What’s not to love about a luxury resort on a massive private island right next to an amazing golf course? The decision to switch our vacation from the Maldives to Nha Trang in Vietnam was looking like a good one as we boarded the ferry to head over to the island. Let me start off by saying that the URL links to the various Vinpearl resorts seem to be constantly changing, so apologies in advance if they have been changed again subsequent to this post being published.
We stayed at Vinpearl Golf Land Resort and Villas (now apparently called Vinpearl Discovery Golflink) for the 11 nights of 28 April to 8 May 2018. The resort is on a separate island, called Hòn Tre island, across Nha Trang Bay. You need to take either a speedboat or the cable car to the resort. There are four resorts on Vinpearl, namely Vinpearl Golf Land Resort and Villas (where we stayed), Vinpearl Luxury, Vinpearl Resort and Spa Nha Trang Bay and Vinpearl Resort Nha Trang.
We arrived at the airport and were met by the pre-arranged hotel driver service. The drive from the airport to the resort took just less than one hour. Once you arrive at Vinpearl Port, i.e. the port on the mainland, you are checked in to the resort at which you will stay. This process took around 40 minutes due to the large number of people going across to the island, but you have a chance to relax and enjoy the wonderful welcome drinks on offer. Once your arrival procedures have been completed you are taken by speedboat over to Hòn Tre island to start your vacation. Your luggage is transported on the same boat so should arrive to your room quite quickly.
We booked a 2-bedroom villa for the 11 nights of our stay. One thing to note is that the 2-bedroom villas are one row back from the sea-front, so you do not have a direct view onto the ocean. The larger 3-bedroom 2-storey villas are the ones that are in front with the best views of the water. The 2-bedroom villa is more than adequate for two people (and could be shared by two couples if required, though the second room has two separate beds). There are two large bedrooms, a large living area, dining room / lounge with small cooking area (though they do say that no externally bought food is allowed on the island, we saw many people bringing food across from the mainland), a separate guest toilet and a large storage space. There is a lovely private pool at the rear of the villa.
We stayed in Villa 1230. This is towards the end of the island which requires a golf cart ride to anywhere you want to go. What you have to do is call the service line every time you want to go somewhere, to the hotel or restaurants, to the mainland, to the other resorts, to Vinpearl Land or to the golf course. Or you could walk to the hotel, which, at a fast pace, from the villa to the hotel, takes eight minutes. I know this because one evening I left my mobile ‘phone near the swimming pool and had to walk back and fetch it. The usual wait for a golf cart is 10 minutes, so plan accordingly.
Upon arrival, we found it very confusing deciding what to do when planning our vacation. The in-room guides do not really offer much useful information. They are too short to assist you in making decisions as to what you want to do. Even the park maps for Vinpearl Land were either in Vietnamese or Russian – we could only get an English map upon entering Vinpearl Land. There is no information as to whether you are allowed to visit the other resorts for the day, to use their pool, to visit the restaurants or the spa, etc. This is a lost business opportunity – if each resort specified how you could visit the other resorts, particularly the restaurants or spas, they would surely increase revenue.
We noticed that for the first week we were the only English speaking couple on the island. The main languages are Vietnamese and Russian, as well as Mandarin. This made communication with the staff challenging though we managed. The staff are really friendly and try to do what’s possible to make your vacation wonderful. Arlyn lost her handheld fan at the Vinpearl Port. The staff went out of their way to find it and return it to the reception at the hotel. Such good service. For our last few days there were a few more English-speaking couples but the resort has visitors mainly from Vietnam and Russia.
We booked the half-board accommodation since we like to make our own plans for dinner. The breakfast was the same every day. But I suppose when you are catering for a massive resort (we had breakfast in THREE different areas while at Vinpearl Golf) the selection cannot change too much every day. The staff were always kind enough to offer us a cappuccino and a cold chocolate milk each morning. The breakfast selection was average but certainly not the best that I have seen in the many hotels at which I have stayed. Being in Vietnam, the breakfast selection is definitely geared more towards the Asian palette. There is a sufficient selection of ‘western’ food but the choice is not as extensive as you would expect in hotels outside of Asia.
