Magnolia Garden Homestay, Vietnam

On our initial visit to Vietnam, the first place my friend and I stayed turned out to be exceptional. Beginning Jan. 19, 2016, we spent two weeks at the Magnolia Garden Homestay (75B Nguyen Duy Hieu St., Hoi An, Quang Nam, Vietnam 560000; phone +84 510 3915509, magnolia homestay.com).

It was the high TripAdvisor.com ratings and the “any time” breakfast that prompted our booking with this homestay instead of one of the other choices. (Hat, the father in the household, later explained that the Vietnamese government had approved the homestay concept within the previous two to three years, and it appears as though this form of lodging may be mushrooming.)

The Magnolia had about six rooms, and ours was the most desired one due to its having not only a private bath but a second-floor balcony from which we could watch the world go by. Our room was clean and comfortable, freshly stocked each day. (Bottled water was provided free of charge.) 

The price varies according to the time of year. We paid $28 per night, having gotten a slight discount because we were staying for two weeks.

The “any time” breakfast worked beautifully for us, as we tend to eat only in late morning and early evening. The breakfast menu choices included Western-style with a choice of eggs, French baguettes, fruit and coffee/tea or a choice of Vietnamese breakfast soups.

Being old stick-in-the-muds, we selected the Western breakfast daily. Would you believe that every day, after we’d placed our orders, a member of the family went to the corner store on a bike to purchase our baguettes fresh? They did this with each guest’s order of baguettes!

Although we had read in the reviews that this close-knit family hosts a several-course home-cooked dinner once a week (included in the room rate), we didn’t know what to expect. We were blown away. And we got to eat two of these meals, since we were there two weeks. All of the other nights, we ate out.

Initially, we declined the invitation on the premise that we were vegetarians and wouldn’t want our hosts to go to any extra trouble on our behalf. Not to be deterred, they wouldn’t take “No” for an answer and insisted on preparing some vegetarian dishes just for us! We were overwhelmed by these meals, to say the least.

At the special dinner during our first week, we sat with two 20-year-old women from Australia and a young French-Canadian couple from Montreal. We couldn’t believe the deep conversations they engaged in, with much more knowledge of current affairs than the two of us had.

During our second week’s dinner night we had a similar experience, only with two Canadian girls from Vancouver, a couple from Nova Scotia teaching in Korea, three girls from Norway and two girls from Finland. It was like a United Nations meeting, with English being the spoken language!

Magnolia is located between the World Heritage Ancient Town and the beach. We found it very convenient and could walk everywhere. Our hosts provided free bicycles for guests’ use, but we never felt the need to use them. For a nominal fee, they also provided taxi service to and from Da Nang International Airport.

The entire family’s warm welcome and their efforts to make our stay an enjoyable one warmed our hearts. We have yet to see, in any of our world travels, such hardworking, kind and generous hosts. Words cannot express how appreciative we both were, especially as we were two senior women traveling independently.

We highly recommend the Magnolia Garden Homestay.

CAROLE SHEREDA

Plymouth, MI