It is one of the best resorts we stay, in general, not only in Myanmar. Everything was "10".
the hotel, the rooms, the staff the food, the swimming pool. Above all amazing scinery to watch from hotel balcony.
The hotel is a jawel in the crown called "Inle lake" . we stay there 2 nights part of our tour to Myanmar, and it was great!.
Sanctum Resort was our last stop on our 4 week visit to Asia and it was a perfect place to end, we didn’t want to leave. Everything about the resort was truly wonderful. The room was large, clean, comfortable and beautifully decorated.
The staff, from the moment we arrived were wonderful, professional, kind and helpful.
The food in the restaurant was very good with a large breakfast selection.
The tour provided by the hotel was lots of fun and we felt very safe with our boat driver in waters unfamiliar to us.
Dear Marianne,
Greetings from the lake and thank you for your kind words.
It is indeed a pleasure hearing from you, in echo of our long and fascinating discussions at the Resort.
We have been very glad having you here last month and hope this long tour in Asia will keep Burma as your preferred choice in terms of enriching memories.
Merry Christmas from the whole Sanctum team!
And thank you again
With warm regards
Baptiste
First, about the hotel - from the rock solid construction and building materials to its layout, impeccable design and attention to detail, the resort is world class. Its location in the northeast corner of the lake is easily reached by boat or car. The property is set off a bit from the lake but not such that you feel isolated from it. To the contrary, you never forget where you are or why you’ve come. The tranquil grounds are simply lovely and well kept. The infinity pool completes the resort atmosphere.
The rooms are, in a word, delightful. They are not your cookie cutter type of hotel rooms. Somehow I was assigned to room 508 with a lake view. I couldn’t have asked for anything more but for those of you who do, the hotel offers room and cottages sure to please anyone. They even offer a pillow menu should their standard ones not suffice. They just want you to be comfortable and enjoy your stay to the utmost.
The dozens of staff can’t do enough for you and that includes the hotel management. I was only there for three glorious days in November yet all the staff would address me by name. The food at the restaurant was great and very reasonably priced. You didn’t feel like they were taking advantage of the fact that you really had few other evening dining options. At breakfast there is an egg and a pancake/waffle station. I would have gladly had a steaming bowl of Mohinga every morning but sadly, there were no Asian selections at breakfast but I recognize that the hotel is catering to mostly European and American guests. The hotel bills are in USD but I’m sure they’ll gladly accept kyat too (but leave your Thai baht behind in Bangkok.) At checkout I received change in clean US dollars.
My massage and facial at the hotel were done professionally. A bit more communication regarding the facial products used and their purpose would have been nice but perhaps the language barrier was too great for that level of detail.
On my last day, the hotel lost power on four occasions, three of them within minutes of each other. This is due to the regional power supply. In every case, power was restored in less than a minute.
Don’t believe what Lonely Planet says; the property was constructed from the ground up to be a first rate hotel. It has never been a convent. (Hotel management is working to correct that.)
The hotel didn’t approach being half occupied and that’s a pity. If only more people would consider coming to visit this most hospitable land and making Myanmar their travel destination. Those who do will not be disappointed, especially if they come to Inle Lake and are fortunate enough to stay at the Sanctum Resort.
Dear TomN932
Thank you for being with us last week. We are glad to read you have enjoyed your stay at Sanctum and the personalized service we are providing.
We particularly appreciated the extended review with such abundance of details that will help future travelers to know more about our property and make their decision in booking here.
Your comments about the Spa have been well addressed and we are currently re-training our 7 therapists in providing additional explanations during products presentation.
With regards to breakfast, our menu features daily local soups (Mohinga, Coconut noodle, Myanmar vermicelli) in our Buffet hot section.
Electricity situation has always been an issue in Myanmar, with however considerable improvements during the previous years. To insure comfort and operations are not getting affected, our Hotel is equipped with two generators who are requiring indeed a short minuet to take over the supply line.
The country has deeply suffered from the reduction of tourism, due to the very negative press and its excessive coverage of the issues in the Rakhine strate. Not only the Hospitality industry, but the whole economy has been affected, which puts a brake to the ongoing improvements in the living conditions of the population.
It is therefore encouraging for us that tourist keep on visiting Myanmar, which remains the safest country in the region; and we rely on reviews, as well on word-to-mouth to balance and promote the image of the Golden land.
Very best regards from all the team.
And thank you again
Baptiste
There are several excellent resorts at Inle Lake but Sanctum Inle is outstanding.
Why? It's really stylish with so much attention to detail in the property design, the brightness of the rooms, their layout and amenities; and the food and service.
We were upgraded to a junior suite, but all the rooms at the property seem lovely.
Management and staff are incredibly helpful, they want you to enjoy Inle and spend time with you planning out day trips which are the highlight of your visit to this magical area.
Then in the afternoon, you come back for a swim at the hotel, a cocktail in their bar and a well priced dinner at their excellent restaurant.
This hotel and our excursions in Inle were the highlight of our time in Myanmar. And we were grateful for the advice of Baptiste of things to do once we had moved on to Yangon
Totally recommend this hotel, it really is outstanding. And make sure you arrange to arrive by boat it is really worth it!
Dear Jill,
Greetings from the lake and many thanks for taking time to share your comments.
Our dedicated team makes a point of honor to be ambassador of the destination, both in Inle and in the country we are proud to be a part of. Be assured I will share all your encouragements with them.
I am personally glad you found our recommendations usefull in Yangon, which as the cultural & economic heart of Myanmar, deserves indeed great attention and a longer stay for anyone who want to catch on the complexitiy of the golden land.
We wish you all the best in your future adventures, look forward to welcoming you again.
Warmest regards
Baptiste
My wife and I stayed at this recently constructed resort hotel for two nights in mid November. The hotel gave us an enormous (but standard) room with a beautiful terrace overlooking the lake or what one could see of it. The large bathroom was also laid out in a very logical fashion and had two washbasins. The bed was super comfortable and huge. The flooring seemed to be a local hardwood and was probably teak.
We ate in the restaurant on the first of the two nights and the meal was excellent. I had a pizza and my wife had a light snack. Breakfasts started at 06:30 and they had most things a westerner might want but also a reasonable selection of local foods.
The only downside was the speed of the internet which was crawled along at a speed of approx. 1.5 Mbps. However this is typical for Myanmar so there was very little the hotel could do about it.
It's hard to imagine that there is a better hotel in the area so despite the slow internet it has to be 5 stars.
