One swimming pool isn’t enough for the discerning holidaymaker: The Nam Hai has three (including a beachfront infinity pool) and a pampering spa, where nimble-knuckled masseuses dish out traditional Vietnamese massages and gemstone facials. The hotel’s location – bang-on China Beach, close to the cultural hubs of Hoi An and Hue – is pretty hard to beat, as is the all-star service. Enjoy lazy lunches by the pool at the Beach Restaurant, then dress up for dinner at the Restaurant, which serves sophisticated international cuisine. The Nam Hai won Best Spa Hotel at the 2015 Smith Awards – see why with a wellness-boosting, happiness-enhancing sojourn here.

The only problem with coming to Six Senses Con Dao is leaving Six Senses Con Dao. The hotel’s private villas (equipped with private pools) and jaw-drop setting (one of the world’s most beautiful beaches) will have you thinking about tossing your passport and house keys into the ocean. The off-the-radar setting makes for a blissful minimum of tourists, meaning there’s nobody to spy on you frollicking on the beach or in your bath tub. Further draws to distract you from a life back home are the two excellent restaurants, an award-winning spa, and the array of tempting aquatic adventures.

Expect to leave Fusion Maia Resort in a state of near-nirvanic bliss, thanks to all-inclusive spa treatments, which make daily spa visits obligatory. When you’re vertical again, indulge in a golf session at one of the two championship courses nearby, or pick up new threads in the heritage-listed town of Hoi An. However you choose to spend your days, don’t miss contemporary fine dining at Five restaurant and tea-infused cocktails at Tonic Bar by night.

If you were shipwrecked and cast away on Six Senses Ninh Van Bay, you’d be hiding from any rescue missions that materialised on the horizon. Isolated in a crescent-shaped bay accessible only by boat, this rustic-but-ravishing retreat near Nha Trang is the ultimate escape from reality. Villas come with their own private pools; we especially love the Water Villas, each of which has a plunge pool perched amid boulders, with a ladder directly into the sea. Butler service will have you so spoiled, you’ll forget how to make yourself a cup of tea; the Six Senses spa will have you so relaxed, you’ll forget where you live.

InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort is a triumphant marriage of nature and man-made glory. Here, Vietnam’s vivid natural tapestry – sea, jungle, rainforest, mountains – meets Bill Bensley design. (The lucky architect lived on-site for two years; the fruit-salad colour scheme suggests he had fun here.) There’s also a Michel Roux restaurant, private beach, fragrant spa and romantic rooms – we wish we were writing this from one of the Atrium Suites, which come with generous terraces, fit for lolling about on all day.

An adapted version of this appeared in Silverkris.

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