Brett and Bernii

It has been a while since we last posted. We spent a total of six nights in Hanoi. The first three nights were at a hotel that we have stayed at multiple times in the past – the Hanoi Serenity Hotel 2. It was cheap at AU$33 per night, however the room is small (just wide enough to fit a double bed). It also has no windows, only a frosted glass opening into the corridor. On previous stays, we found the staff to be exceptional, which was one of the main reasons we kept returning, however unfortunatley this time the hotel is under new management and the staff were less welcoming.

The hotel was close to train street, a row of cafes and bars along a train line where you are sitting just inches from where the trains pass. This was a really fun experience, especially later in the evening when the instagram crowd has dispersed and you can get a nice spot with a cold beer to watch the action. I don’t know how we missed this on our previous visits to Hanoi.

The final three nights we stayed at Hanoi Plaza Suite Hotel and Spa, which was a much bigger and more luxurious room, which cost AU$86 per night. The location was great – just to the northern end of the Old Quarter, but not too noisy. The staff here were amazing and they even upgraded our room for free. We will return here on our next visit to Hanoi.

We had planned a 1-2 day trip to Ninh Binh Province however we were both a bit congested and took a couple of days to rest and recover. Instead, we spent our days reaqucainting ourselves with the Old Quarter and walking around Hoan Kiem Lake. The smog in Hanoi was really bad so we needed to retreat back to the hotel often.

We flew from Hanoi to Da Nang, another city we had visited previously, however only briefly. This time we stayed at the riverside for three nights in Wink Hotel Danang Center. It was a comfortable hotel that is styled a bit like an Ibis or Ibis Styles. It cost us AU$55 per night. We spent a lot of time in a nice bar called Bamboo 2 Bar that is beside the river and close to the Dragon Bridge – a bridge over the Han River with a dragon structure that breathes fire and water every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night at 9pm.

From Da Nang we caught a shared van to Hue where we spent two nights at the Romance Hotel (AU$66 per night). We did a guided walking tour of the UNESCO World Heritage Imperial Citadel, Imperial City and Forbidden City. It was very interesting to learn about the history and culture of the Imperial City and the emperors.

Outside of the Citadel, we found Hue to be a very tourist oriented city that lacked a bit of the culture of other parts of Vietnam.

We caught a shared bus from Hue to An Bang Beach at Hoi An where we stayed at the Life Beach Villa for four nights. It cost AU$87 per night and was a short walk from the beach. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t ideal for the beach, but we spent some time at the Deckhouse Beach Bar which served some amazing seafood dishes. The evenings were usually spent at the Bungalow Beach Bar which had a great group of locals, expats and travellers, and a really good pool table. We found An Bang beach to have a really laid back atmosphere and a highlight of central Vietnam.

We went for a day trip into the UNESCO Heritage listed Hoi An Ancient Town, another place that we have visited before. This time we found it to be overrun by tourists and most of the heritage buildings were either selling cheap tourst junk or providing set lunches for busloads of tour groups.

After our four days by the beach in Hoi An, we caught a taxi back to Da Nang where we spent another two nights at the Yarra Ocean Suites (AU$119 per night). The accommodation was in the perfect location overlooking My Khe beach, and we upgraded to the junior suite to have a balcony and a beach view. The weather cleared up and we had two days of sunny weather exploring the beachside area of Da Nang.

Overall, we found Da Nang to be a highlight of our Vietnam travels – it has some great restaurants, cafes and bars, the diversity of the riverside and the beachside, and it is a short trip from An Bang beach and Hoi An. If we are looking for a beachside getaway in Vietnam in future, it is definitley at the top of our list.

After two nights by the beach in Da Nang, we flew to Nha Trang where we are now. We are staying at the Ibis Styles Nha Trang (AU$41 per night). We will give more of an update on Nha Trang and Saigon in the next post.

Here are some statistics from our trip so far:

	Since our last post (17 days)	Overall
Number of beds slept in	6	26
Cheapest accommodation	AU$32.80 (Hanoi Serenity Hotel 2)	AU$17.18 (Namkhong Riverside Hotel)
Most expensive accommodation	AU$119.28 (Yarra Ocean Suites Danang)	AU$224.60 (Sanctuary Pak Beng Lodge)
Countries visited	1	3
Number of flights	2	6
Number of bus trips	0	6
Number of train trips	0	1
Number of boat trips	0	1