First published October 2020 | Words and photos by Vietnam Coracle

INTRODUCTION | REVIEW | MAP | RELATED POSTS

A crisp, clean and contemporary resort straddling the cliffs on the spectacular coast road between Nha Trang and Cam Ranh Airport, Mia is the embodiment of minimalist-chic. A luxurious beach resort with excellent facilities, great service, good dining options and a fabulous location, Mia Nha Trang is normally upwards of $170 a night. However, due to the impact of the pandemic on the tourist industry in Vietnam, rates at Mia Resort are currently as low as $85 a night: essentially half-price. This is an excellent opportunity to experience the style, comfort and general high standards of Mia Resort at a significantly reduced price. Impressively well-run, neat, organized – almost to a fault – modern, sophisticated, and photogenic, a couple of nights at Mia Resort Nha Trang is a real treat. Right now, it’s more affordable than ever. [To check rates, availability & make a reservation for Mia Resort please BOOK HERE] 

[Back Top]

REVIEW: MIA RESORT NHA TRANG

Address: Bai Dong, Cam Hai Dong, Cam Lam, Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province [MAP]

Average Rates: $80-$150 (pandemic season) | Email: info@mianhatrang.com

*Please support Vietnam Coracle: All my reviews are independently researched & financed. I never receive freebies of any sort in exchange for positive reviews or listings. If you use the links on this page to book your accommodation, I make a small commission. All my earnings go straight back into this website. Thank you.

[Click the image below or BOOK HERE]

MAP:

View in a LARGER MAP

Almost exactly halfway between Nha Trang city centre (19km) and Cam Ranh International Airport (16km), Mia Resort clings to cliffs on the ocean side of the airport road. A deceptively large property spanning two tight bays between rocky bluffs, Mia is a collection of one-storey villas and two-storey condos arranged around two sand beaches wedged beneath steep slopes. The location is striking, but the airport road, which wraps around the perimeter of the resort, can be a distraction, especially during high season when flights in and out of Cam Ranh Airport are frequent and the road can get busy and noisy with tour buses roaring to and from the terminal. However, you’re unlikely to notice this while you’re lounging in the infinity pool, strolling along the beach, or enjoying the comforts of your villa.

Mia Resort is east-facing: the sun rises directly on the horizon over the sea, but, by 4pm, drops behind the hills to the west, leaving Mia to bask in the cool shade during the last couple of hours of daylight (a great time to walk along the beach). The resort’s private beach is attractive and fairly wide: a sweep of sand punctuated by rocky headlands and large boulders, which fell to the ocean when the airport road was blasted through the hillsides. Several islands lie offshore and fishing boats ply the ocean throughout the day and night. Water quality is generally pretty good and bathing is fine. But the ocean is often blighted by litter – an alarming problem all along Vietnam’s coastline, and one that appears to get visibly worse with each year. (The litter is almost exclusively personal trash, such as plastic cutlery, beer cans, instant noodle wrappers, plastic bags, and shampoo sachets.)

Hemmed in by cliffs to the west and ocean to the east, Mia is an isolated property. There are no shops, restaurants or local life nearby, but the resort offers a free shuttle bus to/from Nha Trang three times a day. Essentially, however, Mia is your neighbourhood for the entirety on your stay. There’s lots of space within the resort grounds, including the coastline, the cliffs, and lush gardens, all of which are good for wandering around. Pathways lead through the gardens, which are dotted with coconut palms and tropical flowers, such as aromatic frangipanis and luminous bougainvillea. The grounds are immaculately maintained and manicured. Indeed, the grassy areas between the villas are obsessively trimmed to the extent that they resemble (rather unfortunately, in my opinion) a pitch and putt course. There’s plenty to keep you busy at the resort, including swimming in the gorgeous infinity pool, kayaking in the bay, snorkeling on a small reef, hitting the gym, early morning yoga sessions, taking to the baking hot tennis courts, relaxing with a spa treatment, or trying your hand at a cooking course. Excursions to various local attractions can also be easily arranged.

The young, friendly staff at Mia – many of whom hail from the Nha Trang region – are exceptionally well-trained and attentive to guests’ needs. Service is excellent and staff generally have good English-language skills, as well as other European and Asian languages. In ‘normal times’ (as opposed to ‘pandemic times’), there are two restaurants and a cocktail bar (the latter, perched on the cliff near the reception lobby, has stunning sea views). However, at the time I visited, only the poolside Sandals Restaurant & Bar was operating. Open-sided, with seating by the pool and the beach, Sandals serves good, freshly made meals. Asian and Western dishes feature on the menu, and quality and value for money are good. The bar has a real happy hour (buy one, get one free) from 4pm-7pm. The drinks menu is inventive, featuring house cocktails as well as classics, a separate gin-based cocktail list, a good selection of wine, and plenty of creative healthy drinks, too, such as smoothies and juice mixes. Happy hour by the beach is the perfect way see out the fading daylight and lead into a good evening meal. The only issue I had with the dining experience was, predictably, music: do I really want to be subjected to the sentimental ballads of some ephemeral popstar; or would the sound of the sea and cicadas be a more romantic soundtrack to my evening meal?

