Back in 1974 James Bond's The Man with the Golden Gun was filmed on Koh Yao Noi, an island in Phang Nga Bay off of Phuket. Fast forward thirty three years and Six Senses is set to open the fourth Evason boutique-branded Hideaway on that same island.
Evason Hideaway Six Senses Yao Noi, which opens in October, will include 54 pool villas with bay views. All villas have open-style bathrooms,infinity-edged pools with sundecks, and plenty of seclusion. Local building techniques have been adopted, using natural, environmentally controlled, materials to make sure the greenies stay happy. Furthermore, each villa is attended by a butler, and get this, for an additional cost a Bond like helicopter transfer is available from nearby Krabi airport.
Traveling time from the airport from Phuket is around forty five minutes to one hour by motor boat, or 15 minutes by helicopter service.
The resort is running an opening rate special in October. We were able to find villas for under $450.00 a night available throughout mid-October. However, by mid-Novemember these same "pool villas" were well over $800 a night. So the window for this particular hotel opening rate closes fast.
Since this resort will have that new resort smell for the better part of the fall, it will be virtually free of web reviews for the first month or so. Which means you have a chance to check in without preconceptions--imagine that.
Beach Villa or Hill Top Villa? That is your choice at Evason Hideaway Ana Mandara. Whatever your French villa preference this cromulent resort in Dalat has you covered.
You still have a chance to hit this place in April before the mercury jumps to possibly unbearable levels in Vietnam. Thing is, as the temperature rises the prices go down, so you may be able to score a deal if you can stand the heat.
Top notch service, plenty of snorkeling, a bit of windsurfing, a beach, which is cleaned daily, and a brand spankin' new spa-- pretty much all the upscale resort prerequisites.
Oh, and there are wild monkeys on the premises who are known to playfully shake the trees behind some of the villas, who knows maybe they even shake the villas themselves--just in case you and your significant other can't get the job done--this place has romance written all over it.
Insider Tip: If you are a hotel view-o-phile stay in on of the Hill Top Suites for a killer view.
Ok, you know we usually shy away from staged marketing photos. It isn't like we have an aversion to good photos--Noah takes great, real hotel photos for us. However, the above photo illustrates why we like to use hotel issued photos as a last resort.
C'mon. We all know if you are lucky enough to check in to the Christian Liaigre (Club Med Bora Bora, The Mercer in New York) designed Le Sereno in Saint-Barthélemy you are going to flop on the bed in sheer ecstasy, leaving your bags strewn throughout the room along the way--why do they have to prop those bags up there? Besides, the room looks great regardless, just leave the bags out of the shot.
Furthermore, if do happen to be OCD enough to neatly line your perfectly packed burlap bags at the end of the bed before enjoying the room, then we hope the person unlucky enough to travel with you brought plenty of rum.
Our advice to the person traveling with this type of pedantic traveler? Head out to that couch type thing you see in the insert above, down a bottle of rum and flirt heavily with the young, friendly, beautiful staffers that grace this 37-villa seaside resort.
The villas include plasma-screen TVs, iPods, Wi-Fi, and Ex Voto Paris bath products.
The beach isn't one of the nicest on the island, but the resort is--we are sure your OCD partner, who meticulously lines up luggage at the end of hotel beds upon arrival, is already complaining about the beach, instead of enjoying the beautiful resort. See why we don't usually use these type of photos? They conjure up all kinds of visions.
As winter storms brew here in the Northeast, our search for the perfect overwater bungalow is intensifying. Know an overwater bungalow resort hotel we need to check out? Hit us on the tip line.
Turns out HotelChatter has a bunch of daily readers in the Philippines. Cool. As a hat tip, we picked out our favorite Filipino resort, which just so happens to be an overwater bungalow property, go figure.
El Nido Lagen Island Resort has 18 over water accommodations (51 total cabins) all in a quite, idyllic cove hidden by limestone cliffs and island forests. Furthermore, there is no shortage of castaway activities--snorkeling, swimming with jackfish, and canoeing are all available for guests.
