• Wonderfully secluded property only accessible by sea.
• The ultimate barefoot beach shack on one of the most unspoiled coastlines in the world.
• The Spa set amid streams and rocks would rejuvenate even the most hard working individual.
• 58 villas are situated beachfront, hill-side or over rock formations with private swimming pools.
The Whole Story
It's the perfect name. Situated on a hidden beach on a lush, mountainous peninsula overlooking a series of overlapping bays, the Six Senses Hideaway is exactly that – you would never even know it's there. From a distance, the enclave of thatched huts on the beach and wooden houses suspended on the rocks is completely invisible. And even as you approach it by boat – the only way to get there – you still need binoculars to pick out the houses nestling in the dense foliage just behind the pristine sands.
With fifty-four individual villas, a spa complex and three restaurants, the Hideaway is clearly more than a few rudimentary beach huts. Yet that's exactly the impression it creates. It's the kind of destination that immediately makes you wonder how it was found in the first place. For many years, this was a secret picnic spot for guests of Ana Mandara. Sheltered from prevailing winds and tucked away from all traces of civilization, it's the ultimate beach fantasy. The possibility of building a retreat in such a place must have occurred to proprietors Eva and Sonu Shivdasani (hence the original name of the hotel, Evason) many times, but it didn't come into being until General Ha Van Dung (pronounced Zoong) entered the picture. A war hero from the North, the general is also a civil engineer who is now mainly busy with public works for the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the South: he built Nha Trang's new airport as well as the brand new four-lane concrete highway that leads to it, both to commemorate the late Ho Chi Minh's birthday. Without General Dung, the Hideaway would still be a dream because the land is leased from the military. What's more, the logistical challenge of building on what is essentially an inaccessible site (with no roads whatsoever) falls more within a description of a military exercise than a building project. The military analogy goes even further than one might imagine. Despite the laid-back, Robinson Crusoe ambience of the place, it has taken an army of workers to bring the fantasy to life. More than six hundred labourers have toiled here for almost two years to bring power, sewerage, running water and telecommunications to a completely virgin piece of jungle on the coast. Everything – from the trucks and machinery to the pipes and cables – was brought in by boat, D-Day style. The general and his 'troops' considered building a jetty, but in order to preserve the integrity of the crystalline bay ultimately decided against it. Likewise, everything about the design - the architecture, the building materials, the manner of construction using interlocking wood with no nails or glue - was chosen with the aim of creating the ultimate escape. The result is a series of huts and houses that represent a new style of luxury: more rugged, raw and natural, with space and privacy as primary considerations.
I've not come across an environment that delivers these ingredients more convincingly than the Hideaway's water villas. Built into and onto the massive boulders scattered along the shore, they are the three-dimensional realization of the ultimate barefoot beach shack. Architecturally they are particularly clever because they are at once completely open and completely private. Constructed entirely in timber - wooden beams, wooden floors, wood-panelled floors, even wooden baths - they are exposed to the elements in every direction, with huge doors that slide back and lead to surrounding decks and verandas, which in turn offer sweeping views of the crescent-shaped beach. But privacy is ensured by the giant rocks that form an integral part of each villa's construction. The boulders are both sculpture and screen, an organic feature and focal point but also a means of naturally separating one villa from the next. Like gigantic organic ornaments, they simultaneously dominate and decorate the cut-out views created by the hand-assembled, interlocking timber architecture
The Rooms
35 Beach Villas – 176 sqm
8 Hill Top Villas – 158 sqm
5 Water Villas with rockery – 154 sqm
4 Rock Villas – 187 sqm
5 Spa Suite Villas – 164 sqm
1 Presidential Villa – 271 sqm
All rooms have bedroom, bathroom, living room, outdoor plunge pool, deck, tea and coffee making facilities, satellite television, mini bar, personal safe and hairdryer. Rooms vary in size as listed above.