Accommodation at Mia Resort comes in several forms. In ascending order according to price these are: Garden View/Beachfront Condos, Garden View Villas, Beachfront Villas, and Cliff Villas. There are a couple of other riffs on these room types, and many of the villas are, in fact, residences. Regardless of accommodation type, the level of style, comfort, space, room amenities and luxury is high. Although the Garden View/Beachfront Condos are the least expensive, I think the best value accommodation at Mia are the Garden View Villas, because they’re completely detached structures, with more space, greenery, and superior views than the condos, albeit for $20-$40 more per night. The most spectacular accommodation are certainly the Cliff Villas and Beachfront Villas, both of which have amazing vistas and private infinity pools on their front terraces. Most likely, your choice of accommodation at Mia will be determined by your budget; but whichever you choose, you’re bound to be impressed by the standards and very happy with your room.

The condos and villas at Mia are generously spaced out over many acres of land, and there are no high-rise structures at all. The entire resort has a coherent and consistent style and theme: minimalist-chic, contemporary luxury. From the moment you pull off the coast road and enter the light, cool, airy, uncluttered reception – with its horizontal lines, reflection pools, and vertical pillars – you’ll understand Mia’s decor and style. It’s clean, crisp, modern, elegant, and sophisticated. Whether you’re in a condo or a villa, your accommodation will feature bamboo under-roofing and turf over-roofing, rock stucco walls, woodcut partitions, granite sink and bathtub, large front patio with soft seating, snugs and hammocks, indoor living area and work desk, soft mood lighting, and views over lush greenery and/or the ocean. It goes without saying that you also get a widescreen TV with dozens of channels, high-speed internet, Bluetooth speakers and all other modern conveniences that you’d expect. Room tones are marine and serene: light blues, greys, soft greens, with occasional bursts of pink and orange introduced by scatter cushions. There’s nothing vulgar and nothing lumpy. Space and light are the priorities.

Mia is a rare example of a high-end accommodation that has good beds. It may seem unlikely, but I’ve seldom stayed in an luxury resort that knows what a good bed is: all too often, the beds are too soft and piled high with cushions. The general thinking being: soft=comfortable. In fact, a comfortable bed is much more subtle than this, and Mia appear to be aware of this nuance: their beds are comfy but not mushy, supportive but not hard. Well done.

Aside from the decor and furnishings, little touches like an incense burner with essential oils next to the bathtub, and a little paper bag containing warm cookies laid on your pillow with turndown service every evening, go a long way to making you feel like you’re somewhere special. Breakfast, included in the room price, is served in the Sandals Restaurants by the beach. Half buffet, half à la carte, the options include delicious eggs Benedict with smoked salmon, Vietnamese noodles soups, and some vegan options, too. The bread and pastries are baked on the premises and fresh coffee is made to order: have as many double espressos as you want/need in the morning while the sun rises over the East Sea. This, again, is a significant improvement on other, similarly priced resorts, which either serve buffet-style ‘pot coffee’ or charge extra for Italian-style real coffee.

Mia is a small chain of luxury accommodations in Vietnam. In Vietnamese mía means ‘sugarcane’, a name which the resort’s literature suggests is in line with its concern for the environment and keeping their property as ‘green’ as possible. Certainly, there are signs of this around the resort: turf rooftops help insulate rooms to keep them cool so guests might limit their use of air-con (although, in the case of most guests, I’d imagine this doesn’t really happen); there’s no plastic in the kitchen and restaurant and no single-use items, such as plastic straws, paper napkins or toothpicks; staff and guests get around the large resort grounds on electric bikes and buggies; and there are the usual notices in rooms about limiting your use of towels. Guests can ask for a free refill of water for their bottle. However, this was in no way promoted, and I think would be better implemented with several water refill stations scattered about the resort where guests could fill-up their bottles whenever they wished. As it is, most guests consume the small plastic bottles of water provided in their rooms twice daily, leading to around 4-8 small, single-use, plastic bottles consumed per room, per day.

Contemporary in design and decor, luxurious in comfort and amenities, extremely well-run with excellent service, Mia Resort Nha Trang is a highly impressive accommodation. Stylish and comfortable, I very much enjoyed my time at Mia and would gladly stay again (providing the rates are within my budget). The only things that Mia lack are access to local life and food (although I understand that isolation is part of the appeal of a secluded resort like this), and a sense of ‘character’. The latter is very subjective, of course, and not necessarily a fault, but a matter of taste. For me, Mia, for all its sophistication and style, doesn’t have the charm and character of, for example, Ho Tram Beach Boutique or Mango Bay: even though the facilities, service and F&B at Mia are superior, I don’t feel attached to Mia in the same way I do to the aforementioned resorts. [To check current rates, availability & make a reservation for Mia Resort please BOOK HERE] 

*Please support Vietnam Coracle: All my reviews are independently researched & financed. I never receive freebies of any sort in exchange for positive reviews or listings. If you use the links on this page to book your accommodation, I make a small commission. All my earnings go straight back into this website. Thank you.

Disclosure: I never receive payment for anything I write: my content is always free & independent. I’ve written this review because I want to: I like this resort & I want my readers to know about it. For more details, see my Disclosure & Disclaimer statements here

[Back Top]

RELATED POSTS: