The resort is a hidden gem in Ninh Binh. We stayed for 2 nights and wished we could stay here longer. It's a self sufficient resort with 2 pools indoor and outdoor, spa, gym, etc. The room was beautiful and earthy.
The breakfast was good but more options for vegetarians could be included.
Would highly recommend to stay in Emeralda Resorts if you're traveling to Ninh Binh.
Recent review of this resort hotel have been lengthy so I will attempt to keep this relatively short:
Positives: the rooms are arranged in low level clusters of 16 to resemble traditional North Vietnamese villages. Some clusters have their own swimming pool. The rooms are very spacious, fridge, air con, welcome food basket. The resort has two restaurants, we ate at the more expensive one. Our guide had eaten goat in Mai Chau the night before so I ordered this as a local speciality. Superb. The best goat I have eaten anywhere.My husband's dish was also very good.Breakfast was the usual buffet style but the room is enormous - air craft hangar size.
Negatives: I had a rest in bed at 5.00 p.m. and when I looked up at the roof rafters a rat was walking along them. When we phoned the reception desk we were told this is common when it rains - it was raining. We were offered another room but as there was no guarantee that rats would not appear in another room we declined but put the fruit basket in the fridge to avoid rat temptation.
When we tried the TV we discovered the instructions had been torn out of the hotel brochure. We had to call someone for help, as the rooms are a long way from reception this took around 20 minutes. We were advised that the hotel had changed the system but failed to provide instructions.
We arranged to leave at 7.30 a.m. as we were travelling to Haiphong for a cruise. At 7.15 a.m. two staff hammered on the door, refused to go away despite the fact that I explained my husband was in the toilet, and the situation became extremely unpleasant. I assume they wanted to check the mini bar. When we left the room we were taken to a golf cart to take us to reception. It would have been helpful if the staff spoke English and had explained this to us.
Overall: this hotel has a monopoly as there is a lack of good accommodation in the area. They are used to coach tours and the welcome from reception was cursory, the staff do not engage with their customers, rats - despite the rain - are not something I would wish to experience again and being bullied by staff to leave our room, many hours before we needed to vacate, is totally unacceptable.
Spent our last couple of nights of a 2 week tour in Laos and northern Vietnam here and couldn't be a better finish. Accommodation is in spatious and well finished clusters of houses. Spatious rooms, good beds, nice bathrooms, good internet. Resort has nice both indoor and outdoor pools, very good dinner restaurant serving high quality local and western menus, and a separate very good breakfast restaurant. All staff friendly and helpful. If you want part and full day excursions in the local area, especially to the nearby and beautiful karst limestone and rainforest national park, they offer these with their own transport and guides, and this is probably a better option than doing these trips as part of a general itinerary touring multiple sites, as are commonly organised in Vietnam, where the guides have less specific local knowledge.
In short a place we'll be sorry to leave, quite a rare feeling!
Our stay at the Emeralda Resort Ninh Binh was fantastic.
There was a relaxed feel to the resort from the moment we arrived.
The lobby was in a beautiful raised setting surrounded buy a moat full of fish.
We received a warm welcome from the staff and although in easy walking distance were taken to our room by buggy, with luggage following on.
Our room was in Cluster 7 at the rear of the site. Set amongst trees and greenery the sound of wildlife including birds and frogs was ever present.
Our room was spacious had a colonial feel about it. We had a large bathroom that included a great bath and separate walk in shower. To the rear we had a small private patio. The room had everything we needed.
The resort had a great outdoor pool with poolside bar, indoor pool, gym, spa, karaoke room, wine bar and two restaurants.
We enjoyed sitting poolside enjoying a relaxing drink with friends and dinner in the Organics Restaurant where the food was cooked to perfection and beautifully presented by a great team of staff.
For those wanting to go further afield it’s worth taking a walk outside of the resort. On exiting the main gate and turning left you can walk to the end of the road from where you can get some great views and see people taking boat rides in old traditional boats. We didn’t do this as we had our own boat trip lined up.
Although the resort is tastefully lit giving it a romantic feel at night, it’s worth taking the torch from the room when going out to the pool, restaurant etc after dark as you will almost certainly get the chance to see some of the frogs and hand sized snails crossing the paths. Have your camera to hand!
For those who prefer to travel by buggy .......... just call the number supplied in your room and they’ll be there in no time or hop on one as they pass you.
We would have liked to have stayed here longer and can highly recommend the Emeralda Resort.
Stayed 3 nights, Emeralda is located in a small village that is a short drive to Tam Coc etc. the nature reserve is just up the road but there is more to see at Trang An. Roads here are rough, there are cement factories close by contributing to the pollution.
We tried to arrange a transfer by email and facebook but Emeralda were so slow to respond (even after further prompting) we booked through another company for half the price (Hanoi Transfer service company who I would recommend as they were very good at communicating, professional and reasonably priced).
Check in was perfunctory, staff may have limited English and so be scared to engage? We got a nice ginger tea on check in.
We were driven in a golf cart to our room which was large and they had turned the air con on before arrival which was nice.
The grounds are extensive with arch ways throughout lit puny fairy lights at night.
The rooms are arranged in clusters- if you have trouble walking then this is not the place for you as things are all far apart. We were in cluster 7, it took me a while to figure out why I kept getting lost ( it felt like the Bermuda Triangle)- to get to cluster 7 from the pool you had to follow the signs for. cluster 9.
The Organic restaurant was open when we got there in the evening and was a pleasant albeit with no atmosphere as we had to sit inside as there was not enough seating outside. They provide a small complimentary bread basket. I only saw one item listed as organic on the menu so don’t think all food is organic. Food was good not great.
Cocktails and bar service were good. The tiramisu (more like a coffee pan a cotta was nice).
There is a large cold outdoor pool and smaller heated indoor pool. The photos on the website of the pool are misleading compared to what the pools look like in reality due to the wide angle lens they have used. They have a yoga room that is just that an empty room, no classes are held.The gym is full of (aging) gym gear with towels ands water provided.
Breakfasts had a large offering but were not very enjoyable as it’s like eating in a food hall- too many people who make up large tour groups or conferences on site. They try to play piped music to give a feeling of elegance but it does not work. Pancakes, fruit, and eggs and pho etc were good, the vegetarian dumplings have no filling in them ( rather than having a vegetable filling as you would expect). The bread and pastries were awful, stale for the bread and flaccid for the pastries, probably in part due to the humidity. Sitting outside you are surrounded by men smoking.
We hire bikes as we thought they would be better than the bikes in the village. We were
likely wrong- the Emeralda bikes had 3 gears in theory but they didn’t work and one bike had a pretty flat so I ended up riding that one as I was a bit lighter. They had no suspension. It’s not really a good place to bike from, and if you want to ensure you map an itinerary out as the reception did not have good information and the map they gave was hopeless. If you are going to explore by bike I would go into town to hire bikes there were multiple places there and they will likely be a lot cheaper.
If you are looking for a location for a tour group this is good, if you are wanting personal service or the feeling of luxury this is not the place to go.
The bathroom in our unit was fairly filthy.
You get 1 litre water per day. There is a fridge in the room and digital tv. Wifi reception was average- the ‘superior’ modem connection was better.
In conclusion this place needs to decide if they are catering for bus loads or individuals. I would not stay here if you want a 5 star or personal experience.
