The Anantara Resort is within walking distance of the charming town of Hoi An and for beach lovers there is a shuttle bus provided to transport you the few kilometres to the beach. As a mid-way point in our tour of Vietnam it provided an excellent few days of comparative relaxation. There is enough of interest to see in the town to keep you occupied and an hour’s drive away are the amazing ruins of My Son, a complex of Hindu buildings dating from between the 4th and 10th centuries.

The hotel is French colonial style, with lush tropical gardens overlooking the Thu Bon river. Our room was split level with a comfortable sitting area and had a private terrace with day beds overlooking the gardens and pool.

The pool area is lovely to relax by, with sun loungers and plenty of palm trees and large umbrellas to provide shade. We enjoyed having a light lunch washed down by a large jug of sangria from the pool bar, watching the odd fishing boat chugging past on the river. It was also lovely to sit with a cocktail at dusk watching the floating lanterns making their way down the river, cast in from the town bridge by those making a wish.

The town has plenty of dining options but we also enjoyed a good dinner in the hotel restaurant: pork, prawn and chicken sate, followed by a Vietnamese curry and flame grilled king prawns. If you fancy a less formal meal, there is also a very comfortable Irish bar where we watched the football on TV one evening and enjoyed a generous bowl of buffalo wings and nachos – granted, a strange thing to eat in Vietnam but not as strange as what was screened at half time: Heidi, yodelling her way across the mountains of Switzerland with Vietnamese subtitles!