Shinta Mani Wild

The hotels that never fail to make magic

Condé Nast Traveller - The Gold List 2022

There aren’t many hotel designers whose creations have genuinely made my face hurt from smiling. I first came across the work of Bangkok-based American Bill Bensley when I stayed at the Capella Ubud in Bali, a joyous feat of maximalist storytelling in the jungle. Shinta Mani Wild is an even deeper immersion into nature—specifically, the lush wilderness of southwestern Cambodia. To me, the most thrilling thing about the place isn’t that you arrive by army four-wheel-drive and then zip-wire over the forest canopy, your grins met with a Khmer G&T beside the rushing river. No, it’s the fact that Bensley bought an 865-acre swath of magical, orchid-rich rain forest between three national parks to protect it from logging, mining, and poaching.

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