Originally published April 28, 2023 | Updated December 2025
Words: Tanya Joslin
We landed in Cam Ranh in the early evening, grateful for the warmer weather after a few days in Hue, and headed straight to Alma Resort’s Vietnamese street food night. It was Saturday, which meant the Food Court had transformed into a proper local street food experience with steaming bowls of pho, fresh spring rolls, and grilled meats. The perfect welcome.
When we woke the next morning and opened the curtains of our beachfront villa, we finally understood what we’d been too tired to appreciate the night before. The private pool was just outside, the beach beyond it almost empty except for the occasional early morning walker, and the view stretched all the way to the horizon. This was going to be good.
Overview
When we returned to Alma Resort two years after my first visit, I wasn’t sure what to expect. At 580 rooms spread across 30 hectares, it’s the kind of place where you could stay twice and have completely different experiences: different restaurants, different pools, a different villa entirely. The sheer scale is what sets Alma apart. This isn’t an intimate boutique property; it’s a full resort where you could spend a week and still discover new corners.
With outstanding views across Bai Dai Beach on the Cam Ranh peninsula in southern Vietnam, Alma offers contemporary five-star accommodation in suites and pavilions, all ocean-facing and many with private pools. Throughout the property, you’ll find 12 swimming pools, nine dining outlets, a spa, a cinema, an 18-hole putting green and more.
Worth noting: Alma Resort is working to become Vietnam’s largest solar-powered hotel, with more than 580 rooms and suites supported by one of the country’s largest private solar-energy systems.
The Location
Just 10 minutes from Cam Ranh International Airport and half an hour from Nha Trang, Alma occupies a 74-acre plot of land along a beautiful stretch of Bai Dai Beach that feels surprisingly private for a resort this size.
Best Room for Two
The 3 Bedroom Villa with Private Pool, Beach Front may seem like more space than a couple strictly needs, but the location cannot be beat. Spanning 214 square metres, the villa offers seamless indoor-outdoor living with direct beach access and a private pool. The layout includes a spacious living room with its own bathroom, three en-suite bedrooms, each with full-length baths and rain showers, and a large dining area.
The oceanfront terrace became our favourite spot. Equipped with a dining table, sunbeds, and that private pool, we spent lazy afternoons alternating between the ocean and the pool. It was hard to drag ourselves away from the private pool and sea breezes, but at sunset we’d walk the few steps to Bai Dai Beach before returning to our private sanctuary.
But, if a three-bedroom seems a little indulgent, Alma Resort offers a range of accommodation across 196 pavilions and 384 suites, each with sweeping sea views and a private balcony or terrace. Upper-floor options feature expansive balconies, while oceanfront pavilions offer the option of private Jacuzzis or pools.
Food & Drink
With nine dining outlets and bars across the resort, you’ll have plenty of choice. Alma Garden, located in the heart of the resort, serves extensive à la carte breakfasts with live cooking stations featuring both Western and Asian cuisine.
For dinner on our second night, we headed to La Casa, the Italian restaurant, where the generous buffet felt authentically Italian rather than resort-generic. The live pasta station cooked to order, various fresh pizzas, vibrant salads, and proper risotto all delivered, but it was the tiramisu that nearly undid us. Hard to stop at one.
Atlantis offers alfresco dining with fresh local seafood, while Asiana serves Asian cuisine. The Alma Food Court features six different food outlets, including Vietnamese street food, traditional noodles, and French bakery favourites, and on Wednesdays and Saturdays, it transforms into the street food experience we enjoyed on our first evening.
Don’t be surprised if you want to book an extra night just to savour it all. (Yes, there’s also a swim-up bar.)
See & Do
Alma Resort’s wellness focus extends to extensive facilities, including an 18-hole putting green, archery, water sports, and a fitness centre. In the evenings, the resort’s amphitheatre hosts The Alma Show, a 70-minute spectacle blending Vietnamese dance, water puppetry and special effects.
