Ninh Binh Stay
 

Hi All -
Back online again! Firming up VN trip. Have everything booked up to the last week in Northern VN. Will fly from Hue to Hanoi, spend a few days in Hanoi, then looking for a trip to Ninh Binh for two days, including the travel day from Hanoi. Seeing a lot of one day trips from Hanoi but none with a stay over. We don't necessarily need a tour but if anyone has any suggestions, would appreciate it. Also looking for recs for a place in Ninh Binh. After Ninh Binh, we are taking a 2D1N trip to Halong Bay. Looking a VIC Travel that has a trip directly from Ninh Binh to Halong Bay. I know, Crellston, that's not on your list, LOL, but we want to see it.
Also have seen many comments about a place in Hanoi, does anyone have any mid range hotel suggestions?
Thanks

Hi Tdiddy,

Never heard of VIC travel. We used About Ethnic Travel | Ethnic Travel: insight into Vietnam for our visit to NinhBinh as part of alonger trekking trip from Hanoi and were very pleased with them. They are pretty good at tailoring trips so could almost certainly provide a trip which included Halong ( Bai tu long might be better than Halong itself) . Good idea to combine the two rather than returning to Hanoi which can be a bit of a drag. Custom Vietnam Travel also have a good reputation.

http://www.nguyenshack.com has a place in NB but I haven’t stayed there but have heard some good reports. I would avoid Ninh Binh city which is a bit grim - think Chinese style concrete block hotels catering to large tour groups.



As for Hanoi, depends what you mean by mid range. In the $50-100 range there are dozens of decent places. Location wise I would look for somewhere around Hoan Kiem Lake. The last three places we have stayed at include:

Sunline - in a nice quiet road a block from the lake.

Silk Path Boutique Hotel is right at the bottom of the lake

Hotel Marvelous - didn’t stay there but we met Jackie, a "Fodors friend" and her sister there on our last trip in Hanoi and they spoke very highly of it. Also in a good location.

Hi Crellston,
Thanks for your help. We looked at both the Sunline and the Silk Path Boutique Hotel, also discovered once called the Hanoi Pearl Hotel, looks like it's next to Sunline. My question is, do you have an opinion on which part of the lake is better? North or South. Looking at the Google, North looks a little nicer but I don't have any experience to say one side is better or not.

I loved Tam Cos Garden in Ninh Binh. It was my favorite hotel during a month long trip to South East Asia. We only had one night there (only one night available; could have stayed several days). In Hanoi, we stayed at Hotel Marvelous. I'd stay there again--price, service and location were great.

Shout out to the Crellstons. We hung out with them in Hanoi and had a fabulous time, despite the city chaos. They were a great source of info about N Viet Nam travel.

Hi Jackie - somewhat bizarrely you name cropped up only last nigh as I was sampling a few glasses of IPA with an old friend in a new microbrewery in the C ity of London. I was telling him about the similar place we paid a visit in Hanoi!

Back to location. It is only a 5-10 min walk from the top to the bottom of the lake so I don’t think it matters too much. The small, narrow, very busy alleys are not of the lake which where most people would think of as the old quarter. The Silk path is right on the bottom ( south ) of the lake where it is quieter and close to the smarter French Quarter. Also not too far from the Bun cha restaurant where Bourdain ate with Obama.

I had forgotten about the Hanoi Pearl - some friends stayed there and loved it. I like that road because it sees very little traffic and, usually, you can wander in the road without much danger of letting hit. Also close to St Joseph’s where there are a lot of restaunts bars and coffee shops

Hey Clive--Diane is still dragging me around to local breweries for the perfect IPA here in North Carolina and I still don't like it.

Forgot to mention, we did the Ha Long Bay over night with Indochine Junk. They offer the overnight stays in Nin Ninh with transportation; I think they offered 3 different levels of hotels. I found it more expensive to book through them than to book on my own.

Hotel Marvelous also has the ability to book your stays. Whatever hotel you book in Hanoi can probably handle booking other legs of your Vietnam trip.