Family resort Alma will welcome the Lunar New Year with a six-day program jam-packed with merriment including its Tet Village that will host an array of traditional games and competitions. From Lunar New Year’s Eve, Saturday Jan. 21, until Thursday Jan. 26, Alma will host all sorts of festivities including buffet dinners, dragon dances, making lucky envelopes, smashing lucky balloons, and cupcake making and decorating classes. Overlooking one of Vietnam’s best beaches, Long Beach, the resort kicks off its Tet program on Jan. 21 with a floating champagne breakfast, guests trying their hand at crafting the quintessential Tet staple “Banh Chung” (Chung cake), wrapping sticky rice and mung bean inside dong leaves at Alma Food Court, a kite flying competition on Alma’s hill, a Tet movie at the Alma Cinema and more. On the first day of Tet, Sunday Jan. 22, until Jan. 26, the 30-hectare resort’s Tet celebrations will be anchored by the lantern-adorned Tet Village at Alma Food Court, that comes to life from 9am-6pm daily with huts brimming with traditional snacks and drinks. The village’s line-up of traditional activities includes picking lucky envelopes, calligraphy, stilt walking and the folk dance ‘bamboo dance’, with participants tapping and sliding bamboo poles on the ground while dancers step over and in between them. Competitions include ‘smash the watermelon’, whereby blindfolded participants, after being made to spin around, try to hit and break ripe watermelons with a bamboo stick at the direction of the crowd. “As we bid farewell to the Year of The Tiger, our Tet village will be a hive of activity and festooned in red and gold decorations to symbolise our hope for prosperity and good health for all as we welcome the Year of the Cat and spend quality time with our loved ones,” said Alma’s managing director Herbert Laubichler-Pichler. Alma Garden will host Vietnamese, Asian and international-themed dinner buffets at Alma Garden on Monday Jan. 23, Tuesday Jan. 24 and Wednesday Jan. 25 respectively from 6-9.30pm. Other activities held throughout the resort’s Tet program include mocktail making classes for the adults, and a ‘discovery garden tour’ of the resort’s 1000sqm nursery garden, home to bananas, coconuts, papaya, squash, passionfruit, sunflowers, daisies and various local flowers, for the kids. Alma Lounge and The American Lounge and Bar will offer various cocktail promotions throughout the festive period. Le Spa’s two-hour ‘Lunar New Year Retreat’, priced at VND 1,000,000, starts out with a betel nut leaf steam session followed by a ‘Fancy Foot’ massage and ‘Nourishing Shampoo’. The treatment finishes with warm ginger tea with Tet jam, a ginger jam with dried lotus seeds. Alma is offering its Lucky Room Package‘ comprising two nights in a one-bedroom superior suite for two adults and two children inclusive of daily international buffet breakfast at Alma Garden, one dinner for two adults, or participation in the kid’s cupcake decorating class, kid’s pizza-making class or a mocktail making class. Other inclusions include a ‘nourishing shampoo’ for two adults at Le Spa, participation in all of the Tet Village’s complimentary activities, and complimentary use of all outdoor sports courts, Splash Water Park, mini golf, the Kids Club and Active Youth Club, the Science Museum and the gymnasium. Rates for the Lucky Room Package, valid for stays from January 15-31, 2023, start at VND 8,900,000. To contact Alma or to make a booking, please visit alma-resort.com, call +84 258 399 1666 or email info@alma-resort.com

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Meliá Ho Tram Beach Resort will ring in the Year of the Cat with a smorgasbord of vibrant dining experiences, traditional Tet merriment, and outdoor pursuits to foster quality family time. Perched on Ho Tram Beach, an easy commute from Ho Chi Minh City, the resort’s Tet program from Jan. 18-28, 2023 is packed with indulgent buffets and a la carte menus, beach bonfires with marshmallow roasts, outdoor cinema nights, kayak racing, lion dancing, calligraphy giving, lantern floating, morning excursions to ‘Monkey’s Temple’ Truc Lam Chan Nguyen and more. Ho Tram’s “place to be”, Breeza Beach Club will host its vibrant ‘Ho Tram Seafood Market’ to a backdrop of live chill-out music on Lunar New