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RESEMBLING A traditional (but not exactly authentic) Vietnamese village, the Ana Mandara Resort in Nha Trang is a cluster of small villas furnished with native wood and rattan and set on a palm-fringed beach.
In the large reception - all ornate dark wood chaise longues, pillars and ornamental cyclos - the view to a lily pond with its wooden bridge and the clear blue sea beyond, is suitably idyllic. Paved paths are lit by lanterns at night and take you through lush botanical gardens to the cottages. And, if you're fed up with the plant life - and beach activities - you can indulge in a little open-air massage from the in-house masseuse under a secluded thatched canopy before retiring to the private beach to veg out beneath large thatched umbrellas.
Nightly entertainment includes a strolling Filipino band, but if that isn't your scene you can hop into a cyclo and head into town.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
Ana Mandara Resort, Beachside Tran Phu Blvd, Nha Trang, Vietnam (tel: 00 84 58 829829 fax: 00 84 58 829629; e-mail: resvana@dng.vnn.vn).
Nha Trang is on the coast, 1,350kms south of Hanoi and 450km north of Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon). Vietnam Airlines runs daily flights there from Ho Chi Minh City which take 50 minutes or there are also flights most days from Hanoi and Da Nang. Alternatively, catch the train from Ho Chi Minh City (seven to nine hours), Hanoi (20 hours) or Da Nang (12 hours). Ana Mandara is 2kms from Nha Trang town centre and a few minutes by car from the airport.
Transport: The hotel will fetch you from the airport, although it's so close you could walk.
ARE YOU LYING COMFORTABLY?
There are 68 en suite rooms in 16 Vietnamese villas. A large urn at the door contains oriental parasols. The interiors are cool and spacious with tiled floors and traditional wall hangings. The dark wood four-poster beds, with crisp white sheets fanned out and sprinkled with petals, are the perfect finishing touch. As is the complimentary basket of fruit. The marble and wood bathrooms have wicker accessories and shampoo and body lotion in little terracotta vials.
All rooms have their own verandah and a terracotta water pot with a coconut shell ladle at the foot of the steps to wash the sand from your feet.
What to book: Deluxe Seaview villa with a high-domed open ceiling and a king-size four-poster bed draped with muslin.
IT'S ALL IN THE DETAILS
All water sports are included so you can go windsurfing, waterskiing, parasailing or out on a catamaran, pedal boat or jet-ski. If that sounds just a bit too energetic, how about afternoon cookery classes? On Monday there's "Adventures in Thai Food" and on Thursday a Vietnamese cooking class. Each costs $15.
If you're an early bird you can also take a morning market tour by cyclo with the chef every Wednesday - at 5am.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Rooms cost from $137 (pounds 86) for a Garden View villa up to $263 for the Ana Mandara Suite - plus 5 per cent service charge and 10 per cent government tax.
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