime crowds and tour the bay with stops for swimming, kayaking, or lunch at a floating pearl farm. The concierge at the Intercontinental can book this outing, which should be arranged a day in advance.
Those staying on property will relish the sleek modernist design by Los Angeles-based WATG architects. Through the soaring lobby with a huge picture window overlooking the bay and past a grouping of stunning urns filled with seasonal flowers, the spacious rooms upstairs boast a sleek design by Bangkok’s P49Deesign studio.
The interiors tell a fascinating story about the evolving aesthetics of increasingly affluent Vietnam, too, because they reference the country’s vanishing French colonial architecture—suddenly popular with prosperous younger Vietnamese, who find it romantic rather than a reminder of a troubled past—with Art Deco furniture, moldings, and a color scheme of ivory, turquoise, azure, and seaweed green.
Mornings at the hotel should begin at the outstanding breakfast buffet, with tropical fruit, dim sum, congee, and pho, the emblematic Vietnamese soup. Midday and evening meals are served in several excellent restaurants, including those orchestrating Japanese, Chinese, French, and international menus.
The hotel is a blissful cocoon in which to rejuvenate for a few days during a trip to Vietnam. It has an excellent spa, a manmade beach of fine white sand planted with palm trees, several swimming pools, a well-equipped workout room, an array of water sports, and a curated selection of activities, including lessons in how to make delicious Vietnamese coffee or bake moon cakes. A delectable treat to enjoy while watching a classic film, perhaps, or just taking in the views firsthand.