We had dinner a few times at the hotel, once at the Aqua Bar alongside the large pool and twice at the Lobby Bar while listening to the wonderful Filipino band. The food is good with large servings. The drinks are by no means cheap but not expensive either by international standards. Go early and order a selection of their cocktails before dinner while enjoying the sunset.
There is a separate entertainment / restaurant complex on the island. We booked dinner there for our first night (my birthday), at a restaurant called Ozone. This restaurant is by no means wonderful, and reminds you of a cheap cafeteria with nasty food. The lighting is terrible. Sorry to say, but that whole dinner experience was not great at all. Since I assumed that I could charge the dinner to our room bill I did not take my wallet along to dinner. Fortunately Arlyn had cash on her or it could have been a problem.
The reason that I booked the golf resort, as opposed to one of the other three resorts, is that I am a MASSIVE golf fan. I played the course just once, on the only day that it rained while we were on vacation. The golf course is fine, though I did find it expensive by Asian standards. All in all a good golfing experience despite playing with rented clubs.
A note about the speedboat service: if you want to go across to the mainland, which I recommend you do for the great selection of restaurants, you need to take the speedboat to Vinpearl Port. The boat leaves every ½ hour around the clock (yes, 24 hours per day). You will need to go to the main hotel and catch a shuttle past Vinpearl Land to the port. The boat ride to the mainland takes around eight minutes.
Some activities that I recommend while on the mainland:
- visit the mud baths at the IResort
- a day tour around Nha Trang to see various temples and other interesting sites
- dinner with Emperor Cruises on Nha Trang Bay
Some of the restaurants that I recommend on the mainland:
All these restaurants are on the beach with a wonderful view of Nha Trang Bay. Go around sunset to enjoy a few cocktails, followed by an enjoyable dinner.
The pool at Vinpearl Golf is honestly the biggest I have ever seen. It is sparkling clean and just the right depth (not too shallow and not too deep). You have a wonderful view of the ocean and the hotel from the pool. You could easily spend your entire vacation relaxing around the pool, stopping only long enough to grab a drink from the ‘Aqua Bar’ alongside the pool.
Make sure that you visit Akoya, the spa at Vinpearl Golf. The service is excellent, as is the selection of services. Also, make sure you visit Vinpearl Land, a large entertainment complex on the island. This gives you access to the cable cars that run back and forth to the mainland, an adventure in itself. I recommend that one day is enough (maybe two at a stretch) to see Vinpearl Land. You may be offered Vinpearl Land tickets as part of your vacation package – I suggest that this is not essential and that you buy ad-hoc tickets as required.
MY RECOMMENDATION ——
If I had to choose again I would select Vinpearl Luxury for the following reasons:
- it is on the other side of the island from Vinpearl Golf, facing the mainland, so the views are better
- Vinpearl Luxury is more private than Vinpearl Golf – the golf resort is HUGE and caters more towards families, whereas Luxury caters more towards couple
- the spa at Vinpearl Luxury is situated over the water so you get a great view of the ocean, and
- you can play the golf course no matter which resort at which you are staying. But Vinpearl Golf is wonderful too and you will have a fantastic vacation if you choose either of these resorts.
All in all we enjoyed our vacation at Vinpearl Discovery Golflink and would definitely consider it again for a future visit. Our video review, from the day that we spent at Vinpearl Luxury, may be found on YouTube here. Our video review of the 2-bedroom villa in which we stayed may be found here, while the video from the onsite Akoya Spa may be found here.
Book your accommodation at Vinpearl Discovery Golflink by clicking here. Otherwise consider one of the accommodation options in Nha Trang by clicking in the box below with booking.com or with Agoda here.
Booking.comOur other posts from Vietnam may be found here.
(Visited in May 2018)