Year’s Eve, Jan. 21, and Jan. 28. Crabs, squid, grouper, snapper, shrimp, mussels, snails, clams, and scallops caught from local waters that day will be displayed in large bamboo baskets. Diners choose whether to have their seafood grilled, wok-fried or steamed, topped off with a selection of accompaniments. Breeza will also host Steak Night on Jan. 20 with menu options including striploin, rib eye, beef tenderloin and Black Angus tomahawk steaks. Surf ‘n’ Turf Night on Jan. 22 and 24 affords a selection of grilled premium beef cuts and fresh seafood, and Gala Seafood Buffet on Jan. 23 offers lobster, prawns, clams, sentinel crab, shellfish, squid and more. On Jan. 25, Breeza’s Savory Seashell Night’s a la carte shellfish selection will include crabs, lobster, prawns, clams and oysters. Throughout the Tet program, Breeza will open a bar by Ho Tram Beach’s white sands and aquamarine waters. Anchored with fresh seafood, local specialties, and international cuisine, buffet dinners held at the resort’s Sasa restaurant throughout the Lunar New Year program are themed ‘Dolce Vita’, ‘Roast Carving Buffet’, ‘BBQ Seafood’ and ‘Japanese Twist’ and accompanied by a live band. To celebrate the first day of the Lunar New Year, January 22, Dolce Vita will brim with Italian favourites including antipasto, freshly made pizza, pasta, salad and decadent desserts including a Dolce & Gabbana cake. Packed with roast beef, pork rack, pasta, noodles, salads and more, the Roast Carving Buffet will be held on January 23 and the BBQ Seafood, underpinned by an assortment of fresh seafood accompanied by meats including pork and beef ribs and sausages, on January 24. A wide assortment of sushi, fresh sashimi, ramen and grilled or pan-fried Japanese favourites will underscore the Japanese Twist buffet on January 25 and 28. Held from 5.30-10pm, each buffet dinner’s price starts at VND 1,299,000++ per adult and VND 850,000++ per child from four to 11 years old, with additional free-flow beverage options on offer. Vietnamese restaurant Muoi, that recently reopened following a four-month makeover, will serve its new ‘Taste of the Sea’ menu dedicated to live seafood including lobster. The revamped restaurant’s changes include a new open kitchen, an open bar and array of fish tanks that showcase the new menu’s seven live seafood options lobster, grouper, pomfret, clams, sentinel crab, prawns and turgid Venus shell. Live seafood is sourced from local fish markets. To mark Tet, Muoi will craft Vietnamese cuisine with a modern twist priced at VND 999,000++ per dish from January 23 to 25. The resort’s Tet program includes lantern making, conical hat painting, Tet ornament, calligraphy, flower making craft, coconut leaf craft, tote bag painting, and bracelet making workshops for all ages. In addition to cooking classes for making sticky rice cake ‘banh Tet’ and other Tet foods, watermelon eating challenges will be staged by the resort’s 1491-square-metre pool with direct access to the beach. Outdoor activities range from traditional games such as ‘Monkey Bridge’ to recreational pursuits including shore fishing, slow bike racing, and tennis and table tennis tournaments. The Kids Club will keep children entertained with trying on traditional costumes, hopscotch, shuttlecock kicking, mandarin square capturing, coloring, painting and craft activities. The resort’s YHI Spa is also offering a 10% discount on manicures and blow-dry hair treatment. A 152-room and 83-villa property, five-star Meliá Ho Tram Beach Resort features a host of world-class facilities such as three restaurants including a beach club, a swim-up bar, coffee shop, 20-treatment room spa, an executive lounge The Level Lounge, ballroom and conference facilities, kids club, gymnasium, gift shop and more. The contemporary rooms, suites and villas afford unencumbered views of the ocean, lush gardens, lakes and swimming pools. The Level Villas guests enjoy access to The Level Lounge and The Level Pool, and a range of bespoke privileges including private check-in and check-out, complimentary afternoon cocktails and snacks, pillow menu and much more. For more information about Meliá Ho Tram Beach Resort, visit www.melia.com, email info@meliahotram.com or call +84 (0) 254 3789 000.

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