SIX SENSES, CON DAO ISLANDS
VIETNAM
Ranked No. 1 Best Resort In Southeast Asia, Travel + Leisure World's Best Awards 2021
Just a short one hour flight from Saigon (Ho Chi Minh), this island is worth a spot on your bucket list! I always tell people that SE Asia is full of my favorite places in the world and the hardest part is getting there. From San Diego you can easily spend 24 hours traveling to Vietnam as there are less direct flights these days (thank you COVID, womp womp) BUT the days of travel can't stop me from enjoying the best culture, food and adventure.
Six Senses is a splurge resort but compared to hotel prices at similar resorts, say in Mexico or the Caribbean, it's a fraction of the price. To give you an idea, our 4 night stay in this beautiful 1 bedroom villa with a private pool was $4,000 USD total. Something similar would easily cost $3,000 a night in other popular island destinations, so already you are saving money.
The people, food, culture and majestic landscape will always have me coming back to Vietnam. My fourth visit but my first time on Con Dao, Six Senses truly made it memorable.
When you arrive at the small island airport, a private van from the hotel is waiting with a cold freshly brewed glass of lemon(grass)aid along with a cold lemongrass towel. Driving in monkeys are lined on the streets, SO cool! We later saw the hotel vans throw bananas out the window to get the little guys to come close to the road. I guess it's a healthy treat!
At the arrival of your stay, the entire front office staff (GM included) stands curbside to greet you, give you an island speciality snack and usher you to rest in their lush jungle lounge while they bring the check in to you.
You are then assigned to a Gem (Guest Experience Manager). Our Gem, Kayden, was amazing! We exchange phone numbers via Whatsapp and he assisted in booking anything we wanted to do. Kayden went above and beyond for our stay, always anticipating what we may need. We rented scooters and drove around the island, pampered ourselves at the spa, booked yoga and sound bowl healing classes and even took a private tour to the Con Dao prisons.
Con Dao had a heartbreaking past being an island for POW during the Vietnam / American war. It is important to respect the country, culture and history by paying your respects and learning something new when visiting any place that is not your home. The tour was very well guided by a local Vietnamese man named. He made sure that we truly understood Con Dao, the people and the 20,000 Vietnamese citizens who lost their lives on the island during the war.
