Delta hues
Explore Vietnam’s mighty Mekong from a secluded island hotel.
it has branched into nine tributaries that snake across a vast delta in southern Vietnam and empty into the South China Sea. Most travellers stay afloat on the Mekong aboard cruise ships, but the latest way to see the delta is to stay in it.
Opened in January, Azerai Can Tho is set on an islet in one of the Mekong’s larger tributaries, the Hau River.
It’s hidden in plain sight of Can Tho, Vietnam’s fourth-largest city, and at the centre of the nation’s “rice-bowl” farming region.
By Vietnamese standards the city is sleepy and the region unexplored, says the hotel’s Australia-born general manager, Susan Noonan. “There’s really nothing else like this region,” she says. “There’s a strong sense here of the real Vietnam, full of small thriving businesses and farms, and life at a slower, more human pace.”
Guests typically arrive at the 60-room hotel’s pier in Can Tho after a three-hour drive from Ho Chi Minh City; 10 minutes by motorboat delivers them to the 19-hectare Au islet, surrounded by canals and mangrove forests.
Phuket architect Pascal Trahan has designed villas with high-pitched roofs and pared-back interiors, with views of river, lake or garden from verandas. Features include a showpiece swimming pool and lotus pond, a tennis court, three dining pavilions and a yoga pavilion, and a canal-side spa with eight treatment rooms.
Guests can explore the island’s banyan forests by foot or bicycle, and tour the backwaters or f loating markets by boat. The delta’s best-known market, Cai Rang, attracts around 300 trading boats each morning.
Azerai Can Tho is the second property in a new brand by Aman founder Adrian Zecha designed for “affordable luxury”.
His first Azerai, opened last year in the historic
Lao town of Luang Prabang, was bought recently by the Bangkok-based Minor Hotel Group. It’ll open for business this month as an Avani hotel.