ACCOMMODATIONS - French Quarter

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French Quarter hotels are listed in two budget groups (Above $100 & Under $100) by order of preference.

Above $100

SOFITEL METROPOLE
If, down deep, travel means that decadent, ultra-lux nod to the colonial days, with shuttered villas and lazy ceiling fans spinning over tiled rooms with bamboo and tweak antique furniture – well, the Metropole is it. Both wings – the 1901 original and the 1996 ‘Opera’ wing – faithfully conjure the era’s grace. When choice allows, it’s hard to resist the original wing; its rooms have dark-wood floors, molded ceilings, framed historic prints on the walls, flat-screen TV, writing desks. It’s an extra US$45 or so to bump up to the ‘classic deluxe’ room. New-wing rooms in the past have been more modern, but a 2007 renovation may lean more towards the original. [It wasn’t finished when I visited in July 2007.] There’s a central garden with a pool and plenty of lobby action: chic boutiques, La Terrassa (with veranda seats for street cocktails after 5pm) and Le Club (with lavish interiors and big windows for your breakfast buffet or afternoon chocolate bar; the big Sunday brunch is US$38). Staff can arrange tours in 1953 Citroën cars (for a reasonable US$25 per hour, including driver).
Tel 04-826-6919; www.accorhotels.com/asia, [email protected]; 15 Ngo Quyen St; rooms from US$190-360

HILTON HANOI OPERA
Behind the Opera House – and in no way connected to the ‘Hanoi Hilton prison’ from the Vietnam War days – the creamy, pillared seven-floor Hilton looks like a French colonial survivor from outside. It’s a trick. It’s all new. Rooms keep it contemporary too – blue-and-gold carpets, tubs and showers in the bathroom – other than the lacquer-finished TV cabinets. ‘Deluxe’ and ‘executive’ rooms are the same size, but the executive (roughly US$35 more in price) gets you free Internet and breakfast, and use of a lounge. There’s a pool and fitness center (nonguests’ fee: US$16.50) and a few restaurants, including the Ba Mien Vietnamese restaurant, where Vladimir Putin staged a little conference in 2006 (meals US$7-16).
Tel 04-933-0500; www.hilton.com; 1 Le Thanh Tong St; deluxe rooms range US$130-290

Under $100

ARMY HOTEL
Steps from the History Museum on a leafy street, the 69-room Army is a surprisingly inviting and well-run place – that is if you don’t mind a few guys milling about in uniform. Rooms are tiled with shiny bedspreads and rather tacky curtains and chairs. Best is what they look over – a huge salt-water swimming pool in the central courtyard. Free WiFi in lobby.
Tel 04-825-2896; [email protected]; 33C Pham Ngu Lao St; singles/doubles from US$40/45

DE SYLOIA HOTEL
This simple boutique-style hotel has 33 rooms with creamy pink walls and sisal-style rugs and, if you opt for higher-floor rooms, some decent Hanoi views. Staff are great, there’s free WiFi in the rooms, and a tiny gym and business center up top. You get a free buffet breakfast if you book with their website (or ask). Still, the tag feels a little tall unless you find cheaper online deals.
Tel 04-824-5346; www.desyloia.com, [email protected]; 17A Tran Hung Dao St; rack rates for singles/doubles US$90/100

ARTIST
Some guidebooks love the Artist, but its cramped, musty rooms hardly keep up with its lovely alley location (at the Hanoi Cinamateque – lots of filmies about) or shady garden restaurant. It’s a rare French Quarter hotel for under US$100 – but you do get more for less on the other sides of Hoan Kiem Lake. Eleven rooms.
Tel 04-824-4433; [email protected]; 22A Hai Ba Trung St; rooms US$22