A review of this place: Not what I had hoped for — 1 year ago
We went to Hanoi on a summer break from teaching English in southern China. Our mistake, I think, was to do it “on the cheap”. If we had gone with a tour group, I think we would have enjoyed it a lot more. My brother visited Hanoi a few months after us, as part of a tour, and loved the place.
Our experience of Hanoi was that it was dirty, difficult to negotiate our way around, full of petty thieves and people trying to extract money from you, and everything closed between 2 and 5 pm.
The brighter side of Hanoi for us was staying in a suite in an old Russian hotel in the old quarter. The room was huge, with a king size bed, spa and balcony. Breakfasts were fantastic. The local streets around the hotel were full of shops selling all kinds of things. Street life in the old quarter was very interesting.
But we were glad to leave for Ha Long Bay.
