We have just returned from a short visit to Vietnam, and spent 4 days at the Evason Hideaway.
This is the place to escape to if peace, beautiful surroundings, well trained staff, and excellent food and wine are required. For the first time this year we had the opportunity to slow down and just appreciate the stillness and beauty.
We were in the Beach Villa no 30 and under the care of our personal butler Mr Long.
Every request was promptly handled,and due to his guidance we could make the most of the short time there.
We also made use of the Spa and experienced a Vietnamese massage using the cupping technique. Bliss!
The Hideaway has an Organic vegetable garden and much of the fare on the table is supplied from here.
In short- this was most definitely the most unique and wonderful holiday we have ever had.

We spent 13 nights in June 06 in the Hilltop Villa Nr.2 at the Evason Hideaway at Ana Mandara. It was one of, if not the most wonderful vacation we have ever had. The resort and most of all the staffs have contributed to make our time there the most enjoyable, relaxing and memorable one.

As you may have read from some of the reviews below, the Evason Hideaway at Ana Mandara is a very special place. I tried to find the right word to describe the place and came up with the word ‘natural luxury’. It is quite a different five stars resort, and you should not compare it to Four Seasons, Oberoi, Prince Maurice (Mauristius) or even the sister hotel Evason at Ana Mandara . If you would like to dissapear, relax, enjoy the peaceful nature in privacy, but do not want to give up certain comfort and outstanding service, you should definitely consider this innovative and unique resort.

I will not put in too much words to describe the Villas and the facility, since other reviewers have already done an excellent job on this. The Villas were back to the nature, innovative and at the same time luxury. I agree with one of the review below, though, that this place is certainly not for everybody. I will only emphasize things which may have positive or negative impact on your stay.

If you go there after April, you should really like heat. It was 33 – 36°C when we were there in June (33°C even in the evening) with almost no breeze. We could see thunderstorm over the Nha Trang mountains across the bay everyday but it never rained at the Hideaway. Next time, we would definitely go in March or April when the temperatue is more comfortable. Well, actually that was the only complain I had on our vacation, that is, if I had to find one.

The Villas, restaurant, spa, main pool and reception are very much spreaded out over the area with large distance between. If you ride bicycle, you will be OK. Consequently, do not bring your best pants, dresses or shoes. The natural paths are covered with sand and dust. Staying in the Water or Hilltop villas, one will have to climb some hills to get to dinner (and back). If you are in the Rock or Presidential Villa (has a private boat pier though), you have to climb hills and walk around 20-30 minutes to the restaurant. We used our Villa’s private bicycles most of the time and we love jogging, so we enjoyed the trails tremendously.

What we enjoy so much at the Hideaway is the privacy of the villa and the beautiful nature around. You can lie down, relax, forget about everything (i.e. your work) and finally get to read your book. The private infinity pool is also just the right size to cool down and watch the sunset. It took us a day or so to get used to the open air shower; after that it was a great feeling to shower with on trees and birds around you. One morning my wife got up very early to find the trees behind our Villa shaking crazily. We were surprised to see at least ten beautiful wild monkies watching us from the trees! We were told that they usually came down in July/August when there was too little water up in the montain. All the staffs were so excited to hear that we saw the monkies that within one day everybody had heard and asked us about our experience. You are that close to nature at the Evason Hideaway and the managment does a very good job to be consequent in the environmental protection.

The beach was clean (got cleaned everyday) but do not expect the classical tropical beach beauty like in the Seychelles. You can swim from the beach but it would be best to have rubber shoes on because the coral reef was quite close to the beach. We had some really good snorkling out from the beach in the morning. You could see lion fish, lobster, puffer fish, giant blue sea star, baby bat fish and some big groupers. By the way, if you dive, Sam and Cat, the dive intructors, will take care of you well. Since we did eight dives (4 days) while we were there, we got to know them closer and had a lot of fun with them. The divings were relaxing (maximum 20 meter deep) and the staffs were competence. There were lots of ‘living’ corals with lovely colors. Besides 4 or 5 big murrays, we also had time to look at smaller life under the water such as pipe fish, sea snail, nude branch and shrimp.

