Northern highland resorts offer luxury in ethnic minority backyards
Covering an area of seven hectares in Tu Le Commune, Yen Bai Province, the Le Champ Tu Le Resort Hot Spring & Spa is located amidst villages of the Thai and H’mong ethnic minority communities. It is the first such resort to come up in the northern province that’s famous for its rice terraced fields and hot mineral springs.
The resort has 99 rooms and a community house done using a lot of wood and maintaining a brown tone. Each room has its own balcony, allowing guests to admire the beauty of terraced rice fields that present different colors during different seasons and are at their most striking when the crop ripens and turns yellow from September to November.
Rooms cost from VND900,000 ($39.46) a night.
The resort’s location makes it easy to visit Thai and H’mong villages where people have been farming and weaving brocade for generations.
Guests can also enjoy signature dishes of Tu Le commune, including purple sticky rice, bitter bamboo shoots and roasted pork wrapped in wild leaves (pictured).
Another resort that stands amidst terraced rice fields is the Eco Palms House - Sapa Retreat in Lao Chai Village, Sa Pa Town, Lao Cai Province. The resort has bungalows designed like traditional trinh tuong houses with yin-yang tiled roofs and a mixture of clay and mud, a distinctive H'mong feature.
The resort has three types of rooms including deluxe cottages with prices starting at $68 a night, traditional private bungalow with palm wood floors, bamboo ceilings, amber mud walls and palm leaf roofing that costs around $95 a night, and romantic bungalow for couples at $125 a night.
The P'apiu Resort was built atop a mountain in Yen Dinh Commune in Bac Me District, Ha Giang Province. It took seven years to build the resort with over 80,000 trees planted. It is particularly favored by couples who wish to enjoy a peaceful, secluded atmosphere and green landscapes.
The resort’s Mellow room, built with mud walls, replicates an accommodation tradition of the H'mong people in Ha Giang. The Fluffy room, meanwhile, is a completely wooden structure on the top of the mountain, offering great views of the mountains, forests and H’mong villages in the distance.
The resort is also unique in that all its staff are local ethnic minority residents.
A lasting impression for visitors to the resort is a long road colorfully hand-painted by hundreds of resort staff and local people with typical brocade fabric designs.
Each room at the resort is elaborately designed and decorated. The resort offers engagement and wedding services.
Prices of a villa cost from VND9.8 million a night.
Sleeping outdoors on top of the mountain and watching the moon and stars with a telescope are among several enjoyable activities to engage in when staying at this resort.
On a peninsula in Mai Chau Town, the Mai Chau Hideaway Resort in Hoa Binh Province is an idyllic, sylvan getaway from cities and even an isolated refuge from pandemic-affected urban areas.
The resort has 31 stilt-house rooms that sport a simple, rustic yet sophisticated feel with balconies offering beautiful views of the Hoa Binh Lake. Room prices range from VND1.9 to 2.2 million.
The resort has an infinity pool overlooking the lake. Visitors can also go kayaking in the lake and cycle to nearby H'mong villages as well as the Go Lao waterfall.
The resort’s Bamboo restaurant uses bamboo and wood as it materials. It serves typical northwest region dishes including com lam (bamboo tube-rice) and beef with mushroom sauce.
Photos courtesy of the resorts
