SanDiego1K

We spent three nights at Azerai Can Tho in early December and really enjoyed it. It is Adrian Zecha's current project, begun after he sold Aman. The intent is that it be more accessible financially yet be mindful of the beauty of the setting. This paragraph from a recent interview with Zecha explains his thinking.

"the octogenarian travels non-stop to establish Azerai and address the demand for stylish accommodation in “places of great beauty and cultural richness” focusing particularly on his home ground of Southeast Asia. To date, Azerai has two properties in Vietnam—Azerai Can Tho, near the Mekong river, and Azerai La Residence, Hue—both of which are characterised by refined design and superior service that is expected of a Zecha-driven project. "

The property has an island to itself. It has a building on the shore where you arrive and do the initial check in formalities. You then go by their private boat to their dock.


Arrival building that has seating for more people than the resort holds.

A view of the arrival building, a view from the building to the dock, and views of the Azerai boat.

SanDiego1K

Lobby in upper right, cafe at bottom, spa to left

Rooms with lovely view of lotus pond, swimming pool with view to bar at far end, lawn where complimentary afternoon tea is served
We were welcomed at the dock and walked up to the main building. There we were given cold drinks and told about the island. There are two restaurants, an outdoor bar, a spa, swimming pool and a child's pool, and 45 rooms. Rooms are all duplexes and are identical though are sold at three levels depending on the view. We booked the top view, the river view, and enjoyed the peaceful view over the river from it.

SanDiego1K

Rooms are pleasant, minimal in decor which suits me well, spacious for a room, but there are no suites. You enter to the bedroom with the bed to the left and two comfortable chairs facing the floor length windows. Our view was to the river which we enjoyed very much. Beyond was a dressing room/bathroom with a walk in shower and a day bed by the window. There was a door to the adjacent room so a family would be able to have the entire building. I found it quite witty that the lamps are reminiscent of coolie hats.

3 multi bedroom villas have been built, each with its own pool, on the hitherto undeveloped portion of the island. Should they rent well, there is plenty of room for more to be built.


Bedroom, sitting area, and view

SanDiego1K

Vuko Kralj is the General Manager. We had the pleasure of having several conversations with him as well as being invited on the GM hosted sundowner on the lovely hotel sampan. He started with Aman at Sveti Stefan, then moved to Asia where he worked with several more Amans. He joined Adrian Zecha in the Azerai project, working in hotel development. Out of respect to him, I won't say the various places he has worked developing sites but Azerai could be very interesting. He has worked closely with Adrian for the past 9 years. He said that Adrian walks each of his projects several times and has been in every room at Can Tho to make sure they are satisfactory.

Vuko was quite clear that Azerai is not Aman and we should not expect it to be so. Yet it is clear that is his background and his service mentality. We had excellent service which was only limited by language fluency. We had point people in both the lobby and the restaurant who were completely English fluent and saw to us. They are working hard to bring all employees along and the desire to please is there. Roughly 40% of the guests are Vietnamese with some seasonality as to what group of guest is dominant.

The hotel is a lovely destination and a beautiful resort. It has an extensive list of suggestions for what to do in the local area but we didn't think most sounded very interesting. Can Tho is not a tourist destination though it is a very large bustling city. We did one outing that I highly recommend. We rented a private sampan that came to the island to pick us up, served us both western and Vietnamese food for breakfast, and took us to the floating market. This is the real deal, the largest on the Mekong, with large amounts of fresh produce changing hands. We then went on to a factory that makes noodles the traditional way. Fascinating.

There are bikes at the hotel for use on the island.

We arrived at Can Tho from our Aqua Mekong cruise. The hotel arranged a car to pick us up where the boat docked. It was roughly a 2 hour trip to the hotel, and cost us $170 for the transfer. We flew out of the Can Tho Airport, half an hour away, to Hanoi. I think the drive to Ho Chi Minh was about 3 1/2 hours. I encourage anyone going to look at where you can go by boat or plane from Can Tho and avoid long drives. I know you can fly to Phu Quoc and Can Dao; there was also a new large ferry beginning service to Can Dao. I believe it is a 3 hour ferry ride.

SanDiego1K

Sampan coming into Azerai Can Tho dock; view within sampan

Floating market. These boats carry pumpkins, watermelon, and pineapple. Much more is sold. Story pole shows produce available for sale on that boat.

Aventine

Can we get some shots of the bathroom area please? I'm curious.

SanDiego1K

Dressing/bathroom

Aventine

Looks quite nice. Thank you for the pics! SanDiego1K

heronb

Very nice review, does the town have enough interest or is the hotel the main attraction for the area?

offerendum

Interesting!

SanDiego1K

It's mostly the hotel though we thoroughly enjoyed the half day tour of which I wrote above. Check our Can Tho River Tours for ideas on what to do.

bigdog2

Azerai Can Tho currently offer a Pay 2 Stay 3 with a whole bunch of other complimentary inclusions, as tourism recovers in VN. But what to do for 3 nights in Can Tho is the question?. I hear the floating markets only exist for tourists now, as the government has built new roads and bridges, and trade has moved to land. It's interesting because every tour operator still advertises a Cai Be, Cai Ran, Can Tho floating market/mekong boat tour, yet it has been described to me as a total tourist trap.

SanDiego1K

We took the tour and thoroughly enjoyed it. We were picked up on the island, were given a light breakfast on the boat, and went to the floating market which was a produce market. It was fascinating to see the boats heavily loaded with produce. There was nothing for tourists to buy so I'm unsure why anyone would call it touristic. Then we were taken to rice noodle factory where they were making noodles by hand. Very intriguing. I have pictures upthread of the boat, breakfast, and floating market but not the noodle factory.

We also went out on the hotel boat at sunset.

We did go to town one day. I had created a list of leather shops. We did not do well with what we found. But we did have lunch at a local restaurant and enjoyed it.

Nicolas Pillet is the GM. We met him when he was the GM at Amanoi. I have high confidence in him creating a good experience for hotel guests.

bigdog2

I see that you visited before the pandemic travel restrictions? The subpar experience of these famous floating markets was described to me by a friend who visited in June 2022 as just a handful of vendor boats trying to sell mediocre produce and goods to tourist boats, rather than actual commercial trade. I am glad you were able to enjoy it before the abrupt change in our world.

SanDiego1K

The hotel and the GM are active on Instagram. I encourage you to reach out to them there for up to date information.