Ba Be Retreat house

What is really important to know when you visit this place: - it‘s on an isolated island. The only way to go around is by a big boat that costs around 300.000vnp per trip. The hostess also has a small boat with which she can bring you to the other side of the river - but you are depending on either of the boats to get down from the tiny island. - on the island there‘s only this homestay and another big one being built atm. So no space to go for a walk or explore the national park without the boats! - there are 3 meals per day being prepared for you. Each vary in prizes! Good to check in with the hostess beforehand and tell her your max. Budget. - Liam, the hostess, comes with you on each trip (we went to the market, the cave and on a walk, which we actually wanted to do by ourselves but as we are depending on her small boat, she joined us and then charged us for it!) and is asking for a „tour guide fee“! - You‘re paying everything at the check-out: boattrips, tourguide, meals and the room. So there are additional costs to the booking.com-prize for you! We really enjoyed the amazing surrounding of breathtaking nature, the calmness of the lake and the untouched village. During our stay we also got upgraded to a stunning room with the view on the lake and the mountains. This room made our stay at BaBeLake very special. The hostess is a very strong woman, who built up everything by herself. She‘s treating her place and the people from the village with a lot of respect. She‘s building a beautiful bridge between tourists and locals.

We really got along with Liam very well until to the point in which she showed us the calculations of our stay. As there was absolutely no communication about the additional fees (like boattrips, meals and tourguide). It‘s a fairly pricey homestay for what it has to offer already but the extra charges brought us to a total sum of 6000.000vnd for 5 nights (and we actually calculated with 3000.000vnd, like it said on booking.com!) We paid without discussion as we also truly respect her effort and work in preparing all the meals herself and driving us around. But we never asked for any of those offers. That‘s why we listed them above. It is a beautiful place to be but the communication needs to be more clear and open! We are sure that Liam is open for max. Budgets and alternative ways, we just didn‘t know it better.

Mein Aufenthalt im Ba Be Retreat war einfach wunderbar! Ich hatte das große Glück, während des Tet-Festes dort zu sein, und die Gastgeber haben mich wie ein echtes Familienmitglied aufgenommen. Sie haben mir nicht nur die vietnamesischen Traditionen nähergebracht, sondern auch gemeinsam mit mir gefeiert und mir das Gefühl gegeben, wirklich willkommen zu sein. Die 30-minütige Anreise mit dem Boot über den Ba Be See ist bereits ein Highlight. Man erreicht den Bootsanleger von Hanoi ohne Umstieg mit einem Shuttle-Bus. Die Unterkunft liegt wunderschön – umgeben von atemberaubender Natur, perfekt für einen ruhigen Rückzugsort. Das Essen war köstlich, authentisch und immer frisch zubereitet. Die Gastgeber sind unglaublich herzlich und haben ihren Gästen wirklich viel zu bieten. Ein einzigartiges Erlebnis, das ich jedem nur wärmstens empfehlen kann!

Emplacement en pleine nature Gentillesse et adaptabilité de notre hôte Qualité du dîner 🥰

Peu de transparence dans les frais : entre le prix des dîners et le prix des bateaux pour accéder à l’établissement le prix fait facilement *2 . C’est un paramètre à prendre en compte. Le dîner est pris obligatoirement dans l’établissement ( 250 000 / personne )