Cooking Classes
One of the highlights is the opportunity to dive into Vietnamese cuisine through hands-on cooking classes. We opted for a shortened version with resort staff handling the market shopping beforehand, but the full cultural tour (including a visit to Cam Duc Market) is worth considering if time permits.
Our class, led by Christina from Zazen Travel, was one of the most engaging cooking experiences I’ve had. Her anecdotes about regional variations and family traditions made it feel like cooking with a friend. We prepared fresh spring rolls (Goi Cuon) and beef wrapped in betel leaves (Bo La Lot), then enjoyed our creations on Atlantis Restaurant’s deck with cold Vietnamese beer.
Alma can arrange cultural tours to local craft villages and temples, evening experiences with traditional puppet shows and street food, and eco-discovery trips with snorkelling excursions.
With a lap pool, jacuzzi, huge splash park with slides and a lazy river, plus adults-only pools, there’s something for every mood. Couples will find plenty of pockets of peace. Between the private cinema, multiple bars, karaoke rooms, beach access, and activities, there’s enough to fill a week without leaving the property.
Spa & Wellness
Alma’s wellness offerings are extensive, with Le Spa being a particular highlight. Surrounded by lush gardens, the spa features private treatment villas where you’re greeted with cool marble floors, comfy rattan furnishings, and fresh juice. The spa also has separate saunas and steam rooms, and here’s something I wish I’d known: leave enough time for a steam before your treatment. You’ll thank yourself later.
I booked the Vietnamese Traditional Massage, the treatment that uses coconut massage oil and cupping. It was our fourth massage in Vietnam, and honestly, I wasn’t expecting anything revelatory by that point.
This one proved me wrong.
The massage began with firm palm and thumb pressure along the tendons, those slow strokes that reveal just how much tension you’ve been carrying. My feet and ankles were oddly tender when she worked on them, something I hadn’t noticed before.
The turning point came when my therapist, Yen (pronounced “Yen”), reached the base of my skull. She paused, made a small sound that fell somewhere between concern and a gentle telling-off, and said, “This is not good. You can’t sleep like this.” Yen spent considerable time working deeply around that junction where the neck meets the skull, determined to unlock whatever had seized up.
It wasn’t gentle, but it was purposeful, and absolutely needed. When I asked later about the foot and ankle sensitivity, she linked it to circulation and the tension running through my shoulders and neck. Not surprising, but confronting to hear said out loud. And she was right: my sleep had been terrible of late!
We didn’t have enough time to do everything we’d hoped, including one of the regular yoga sessions offered. Alma’s resident yogi, Umesh Kumar Sharma, is trained in Rishikesh (India’s legendary yoga capital) with 20 years of experience, and leads group classes and private sessions in various styles throughout the week. The resort also offers sound bowl healing, and the gym is impressively equipped. Our advice? Book longer than you think you’ll need if you love indulging in wellness activities while on holiday.
Couples Will Love
This is where Alma’s scale becomes an advantage: it can be as peaceful or as packed with activity as you want it to be. Want total seclusion? The beachfront villas, adults-only pools, and long stretch of private beach deliver. Want stimulation? There’s the cooking classes, The Alma Show, mini golf, all the pools, and Nha Trang less than an hour away. Most couples will want both at different points in the week, and Alma delivers on both fronts.
With nine dining outlets, a refined spa (don’t miss that massage with Yen if she’s available), yoga with a Rishikesh-trained instructor, and countless activities, you could easily spend a week here. There’s so much here that even a week feels like you’re only scratching the surface.
Find out more about Alma Resort at www.alma-resort.com or contact them at +84 258 399 1666 / info@alma-resort.com
Tanya co-founded Holidays for Couples with her mother Rhonda in 1996. For more than 25 years, the magazine defined romance travel in Australia before Tanya reimagined it as a digital platform with a strong SEO and social media presence. Tanya has lived in Canada, Japan, Abu Dhabi, Macao and now Saudi Arabia. When not in the office working on Holidays for Couples magazine, she is either planning her next trip or already boarding the plane.