Finally, what we really love about the Hideaway were the staffs. The management has done an excellent job to have come this far with the staff development. The private butler concept worked out very well. An, our private butler, was intelligent, fun and very natural. We never had to think whom we should talk to, if we needed something. All we have to do was to call An and she would appear within 15 minutes (remember she had to bike and climb the hill to get to our Hilltop villa). Although we spent 13 nights at the resort, we never got sick of the food. Thomas (an Italian with American flavor) would always cook us any dishes we asked for. Thomas and Damien (the Managing Director) also invited us to a romantic candle light dinner for two, set up specially for us in the resort’s beautiful wine celler cave. Evason Hideaway at Ana Mandara offers a very good wine selection at a fair price (compared to other luxury places). We also did two tours to the Nha Trang area. Since most of the tours were private, you usually had the friendly guide (resort’s staff) to yourself. All the staffs were very friendly, but what sets them apart was that we did feel that they were sincere.

The slogan ‘innovative style’ from Evason Hideaway only describes part of our wonderful experience at Evason Hideaway at Ana Mandara. The Six Senses group successfully put the whole innovative concept to work. But at the end of the day it is the people who makes the Evason Hideaway at Ana Mandara so special.

We are looking forward to our next experience at one of the Evason Hideaways….or being back to Ana Mandara.

I write this review with some very mixed feelings. I just returned and will do my best to be fair and balanced. In many ways, this is one of the finest resorts I have ever been to. The setting is absolutely spectacular. The mixture of jungle, beach and mountains makes for one of the most gorgeous places I have ever seen. The Evason has done an incredible job with integrating nature with a luxurious, albeit a rather unconventional, resort. We stayed in a water villa with our own plunge pool. This resort combines an extremely rustic luxury theme with a wild jungle setting. The villa is wonderful with high quality amenities, great attention to detail and unfortunately, a lack of air conditioned space. Okay, I know this is the jungle where heat and bugs are constant themes, but the heat was so overwhelmingly intense that it can detract from the otherwise terrific experience. Of course, this is subjective since we went from the chilly Midwest right to summer in the jungle, but the heat is always there to beat you down and it may be hard to escape it. The bathroom is huge and has a great layout and amenities, but it is open air. There are wonderful doors all around to give you an incredible vista. However, the water closet is in a small stall with just one little window. The bedroom area is again a showplace of rustic luxury with doors on all sides which again gives you that million dollar view. There is only one small wall air conditioner that struggles to keep the room tolerable. If you keep the door open from the bedroom to the bathroom in an attempt to keep both cool, you will succeed only in making both rooms unbearable! If you can tolerate the heat or if this place was 75-80 degrees at all times, it would truly be heaven on Earth! If you want cool, central air-conditioned comfort, don't even think about it! The plunge pool built into the rocks is spectacular. There is a nice deck with great lounge chairs. The separate living area is terrific as well. It is open air and has a huge bale, refrigerator and snack area and table and chairs. Since it faces the ocean, it can be tolerable. Unfortunately, this resort is in a protected cove, so sometimes there is hardly a hint of a breeze. We some other wonderful rock villas on the opposite side which got a much better and welcomed breeze. Our villa had a ladder which provided direct access to the water and in the low tide, a private beach area. It is wonderful to sit in the living area since it is built on stilts over the ocean. Once again, this is not the conventional luxury of a Four Seasons. It is incredibly, almost too rustic for me.
The resort is a construction marvel and masterpiece. The undertaking to build this place must have been an astonishingly difficult task. As I said, the resort and nature are fully integrated as evidenced by the giant secadas which swarmed us as we left our villa every morning. To be fair, the bugs stayed away from the villa although much of it is open air and I was not bitten once. This is the jungle, so you have to put up with bugs and heat. Although we were only two villas down from the restaurant and bar, it required an arduous trek through the jungle. The path meandered throughout the jungle and it could be downright treacherous at night. You get a fantastic view of the water and beach as you walk along the hills. The problem is, you are drenched with sweat after walking a short distance. The beach is narrow but pristine and the water is a crystal clear aquamarine paradise. The food is outstanding! The service is wonderful most of the time as the staff is friendly, hardworking and very efficient. We had our butler. Huy was one of the kindest, friendliest and most efficient staff members we have ever had. He brought us fresh fruit and our favorite juice every morning. He took care of anything we wanted. I am a big advocate of each villa having a butler. My partner came down with a serious stomach issue and Huy offered to get a doctor and bring medicine or food to treat the ailment.
There is at times a language barrier. But you cannot get frustrated or upset with people who are so earnest, friendly and hospitable. A little extra patience and understanding will guarantee that you will work out any problem. Their English is much better than my Vietnamese! The spa is wonderful! The treatments are very reasonably priced! ($30 for a one hour head, neck and shoulder massage.. a relative bargain!) The spa facilities are once again totally integrated with nature in a rustic setting. The gym was small and warm but very nice. The manager was very down to earth, approachable, kind and helpful.
So, if you want a nice and easy trip, this place is not for you. Think of the Evason Hideaway as luxury camping in a jungle cabin. If you don't mind the heat, your reward will be great. But you have to be in good shape to get around the resort. The beach villas would be the easiest since they are right on the beach and close to everything. They are very well laid out and are a good deal. The rock and water villas can be a difficult 20 minute trek through the jungle to get to the restaurant, resort and spa. The main pool is very unique and very nice as it is built around a two story restaurant and bar. You cannot see the ocean very well from the pool, but the hills in the background and always present jungle provide a nice setting. I want very much to give Ana Mandara a top rating, and it does indeed excel in many categories. However, it is important to put the comfort of the guests first who are paying a lot of money to stay here and central air in the bedroom and bathroom is an unfortunate omission, at least for me. Others may want the heat and jungle experience, but it can be a bit overwhelming. I would stay here for 4-5 days maximum. But in many ways, it is worth the problems you have to endure. There is not much to do at night, and that is actually a huge plus to this place. You will have peace and quiet in a spectacular setting with great food and service. You have to take lots of cool showers and baths, immerse yourself in your plunge pool, slow down, drink lots of water and wear light clothing to deal with the heat, especially if you go from April-June.

