Best Hotels & Lodges

Featuring a new route throughout Halong and Lan Ha Bay, Orchid Trendy is the perfect harmony between nostalgic oriental and elegant Vietnam’s French colonial-era’s neoclassic architecture. With a total of 20 cabins consisting of private balconies overlooking the bays, an outdoor jacuzzi that embraces the magnificent natural scenery, a restaurant with a variety of Asian-European flavors, Orchid Trendy promises to bring the upgraded and most memorable experience to all the clients. Engage in a journey of sublimate emotions with Orchid Cruises, enjoy high-class services and experience the quintessence of Vietnamese cuisine in the heart of this charming world heritage.

As the first high-class cruise to explore both Halong Bay and Lan Ha Bay, Orchid Classic remains a timeless inspiration thanks to its classic Indochine architecture combined with all-wooden interiors. Each suite has spectacular views overlooking the gulf, and guests can enjoy an outdoor jacuzzi on the sundeck and have an extraordinary experience in discovering the mysterious beauty of the bays.

Ingwe Pan is situated at a secluded pan in the wilderness area of Mana Pools National Park, just a few kilometres inland of the Zambezi River and within walking distance of the Chiruwe river bed. The pan is one of the biggest in the park and is surrounded by a grove of large ebony trees. A magnificent fig and ancient ebony form the canopy of the main lounge and dining area of the camp. An ancient baobab is a few minutes walk from the camp and the perfect spot for picnics and sundowners in the evening. The camp comprises eight spacious and elegantly furnished tents tucked in amongst the trees on the edge of the pan, all with an uninterrupted view of the water.

Located in the heart of the Zambezi River area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, you will find Mana River Camp – one of the most friendly and comfortable safari camps in the country. Notorious too for its delicious cuisine! Providing a warm family atmosphere of a home-away-from-home, the camps are owned and managed by Machaba Safaris - and their dedicated team. The camps offer a comfortable, homely and authentic safari experience where guests are welcomed with warmth and pleasure. Wildlife highlights include herds of buffalo and elephant, leopards, lions and packs of African wild dogs.

While most visitors to Mana Pools head for the famous Zambezi floodplains, those in the know make a beeline inland to the Chitake River system – and it's here you'll find this raw, unfiltered gem. Perched on a bluff 50 metres above the dry riverbed, Mhara occupies a private concession that was untouched for centuries before the camp opened in 2022. The wildlife action is nothing short of extraordinary: lion prides patrol the sands below, enormous buffalo herds kick up dust clouds as they thunder to the springs, and elephants dig for water mere metres from your tent. It's walking safari country at its finest, with the legendary Chitake Gorge on your doorstep and guides who grew up in this wilderness. Come here for proper bush immersion – the kind that leaves fresh lion tracks outside your tent each morning.

This Peruvian-owned boutique sits right alongside the rushing Vilcanota River, a two-minute stroll from the train station. With only 28 rooms dressed in polished wood, Andean textiles and slate-stone bathrooms, it's reassuringly intimate. The fern-filled Manka restaurant does a surprisingly accomplished multi-course dinner using local ingredients, breakfast is a generous spread served from the crack of dawn (essential for early citadel starts), and the K'intu Spa (river-view jacuzzi, anyone?) is exactly what tired legs need. The warm staff and that constant soundtrack of rushing water make it one of the most comfortable bases in town.