Editor’s Note: This post is part of my Myanmar–Thailand trip to Asia. For more on this trip, check out my other posts on Myanmar, Thailand, and Japan.
So there we were, sitting at the airport in Heho enjoying a Myanmar Beer for breakfast at 7:00 in the morning, set to fly out from Inle Lake to Ngapali Beach, when my friend looked at me and said, “you know dude, I’m glad you booked this trip. I don’t even know where we are going next. Ngapali? Never heard of it”.
“Well, I’ve never heard of it either before I booked it, but it looked cool in the pictures”. Honestly, I had no idea what to expect.
Review: Hilton Ngapali Resort And Spa (Thandwe, Myanmar)
View of paradise
About The Hilton Ngapali
Like the excellent Hilton Mandalay, the Hilton Ngapali Resort & Spa was acquired by Hilton through the purchase of an Asia-based hotel chain, thus giving Hilton one of the first footholds in Myanmar by a large international hotel chain with a loyalty program.
Translation? You can use points to book this property!
Although, for now, you cannot use your Hilton co-branded cards from American Express in Myanmar.
Location
What? You’ve never heard of Ngapali? It’s in Thandwe.
What? You’ve never heard of Thandwe?
Thandwe is located on the pristine and [still] untouched coast of Myanmar along the Indian Ocean, in the state of Rakhine.
Ngapali is name of the most famous beach in Thandwe (think Waikiki in Honolulu).
Getting There
To get to Thandwe, you must fly into SNW Airport. This flight will take you about about 40 minutes from Yangon, or about an hour from most other major cities in Myanmar.
In theory, you could possibly drive this, but a drive from Yangon to Thandwe would take about 11 hours by car. I recommend just sticking with a plane.
The Hilton Ngapali Resort and Spa provides a free shuttle service from Thandwe Airport. This ride will take you…about 2 minutes.
Even though it’s close, I wouldn’t recommend walking it, as you’d have to walk past a couple mega-resorts in the blazing sun along the busy main street.
The Redemption
I booked a Twin Deluxe Room with Lagoon View and Balcony at the Hilton Ngapali for 34,000 Hilton Honors points a night.
As you can see from the photo below, this room went for $124.74 a night, bringing the CPP for this redemption to .04% – average for Hilton.
First Impressions
Walking into the Hilton Ngapali is one of those moments in life where you feel like you just walked into a picture-perfect postcard; the kind of moment where you can’t believe you’ll actually be staying “here”.
The first glimpse of the pool and Indian Ocean
The Lobby & Check-In
With a first impression that’s completely overwhelming, the staff of the Hilton Ngapali seemed accustomed to letting guests roam around a bit to get acquainted with the property and “take it all in” before inviting them to sit down for the check-in.
The lobby
After snapping a few pictures, we were warmly welcomed with some refreshing tropical drinks, asked to hand over our passports for check-in (as is typical in parts of Asia), and asked to sit down and relax and wait for the manager (who was on her way) to personally come over and greet us (a sometimes-perk of Hilton Honors Diamond status).
The front desk
The manager made her way over and welcomed us and thanked me for my Hilton loyalty and congratulated me for being a Diamond member. She returned our passports, handed me a couple of welcome letters (see below), and quickly ran over the featured amenities of the property.
Hilton Honors Diamond Member Letter
Amenities welcome letter
Shuttle service into town
Map of the shuttle service in Thandwe
About The Executive Lounge And Breakfast
She informed us the Hilton Ngapali did not have an Executive Lounge, but that in lieu of an Executive Lounge we’d be welcome to use the restaurant for juices, teas, and drinks [non-alcoholic] throughout the day, and the SHORE bar upstairs for [alcoholic] drinks during the Happy Hour at sunset (5:00 pm to 7:00 pm).
Click here for a full review of the Hilton Ngapali’s [In-Lieu-Of An] Executive Lounge.
Additionally, she informed us we were entitled to complimentary breakfast daily at the FLOW restaurant, downstairs from the bar.
The Room Upgrade – Ocean View Twin Villa with a Private Pool
As I’m one to say, being a Hilton Honors Diamond member has its privileges – especially in Asia. With the Hilton Ngapali Resort and Spa, this was no exception.
The manager smiled and said, “sir, as a Diamond member, we are pleased to offer you an upgrade to the best available room – I’m sure you will enjoy it”.
As it turns out, we were literally upgraded to the best room on the property, the Ocean View Twin Villa with a Private Pool – and it was incredible.
What this room usually goes for – $367.29 a night. Now that’s an upgrade!
The Ocean View Twin Villa With A Private Pool
The villa was immaculate – and immense, taking up two separate structures (separated by an atrium), one for the bedroom and living area, and another for the closet and bathroom areas.
