PULUONG BOUTIQUE GARDEN — Hotel in Thanh Hoá Province

Since there aren't many reviews, we hope this will help future guests make arrangements to visit Pu Luong. We are still thankful for our time here, but we hope these comments and recommendations will help the Boutique and guests.

Location: Obviously beautiful. You really can't go anywhere in this valley that isn't beautiful. Views and location were the only part that really made our stay here enjoyable. We took our motorbike, so we were able go park right on the property, but if you take a car, you probably will have to park elsewhere and walk into the location.

Food: Prices were definitely more expensive, and the quality did not match the price. The portions were very large for two people seeing as you have to order alacarte. Sizes would be better for larger groups to share. Because of the price and portion size it prevented us from ordering a complete meal (rice, meat, veggies). The first day our meals tasted great, but the second day when we ordered fried rice, the rice was clearly old and had just been refried from another meal service making it hard and unpleasant to eat. You have to order your dinner ahead of time to give the kitchen time to prepare, but even when we did that, we still had to wait quite a while to receive our food. They did have a lot of good drink options.

Room: We stayed in their large, mountain view room. It had a nice balcony with comfy chairs to enjoy the view, however there was a tree blocking 70% of the mountain view, so that was a little disappointing. The bed was comfy, but the amount of bugs was unbearable. We had read other reviews about the amount of bugs, but we knew that staying in the mountains obviously meant you would have to deal with bugs, however the amount of insects was extremely uncomfortable. This also just might be the time of year. The room is not completely sealed which allows bugs and lizards to easily get in. The way the mosquito net was attached to the bed made it very easy for bugs to get trapped inside and for bugs to fall on the net over the bed. We spent a significant amount of time chasing out bugs from the net before bed. We still ended up with a ton of small bites on our legs and arms despite applying bug repellant lotion throughout the day and night. The bathroom is very nice with clean, soft linens. Our room had two free bottles of water, but these were not replaced on our second day.

Service: The staff was mostly friendly, but not super attentive. This could be due to the language barrier, however we were able to communicate in Vietnamese easily and some of the staff spoke decent English. We attempted to contact them via email & through their website a few days before arriving due to our need to check in early, but they did not respond at first. We then spoke on the phone with one person to confirm that we needed an earlier check in time, which they said would be no problem. However, when we arrived our room was not ready and we had to wait an additional hour to check in.

Overall, it was not the most enjoyable experience despite the beautiful...

Look at my legs!! I got many bites after 1 night sleep here. I have no idea what bite me but I slept with the mosquito net and under the blanket all night. It was really very itching and bothered me a lot, I could not sleep at all. I told the receptionist about this in the morning and they gave me a tube of cream to apply on bites but it seems not help, it was even worse, the bites got bigger and extremely itching.

We got the bungalow with garden view but actually no view at all, our bungalow is really in the jungle with some other bungalows around. The bed is big and good, the bathroom is quite dark with the towels are very old.

If you are coming here by motorbike, you must find the way on the Google maps “by car” - this is what the receptionist told us on phone when we called them to ask how to get here and she repeated this one more time when we arrived after their staffs came to pick us up! How could we know that we must find the way on Google maps “by car” when we were driving the motorbike? We followed google maps to the small alley which is very sloped down and we got an accident. We asked the local people and they said we can not go down, it is very difficult for tourists. Then I decided to call them and asked them come to pick us up. They must guide publicly in advance about how to get here instead blaming to the guest.

If you are planning to visit here by motorbike, please be aware that there have many ways to get here but most of the ways to get here are not easy, the road is broken, small, tortuous, up and down.. but quite long from the main road. And do not forget to find the way on Google maps “by car”!!

Actually it is not difficult to find many accommodations on main road with beautiful rice fields view and you do not have to drive on very sloped and broken roads.

I gave 3* for service to thank staffs who came to pick us up when we checked in and took us to the main road when we...

"Stayed here for 3 nights in one of the bungalows furthest from the balcony with restricted views due to the mountain. Ideally we would have preferred one of the bungalows with a more open view across the rice terraces. I, but not my husband, had reservations when we booked this especially in view of the fact we were staying 3 nights however apart from the damp sheets, difficulty drying wet clothes and the slippery paths I enjoyed the stay. It was a complete contrast to the other places we visited while in Vietnam. We had pre arranged tours including the magical waterwheel walk, bamboo rafting which was low key but pleasantly tranquil, and a 18km walk through fabulous scenery and villages meeting some of the friendliest people on the planet. Our local guide found an excellent picnic spot and the retreat provided an impressive picnic. We were also happy to walk unguided on our third morning. In the end we were actually quite glad we stayed 3 nights. The standard of the food was really good though there was little choice but that didn't bother us. 5 courses at lunch and dinner was almost too much. Staff were attentive and friendly. Apart from the damp sheets (this obviously is weather dependent) the room was spacious with a lovely balcony. Though as others have commented the adjoining wall is thin and there is only a curtain to screen the bathroom. All the negative comments, ours and others, need to be balanced by the fact that this is in a remote and poor region and new to tourism. If you are bothered by lack of tv and phone in the room (though there is rapid internet) this area is probably...