As I’ve mentioned, Central Vietnam was our first stop on our Asian adventure, and as we arrived, so did two back to back typhoons. That meant we found ourselves locked down in our hotel whilst the nearby cities flooded. The road to and from our hotel was partially washed away in a landslide, and we were not allowed to even leave our room for multiple days.
It means we saw an awful lot of our hotel, though not in the best of weather. So thank goodness it was a lovely hotel, set along the coast line and lagoons of Lang Co. It made for a nice base to hunker down and at least we were safe… And in typical fashion, it was glorious sunshine on the morning we were leaving.
- Location of The Banyan Tree Lang Co
- Accommodation at The Banyan Tree
- Food & Drink at The Banyan Tree
- Amenities & Experiences at The Banyan Tree
Location of The Banyan Tree Lang Co
The Banyan Tree is located in Central Vietnam, between two major cities – Hue and Da Nang. Both have airports, though Da Nang offers the most international flight options. This is where we arrived, and it was a 1hr transfer to the hotel.
The Banyan Tree is perfectly located to explore the region. We had planned to visit all of these places, but due to the weather only managed to get to two of them. It wasn’t the best start to our trip, and I am really disappointed not to have been able to see more.
- Hue (1hr drive) – Vietnam’s ancient royal capital, and a major site in the Indochine and Vietnam wars. We did actually manage to visit whilst staying, and are so glad we did as it was a brilliant (if very wet) day out.
- Da Nang (1hr drive) – A lovely coastal town filled with beautiful beaches. Also head to Ba Na Hills for the famous 2 hands bridge, and the Marble Mountains for some nice walks. Sadly the Hills were closed during our visit for safety reasons given the typhoon.
- My Son (2hr drive) – A famous cluster of ancient Hindu temples in central Vietnam, dating from the 4th to the 13th centuries and recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We couldn’t visit as the road was impassable during our trip.
- Hoi An (2hr drive) – One of Vietnam’s most famous towns, famous for its lanterns, basket boats and charm. Still partially submerged on our visit, it was beautiful to experience its charm regardless.
You can read my full post on visiting Hue HERE and Hoi An HERE.
Accommodation at The Banyan Tree
The hotel is situated on a small complex, offering beach villas facing out to the beach and sea, and lagoon villas facing in to land with lagoons and rivers running past. There are also a number of exclusive hillside villas, built in to the cliff face behind the beach.
The surrounding area is tropical, with dense green hills and trees, and a wide variety of bird life. From our villa alone we saw a couple of different types of Egret, and some beautiful red birds which looked very exotic.
The accommodation at The Banyan Tree is really calming, in line with its brand. We stayed in a Lagoon Pool villa, which came in lovely neutral colours. The room itself was spacious, with a huge bed, lovely shower and big soaking tub.
The daily cleaning service was impeccable, and the nightly turn down service brought laid out slippers and tasty biscuits each night. We were also left gifts such as locally made book marks and fridge magnets, plus treats every few days such as large foot soaking bowls after our day trip to Hue.
The star of the room was undoubtedly the terrace, which came complete with a table and two comfy chairs, plus a lovely lounging day bed. It then lead down to a well sized private pool with two loungers and an outdoor shower. Sadly, given it didn’t stop raining during our stay, we weren’t able to make use of the pool at all, though my husband went and stood in it once at least!
Food & Drink at The Banyan Tree
The Banyan Tree offers a few food and drink options. Overall we found the food to be of good quality. We didn’t have a single bad meal, though nor did we have any truly “blow your socks off” excellent meals. The restaurants and bars on site are:
- The Water Court – serves breakfast, lunch and dinner each day. It offers a huge breakfast buffet serving all varieties of food, and then Vietnamese food on its lunch and dinner menu.
- Azura – an Italian restaurant serving lunch and dinner. The pizzas are delicious!
- Saffron – an upscale Thai restaurant, which served the best of our meals. The crab yellow curry was the best thing we ate during our stay.
- Thu Quan – a quiet bar perfect for cocktails and conversation.
- In Villa Dining – an extensive in dining menu, with a selection from across all the various restaurant menus.
Amenities & Experiences at The Banyan Tree
Aside from the dining experiences, The Banyan Tree offers a number of amenities on site, the most impressive of which is the absolutely beautiful pool. It’s situated right on the hotel’s own private beach front, which is also home to sunbeds and swimming (not recommended in a typhoon!).
In addition to the pool, The Banyan Tree also offers a relaxing luxury spa, typical of the Banyan Tree brand. I had a deep tissue massage and it was lovely. My husband had a Balinese massage but was a little surprised when he started being slapped in the head – but he still said it was great. Again the spa itself is soothing, with neutral colours, fragrant flowers and top service. After the massage they sat us in a courtyard and served some nice tea.
The hotel also offers a lot of experiences on site; from cocktail making to cooking classes, water sports, incense making, candle making and lots more. They also offer multiple exercise classes, like yoga, and aerobics, plus nature walks and bird watching.
Away from the hotel, day trips to the surrounding area with pick up and a guide provided by the hotel are offered. These are reasonably priced and can take you to all the major sites in the area and be customised to your interests. Our guide for our Hue trip, Hung, was absolutely incredible. We learned so much from him.
So what did you think of The Banyan Tree Lang Co? We absolutely loved our stay, though are really sad we didn’t get to see the best of it given the weather. That said, the staff went out of their way to look after us during the typhoon and we still had a really enjoyable stay – the hotel is perfectly located for exploring Central Vietnam, so if you’re visiting, I highly recommend it as a base.
Much more importantly, Vietnam has been absolutely devastated by flooding in recent weeks and months. It was shocking to see such severe weather when we aren’t used to it at home – the fact that roads can be washed away overnight and entire towns completely cut off was really scary. I hope all communities affected are able to recover as quickly as possible.
Stay safe and happy travelling!
Travelling Han 
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