Palm Garden Beach Resort and Spa, Cua Dai Beach

... Part 2 ....

Travel time was around 2 hours something from Manila to Ho Chi Minh City , and another one hour domestic flight to Da Nang, and then another 45 minute drive to Cua Dai Beach. Forty five minutes were really 45 minutes continuous driving - no heavy traffic at all!

The airport was very similar to Bohol's Tagbilaran airport. The scenery was flat and dry, with small sprouts of development here and there. As we approached Cua Dai beach, I saw "Boracay" in the making. There were huge construction sites for resorts everywhere! We were lucky that we visited before the onslaught of these casinos and monster resorts. (According to one website, "If you do not want to see tourists, Hoi An is not the place for you") Sure enough, I saw a lot of tourists during our stay. But still not as crowded as Boracay!

We stayed at a sprawling beach resort called Palm Garden. Upon seeing it, I can't help but recall my favorite game show, the "Price is Right" where people win weekends at Palm Springs :-) Too bad I wasn't able to use any of their facilities (except for room service - a pregnant woman's best friend) -- but the pool looked fab and the Qui Spa looked posh (at U$D 54.00 per massage!! WTF?)

The rooms were either duplexes or stand alone bungalows. I was on a 2nd floor of a duplex type one. It was huge for just one person (our company has this thing with privacy so they always book one person per room) , and I couldn't help but wish that I had family with me :-)






As for the hotel food, I've tasted better. Even for the breakfast buffet, I steered clear of the unique concoctions and stayed with the tried and tested egg omelettes, cereal and bread.. (Food deserves a separate blog entry... ) I also felt that people at the hotel were very impatient people. While eating, you get asked for an average of 3 times ifyou're done so they can get your plate. For room service, they knocked so loud and fast, you'd think there was an emergency!



A good thing about their beach (even if the sand is not powder-white) , is that it's so far away from the resorts! Felt really peaceful :-) The temperature when we arrived was beach-worthy, but it started getting windy (typhoon-like) the next couple of days.

Dark Skies

Overall, I would rate Palm Garden maybe a 7 out of 10. It was beautiful, but the service and the food was forgettable ! And, if I weren't pregnant, I would've stayed another day in Ho Chi Minh (and not at Cua Dai Beach -- the water looked dangerous anyway)


Up next ... FOOD post !