Life Resorts to operate third property in Vietnam
NINH BINH – The Life Resorts Management Company has broken ground on its newest project, the Life Wellness Resort Ninh Binh, entering territory previously off the map for most visitors to Vietnam.
The resort will be the first of its kind in the little-known area of Ninh Binh, where Life Resorts will build a wellness village comprised of 30 deluxe cottages and 10 two-storey stone houses.
“In Ninh Binh, we’re trying something completely different and very special,” said Chris Duffy, general director of Life Resorts Management.
“We’ve designed the resort to look and feel like a village, with cottages, stone houses, cobbled streets and proximity to a 500-year-old temple.”
Scheduled to open in August 2008, the resort’s village will mirror the design and feel of villages in the Ninh Binh region. The resort’s spa, pool, restaurant, gardens and lotus ponds will be developed on a five-acre site that’s surrounded by an additional 20 hectares of protected, private land near the Den Thai Ve Temple.
Accommodation in each of the 30 cottages will total 65sqm, about twice the size of a typical deluxe hotel room, and will be complemented by a 10sqm terrace and a private, 145sqm garden.
In the two-storey stone houses, the rooms take in 93sqm with a 12sqm terrace and 150sqm gardens.
Among the 58 units, there will be 18 superior rooms, 36 deluxe rooms and four suites.
Ninh Binh is 91km south-west of Hanoi, and is renown for the limestone karst formations at Tam Coc, a region of precipitous crags and a winding river that is frequently identified as an ‘inland Ha Long Bay.’
Nearby are magnificent temples at Hoa Lu, capital of Vietnam for a brief period in the late 10th and early 11th century. Slightly further afield is Phat Diem Cathedral, a fusion of Occidental and Oriental architecture that provided a setting for a scene in Graham Greene’s landmark novel, The Quiet American.
“We felt like we’d discovered buried treasure when we came to Ninh Binh” said Duffy. “Culturally, there’s a lot going on here, but at the same time, the destination is far enough from the main tourist centres that we’ve got the room, as well as the seclusion, to develop a one-of-a-kind place.”
Like Life Resort’s wellness resort in Quy Nhon, the Life Spa will play a starring role in the Ninh Binh Resort. The resort’s complimentary activities will include yoga, tai chi, meditation and trekking.
Life Resorts currently manages two other properties in Vietnam. Inspired by Cham architecture, the 63-room Life Wellness Resort Quy Nhon is a hideaway boutique retreat on the south central coast.
The 94-room, colonial-era Life Heritage Resort Hoi An is situated on a quiet stretch of the Thu Bon River, within walking distance of the old trading port’s world-famous downtown.
For more information visit www.life-resorts.com.
Ian Jarrett
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