Welcome to my favorite “home away from home”
The atrium at the entrance way
The Bedroom And Living Area Side Of The Villa
The bedroom was huge, and the beds were set on a raised floor surrounded by a curtain that doubled as a mosquito-net.
The open-floor room was super-clean and beaming with natural light. The beds, bedding, and pillows were very comfortable, in fact every detail made this room feel like a true five-star hotel.
The ocean view, complete with private pool and hammock
Complementary water
The Nespresso-compatible coffee machine coffee mugs
Coffee and tea selection
The Diamond guest welcome basket of fruit and desserts.
The Closet And Bathroom Side Of The Villa
Like the other side of the villa, the closet and bathroom side of the villa was super-clean and spacious.
From the bath salts, live plants, and scented oils adorning this room, you could see attention was paid to detail. Every detail.
The bathroom sink
The bathtub
Bath salts
The “outside” shower
The “inside” shower
Not sure why this was here, but it was a nice touch
Scented oil
The Closet Area
Make-up desk and luggage bench
The closet
Inside door #1: Bath robes, drawers, hangers, and a beach bag
Inside door #2: More drawers and the safe
Inside door #3: The iron set
Outside The Unit
The outside of the unit was the highlight (of course). I’ll let the pictures do the talking.
The private pool
View of the beach from the edge of the unit
Walking The Property
The lagoon
Volleyball and badminton net
The Pool
The undisputed centerpiece of the Hilton Ngapali Resort and Spa is the Pool.
As great as our room’s private pool was, we found ourselves spending most of our time at the main pool.
Fun fact: The ocean is warmer than the pool in the dry season
The Fitness Room
The Spa
Entrance to the Eforea Spa
Beach And Ocean Access
The beach can be accessed from the pool via a stone staircase leading down to the beach.
There are some rocks on this section of the beach, so be careful when wading through the surf
The glorious Ngapali beach [proper] is just beyond this stone wall to the south
The SHORE Bar (In Lieu Of The Executive Lounge)
The Bar is located upstairs from Flow and occupies a great space with a balcony perfect for sunsets (and Happy Hours).
Click here for a full review of the Hilton Ngapali’s [In-Lieu-Of An] Executive Lounge.
The Sunset From SHORE
The Children’s Area
FLOW Restaurant
Open from 6:30 am (for breakfast) until 10:30 pm, FLOW restaurant is the perfect compliment to the infinity pool.
Beach life @ FLOW
Breakfast At FLOW
The breakfast spread at FLOW was truly something to behold.
The spread had a little of everything – Western breakfast, Chinese breakfast, European and Indian dishes, and of course Burmese breakfast.
Speaking of Burmese breakfast, this particular Hilton had the very best Mohingar that we had in the whole of Myanmar.
The spread of hot dishes
The juice, fruit, and cheese bar
The bread and cereal bar
The best in Myanmar? Seriously. The Burmese classic – Mohingar.
The breakfast of champions – with a healthy serving of Mohingar!
The Bottom-Line Review: Review: Hilton Ngapali Resort And Spa (Thandwe, Myanmar)
We may have not known what to expect when we left Inle Lake for Thandwe, but by the time our stay in Hilton Ngapali was over, we knew one thing for sure – we made a big-time error – by not staying longer at the Hilton Ngapali and Thandwe.
Every moment of this stay at the Hilton Ngapali was magical, from the room upgrade, to the pool, to the bike rentals, to the breakfast, to the sunset Happy Hour at SHORE.
And wow, what a sunset.
Likewise, every moment in Thandwe was magical, from the beaches, to the village, to the local restaurants (talking about you, Htay Htay), to the hunting for seashells, to the awesome people we met.
Thandwe is a paradox; on one hand it’s a rare untouched and undeveloped “small fishing village”, and on the other hand it’s a picture-perfect honeymoon destination with a hand-full of five-star resorts. It only exists like this because the resorts are still few and far between and most tourists have still never heard of Ngapali Beach (you’ll notice the empty pools and beaches and lack of tourists in the pictures during the “high season”).
But that will undoubtedly change. The consensus among myself and the [mostly British] tourists we met in Ngapali was that Thandwe is one of the best-kept secrets in travel, but that word will undoubtedly spread and eventually Ngapali Beach will likely look much like Phuket (maybe even within 15-20 years time).
But before that happens, I’m here to tell you this is one of the best stays I’ve ever had and couldn’t recommend the resort more. The Hilton Ngapali Resort and Spa is a paradise. Enjoy it now, before the word gets out.
Highly Recommended!
Cheers!
