Staying in hotels in Vietnam

The Chi Boutique Hotel, 13 Nha Chung Street, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi.

The Chi Boutique Hotel is a beautiful hotel in Hanoi's old town. There are many restaurants and cafes surrounding the hotel, and one of Hanoi's many lakes is within walking distance.
The hotel is clean, and the staff is efficient and, above all, friendly. We had little contact with the staff because we arrived late, had a busy schedule on the second day, and left early on the third.
The room, on the seventh floor, is clean, spacious, and equipped with a bathroom with a bathtub and a separate shower. The furnishings are coordinated.

Access to the room is via a key card, which is also required to take the elevator upstairs, providing an extra layer of security. Downstairs is accessible without a key card.

Breakfast is served buffet-style in an underground room. There's plenty of choice, but unfortunately, the coffee wasn't hot either day.

The Mai Chao Ecolodge is a beautiful hotel built into a mountainside. From the slope, you have a beautiful view of rice paddies.
The hotel consists of a main building on top of the slope, where the reception and restaurant are located.
We arrived early and couldn't get into our room yet, so we were offered lunch in the restaurant first. The welcome was friendly and polite.
In front of the main building is the swimming pool with a terrace and bar. In the evening, locals perform a music and dance show there.
After the swimming pool are three floors of bungalows; some climbing stairs is sometimes necessary.

Our room is on the bottom row. It's a row of two connected bungalows, each with a spacious terrace overlooking the rice paddies and mountains on the other side of the valley.
The room is spacious and equipped with all amenities, except for a TV. The layout isn't very practical; there's a very large bathroom with a toilet and a wooden bathtub with a shower over the bathtub. However, the sink is in the room, which we found inconvenient.

Access to the room is via a lip key.
Apparently, there's security in the evenings and at night, but we didn't see any of that.

Breakfast is a buffet, more than adequate.
We also had lunch and dinner there twice, as part of our trip, and the meals were good, although unfortunately, we couldn't choose what we wanted to eat. So we don't know what the other food in the restaurant is like.
There's a small jug of sake in the room for you to try, free of charge. Pia likes it, Tom isn't so impressed.

The hotel is located in an area where the White Thai people live. Pia has tried to talk to them, which is very much appreciated, and there are some similarities, but communication is difficult.

Le Clos du Fil Hotel, Van Lam village, Ninh Hai Commune, Hoa Lu District, Ninh Binh Province.

Le Clos du Fil Hotel is a beautiful hotel located in a narrow side street of, as far as we could see, the busiest street in the part of Ninh Binh we visited.
The reception is friendly, polite, and efficient. We had a slight problem with the hotel's layout, but after looking around, it became clear.
The restaurant and swimming pool are located next to and behind the reception desk. The rooms are in a higher building behind the swimming pool.
We were given a room on the fourth floor.

The room isn't incredibly spacious, but it's large enough with a view of the houses behind the hotel, with green rice paddies beyond. There's a bathroom with a shower. Just like in the previous hotel, there's no TV.
All the furniture in the room and bathroom is wooden and made in the same style. The first impression is a bit basic, but it soon becomes clear that everything we need is there. There's even air conditioning that can also be used as heating, which is something we really appreciated on the second day after a bike ride in the rain.

Breakfast, in the restaurant next to and behind reception, is good, there's bread, cheese, and sausage.
The breakfast area seems quite small, but behind the first room where the buffet is located, there are two other rooms.

Syrena Cruise, Halong Bay.

Syrena Cruise is a very different accommodation than the others on this trip. It's a wooden cruise ship where we spent one night eating and sleeping.
The welcome is friendly; we're taken by small boat, along with our luggage, to the cruise ship, where everyone on board is expected in the dining room. There Jack, the head steward (or something like that), explains that there are more rules on board a ship, especially for a group, than on land. And everyone receives a key to their cabin.
Then it's time to collect our luggage and take it to our assigned cabin, where we freshen up a bit. We're surprised by the cabin we get; the layout is a bit spartan, but that's the case with all the cabins, we've seen that before. However, we do have a huge bathroom with a matching large bathtub.
And the air conditioning can also heat, which is nice because it's not warm outside.

All meals, served buffet-style, are served in the dining room, where all communal activities also take place. The food is delicious, and there's something for everyone.

Emm hotel, 15 Ly Thuong Kiet St, Phu Nhuan Ward, Hue, Thua Thien Hue.

The Emm Hotel is located in a modern-looking neighborhood just outside the center of Hue.
We actually have the least fond memories of this hotel. There's nothing wrong with it; the welcome is polite, efficient, and friendly. The luggage is brought to the room, and we walk past a swimming pool, a restaurant, and a bar.
The room is fine, not huge, but spacious enough with a good bed and a good bathroom. But there's something specific missing from this hotel; it could have been any other good hotel, unlike the other accommodations we stayed in.
What we do remember are the bartenders, friendly people who chatted when we wanted to, and who even remembered and greeted us the next day.

Ancient House Resort, 377 Cua Dai Street, Hoi An City, Quang Nam Province.

The Ancient House Resort is located on a relatively quiet street lined with shops and restaurants, about a fifteen-minute walk from Hoi An's old town.
The front of the resort isn't particularly impressive; it's built on a long and rather narrow strip of land, but we only discovered that on our first morning.
The welcome is friendly and efficient; we're offered a drink while we wait for the reception desk to complete all the formalities.
We're taken to our room, our luggage is taken separately, and then we notice we have a lot of stairs to climb and descend. The restaurant and bar are located at the front, behind and above the reception desk. Then we go downstairs and walk past the pool, where we're greeted by the croaking of a frog or toad. We walk past several three-story buildings without elevators, each with six or eight rooms.
The room is spacious, very spacious, and especially high up, with a comfortable bed and good chairs, as well as a small balcony. The decor is simple but attractive and fits well with the building. There's a beautiful bathroom with a rain shower and a freestanding bathtub—very nice.

The buffet breakfast is served in the restaurant and is the best we had on this trip: crispy baguettes, good ham and cheese, excellent coffee, and of course, Asian dishes.
In front of the restaurant is the bar, where we usually have drinks in the evenings and regularly chat with the staff, which is what makes staying at this hotel so enjoyable.

The hotel also has a shuttle bus that runs to and from the old town four times a day and to a nearby beach three times a day.