Two Vietnamese hotels among Asia's ‘exciting new retreats’

The Regent Phu Quoc and Capella Hanoi have been named among Asia's "exciting new retreats" to travel to right now by the U.S travel magazine Afar.

"In southern Vietnam, the new Regent Phu Quoc is tucked away on the country’s largest island, a tropical destination off Cambodia’s coast. The resort blends contemporary design with touches of Vietnamese culture, like bathrobes that offer a pictorial history of Phu Quoc with pearls, peppercorns, and koi fish," the magazine notes.

The resort, located on Bai Truong beach in Kien Giang province, next to a UNESCO-recognised world biosphere reserve, opened in the first quarter of this year.

Around 15 minutes from the Phu Quoc International Airport, Regent Phu Quoc features 342 suites and villas, six restaurants and bars, swimming pools and the first resort-owned catamaran on the island.

"In the 302 suites and villas, everything from artisanal snacks and rice cookers to yoga blocks and playing cards are available at the touch of a button. The accommodations are set around the property’s grand pools, calm shorelines, and five drinking and dining establishments include the Vietnamese restaurant Rice Market and a rooftop gin bar," Afar adds.

In March, the Hong Kong-based daily South China Morning Post (SCMP) had named it among the "best new resorts to see in 2022".

"The resort will be the first of the Regent brand’s properties in Southeast Asia to open since IHG Hotels & Resorts, which operates InterContinental hotels, bought a majority stake in Regent. A Regent rebranding includes emphasis on design and curated experiences," SCMP wrote. "The Regent will, it is claimed, be the most luxurious resort on the island."

Meanwhile, "Capella Hanoi puts visitors in the heart of city life. The hotel’s location near Hoan Kiem Lake offers front row seats to mouthwatering street food and early morning scenes of residents performing their daily exercise routines," Afar writes.

Capella Hanoi on Le Phung Hieu street, Hanoi's Hoan Kiem district, has 47 plush rooms and suites (some with French balconies, others with terraces) decorated with operatic memorabilia.

In October, the hotel was named among the top 10 new standout hotels in Asia by The New York Times.

"On a quiet, leafy boulevard in the city’s capital, steps from Hanoi Opera House and the Old Quarter, Capella Hanoi conjures the glamour and high society of opera in the Roaring Twenties," the newspaper commented.

"The hotel’s theatrical, Art Nouveau style is the work of Bill Bensley, the architect and designer known for creating transportive environments for luxury hotels around the world. Almost everywhere the eye lands is an ode to opera," it added.

In July, Capella Hanoi was second on the list of 15 best city stays in Asia voted by Travel + Leisure readers.

"Located near the opera house in Hanoi's Old Quarter, this Bill Bensley-designed property is a glamorous homage to the excess of the Roaring Twenties in Vietnam. Rooms are not only spacious, they're beautifully eye-catching, thanks to a mix of colors, patterns, and textures," the U.S. travel magazine wrote.

It is also the only Vietnamese hotel in the top 100 best new resorts in the world ranked by Travel + Leisure.