Spent 5 nights in a Beach Pool Villa, which is very spacious and offers a fairly big pool. Only the bedroom is air-conditioned while ceiling fans are doing a rather good job in the upstairs living area and in the bathroom area.

The bathroom/dressing area is completely open to the outside and offers an uncomfortable wooden bathtub, two metal sinks and an outdoor shower. I do realise that many people love outdoor showers but I'm not a big fan. The shower was in the "garden" and I just don't think it is a very clean experience. Furthermore, it was very dark there at night. The open concept of the dressing area may lead to very humid clothes when it rains.

We had the opportunity to visit one of the Rock Villas which is huge and far superior to the Beach Villa. The Rock Villa also offers a closed bathroom. However, it is a bit of hike to go to the restaurant.

The hotel area is huge and offers lots of privacy. There is a nice pool area, which is not used a lot, a very good gym and a nice spa. The area is very dry compared to other Asian resorts. The setting is nice but not nearly as spectacular as, for instance, the Rayavadee in Krabi, Thailand.

The big letdown is the food. During our stay we talked to other guests who thought the same. We had full board during our stay and we ended up ordering several dishes just hoping that some of it would be nice. Most of the time the dishes were bland, boring and tasteless, even the local dishes. We were told that a new chef had started in December 2005 and that he hadn't really started implemented his ideas yet but there is definitely of a lot of work to be done in this area. It is such a pity because the food is the main reason for not really enjoying our stay and we will NOT return until we see some much better reviews of the food.

The staff is great and the service is very good.