Hoi An Odyssey Hotel & Spa

Rooms and decor

Hoi An Odyssey Hotel & Spa tucks into a quiet lane on Cam Nam Island, close enough to the trees that you can actually hear the cicadas. The pale-wood lobby and easy, unfussy welcome are a big part of why it pulls a 9.5/10 real-guest score — the highest on this list. The Deluxe Garden View rooms run about 32 sq m and open onto a balcony facing a pink-blooming frangipani. Decor stays warm and simple: brown-and-cream tones, an oversized Vietnamese fabric lantern, a soft king bed and good linens. Bathrooms are spotless and split wet-and-dry, with a white ceramic tub, a rain shower and jasmine-scented amenities in local ceramic bottles. Wi-Fi is fast, the TV is a flat-screen, and the air-con runs genuinely cold — a lot packed in at a starting rate near $40 a night.

Food and amenities

The outdoor pool is a long lap shape set in the middle of the building, ringed with canvas loungers and straw umbrellas, and the water doesn't sting your eyes with chlorine. Guests swim early, grab a coffee from the cafe alongside, then head to the spa in the afternoon — a traditional 60-minute Vietnamese massage runs about 600,000 VND (roughly $24), with therapists who press firm without overdoing it. The buffet breakfast is the part reviewers single out: fresh beef pho made to order at the counter, banh mi, plates piled with tropical fruit, and a Western pastry corner.

Location and getting there

The hotel hands out free bikes, and the ride over the small bridge into the Old Town takes 6 to 7 minutes — about 1.3 km — past the Japanese Covered Bridge and the night market. Come evening, you can cycle back and nurse a glass of bia hoi, Vietnam's cheap draft beer, at the hotel bar with the pool burbling in the background. There's no tour-bus noise over here at all; Cam Nam genuinely reads as an oasis. There's free private parking if you drive in, and free Wi-Fi across the whole property. Da Nang International Airport is roughly 45 minutes by road.

Things to know before booking

The catch is the river. You're on Cam Nam Island, on the opposite bank from the Old Town, so this isn't a step-out-the-door-into-the-lanterns base — you'll bike or take a short ride every time. With only about 28 rooms it's a genuinely small property, and the 9.5 score means dates sell out fast in high season, so book well ahead. None of that is a dealbreaker, but if walking everywhere matters more to you than quiet, a central stay fits better.

Our take

Hoi An Odyssey Hotel & Spa suits couples and travelers who want a top-scoring hotel in a calm setting from about $40 a night. It earns the #2 spot on surprise value alone — a pool, a spa, a standout breakfast and the list's highest guest score, all on an island most visitors never think to cross to.