You have to hop a island jumper from Manila, then take a boat (free for guests) in order to get to Lagen Island. Oh, and there is U.S. State Department travel warning on the Philippines, has been since last June, so you will officially qualify as an "adventurer" upon your return from paradise.
After the jump, we have enclosed a El Nido Lagen Island video, set to Jordan Knight's Tender Love to serenade this resort. We can't take credit for the video, nor the somehow appropriate soundtrack. If you don't have our sense of humor, hit mute before pressing play.
As winter storms brew here in the Northeast, our search for the perfect overwater bungalow is intensifying. Know an overwater bungalow resort hotel we need to check out? Hit us on the tip line.
We have covered Barosbefore, however, when searching the world for the perfect overwater bungalow, neither the Maldives, nor Baros can be ignored.
Here is what we have learned over the years of telling and aggregating hotel stories--Londoners know their hotels.
That said, when discretionary holiday takers from the UK head for an over water bungalow experience many head to Baros. Not only do they head there, but they also return--a big deal when you are dropping that much scratch to go in the first place:
My husband and I have an agreement that we will never revisit our holiday destination, no matter how much we enjoy the place. However, for Baros, we have had to break that agreement, because we just enjoyed out holiday so much. We're going back in March, and I just cannot wait!
As winter storms brew here in the Northeast, our search for the perfect overwater bungalow is intensifying. Know an overwater bungalow resort hotel we need to check out? Hit us on the tip line.
Pangkor Laut is an island off the coast of Perak in north-west peninsular Malaysia, reached by ferry from Lumut, it is, for the most part, a low-key tourist destination.
Pangkor Laut Resort includes 148 Malaysian-style budget luxury villas. Here you can do yoga every morning, take a walk around the island, take an open air shower, or just lay in the sun and await your complimentary water.
Whatever you do, you will have the option of booking one of Malaysia's few over water bungalows, if you stay here. However, be ready to share your secluded bungalow with the fauna. Monkeys and birds are the most prominent house mates at Pangkor. Scroll down and check out the YouTube video to get a sense of what your furry Sea Villa roomates will be like.
As winter storms brew here in the Northeast, our search for the perfect overwater bungalow is intensifying. Know an overwater bungalow resort hotel we need to check out? Hit us on the tip line.
Ah, don't you love that new overwater bungalow smell?
Likuliku Lagoon Resort is not only the brandest, spankinest, newest resort in Fiji (opens this month), but it is also the first and only Fijian resort with overwater bungalows.
Fijian hospitality, Melanesian architecture, and an overwater bure over Likuliku Lagoon, what more do you want?
All bures feature air-conditioning, music systems, phones, internet access, a DVD player, and incredible views of the lagoon.
The best part? This place is brand spanking new. No conflicting web hotel reviews to confuse you, yet, no glowing reviews from the travel glossy mags, yet, just you, and whoever you choose to bring with you to enjoy a virgin experience at Likuliku without a cluttered predisposition--that is rare these days. The only thing better would be if this place was named Likulikme--just couldn't help it, sorry.
As winter storms brew here in the Northeast, our search for the perfect overwater bungalow is intensifying. Know an overwater bungalow resort hotel we need to check out? Hit us on the tip line.
One of the struggles with overwater bungalow dream is accessibility. Most overwater bungalow resorts are in far flung locales with close to, or over, 4 digit nightly rates.
Thankfully, there is another option. 9 Beaches Resort in Bermuda isn't going to win any high luxury awards, however, there are plenty of reasons these "tents on stilts" qualify as a sought after location.
First, JetBlue offers direct, two hour flights from JFK, BOS, and IAD. If you are a True Blue member, that means you can cash in a free flight from the East Coast to Bermuda. Furthermore, a quick March 2007 price check showed plenty of availability at the resort for between $200 - $300 a night--you can't even get a room in Manhattan for that price.
Not all of the 80-some-odd cabanas are overwater (a little over a dozen are), and some huts can only claim such status during high tide, but this budget luxe resort makes up for it with complimentary cell phones, cold in-room fridges, and a West coast location that affords visitors incredible sunsets.
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by markj
