At InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort, Bill Bensley’s extraordinary imagination meets the mountains, sea and wildlife of Vietnam’s Son Tra Peninsula.

Take a breath, because it’s breathtaking.

That was my first impression of the InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort, spread across the forested slopes of Son Tra Peninsula, with mountains rising behind it and the East Sea stretching out ahead.

Our terrace suite made the most of that setting, with sweeping ocean and jungle views from a large balcony. Inside, there was craftsmanship everywhere: a gorgeous bathroom, beautiful woodwork and wonderfully eccentric, colorful carpets featuring creatures that seemed to combine monkeys with the faces of birds.

Even walking around the room had character. The wooden floors produced that satisfying thump, thump I associate with old houses and historic buildings. Wandering through the resort, I felt as though I were exploring a palace, temple complex or museum.

Go figure.

Architect and designer Bill Bensley visited some 50 Vietnamese temples while researching the resort. He saw temples as repositories of some of Asia’s finest architecture and craftsmanship and drew on that vocabulary throughout his creation. Bensley spent two years living on site while completing the project, creating a fantastical world cascading down the mountainside.

Even the resort’s funicular railway, The Nam Tram, becomes part of the story, carrying guests between four wonderfully named stops: Heaven, Sky, Earth and Sea.

Centuries earlier, the great Vietnamese poet Nguyễn Trãi wrote of retreating into the mountains among bamboo, waterfalls and moonlight, dreaming of ascending to the realm of immortals. There was something about that imagery that kept coming back to me here.

Mountain, forest, water and sky surround Bensley’s creation, and travelling aboard The Nam Tram between Heaven and Sea feels almost poetic.

Sometimes the thumping in our room came from somewhere else.

The balcony.

We looked outside to find one of Son Tra’s brown macaques wandering around our terrace. We soon learned that visits from the local residents were simply part of life on Monkey Mountain.

Monkey Mountain

Son Tra is widely known as Monkey Mountain, and the macaques are its more sociable residents. Primates also appear everywhere in Bensley’s design, from statues and figurines to artwork scattered around the property.

The great wildlife prize of Son Tra is the rare red-shanked douc langur. I was fortunate enough to see one up close in a tree while descending through the forest toward the beach. Its red legs, white arms, grey body and remarkable face give it an appearance that is almost costumed, as if nature had dressed it for a special occasion.

The cultural landscape continues just along the peninsula. At Linh Ung Pagoda stands Da Nang’s 67-meter Lady Buddha, gazing out over the East Sea. Local tradition associates her with protecting fishermen, calming the waters and watching over the city.

That connection to the sea seems to find its way into Bensley’s imagination too.

Boats appear throughout the resort. Even the cabins of The Nam Tram resemble boats making their unlikely journey up and down the mountain. At Terra Mare, the resort’s Italian restaurant, we ate in a seating area fashioned around another boat.

During our stay, a full moon illuminated the sea, where fishing boats dotted the darkness with powerful lights used to attract squid. Looking down from the mountain at those tiny illuminated vessels was another unforgettable sight.

A Culinary Journey

Food was exceptional throughout our stay.

La Maison 1888 is the resort’s celebrated French restaurant, overseen by three-Michelin-starred chef Christian Le Squer and currently holding a Michelin star of its own. Tingara brings Japanese cuisine to the resort under Michelin starred chef Junichi Yoshida, with teppanyaki served high above the sea.

Our own meals took us all over the property. A light lunch and canapés at L_o_n_g Bar accompanied an afternoon by the beach, where the sheltered cove and calm water make it an idyllic place to spend several hours doing very little.

Citron serves as the resort’s breakfast venue and celebrates Vietnamese cuisine from across the country. It was also our final meal in Vietnam before a late flight home. After an extraordinary trip, it gave our palates one last journey around Vietnam before we headed to the airport.

And we ended where we began: Club InterContinental.

The lounge provides a seamless setting for check-in and check-out, while sunset brings canapés and bubbly overlooking the sea. It resembles a gleaming white temple, right down to the extraordinary attention to detail.

Then you visit the restroom.

The urinals look like drawers opening from the wall.

That sense of playfulness is everywhere. Each restaurant has its own personality. The rooms, corridors, sculptures, carpets, furniture and even bathrooms reveal another creative idea. Somehow, all of it blends beautifully together.

This was a pleasurable and relaxing stay, and it also felt genuinely cultural. Bensley’s architecture encourages you to look around, notice details and wonder where the inspiration came from. Son Tra supplies the mountains, monkeys, fishing boats, sea and extraordinary natural backdrop. His imagination runs through everything else.

You have to see it to believe it — and be entertained by it.

I left wondering how this remarkable place will be viewed several decades from now. If future generations regard it as one of Vietnam’s great architectural landmarks, I won’t be surprised.

UNESCO, take note.