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 Traveller's Tales: Doing business in Hanoi, Vietnam
Take note of the helpful information on business travel near in Hanoi, Vietnam. You may read about their business tips and guides. Find out the local business customs and guide on business travel. Also, you might want to read our
Central Vietnam city guide,
Halong Bay city guide,
Hanoi city guide,
Ho Chi Minh city guide,
Phan Thiet city guide,
and Hoi An city guide.
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| A Gunning |
08 July 2002 |
Stayed at Green Park Hotel - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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I found Hanoi to be a great place to shop for things for your house. Shoes & clothes are not particularly good value, nor very nice. There's some fab art around and plenty of galleries.
We went to some gorgeous restaurants set in old colonial houses. But Vietnamese food was a little disappointing, good but surprisingly bland. We had expected and wanted spicy food. IndoChine had the most interesting menu and food.
We used taxis all the time. It's wise to carry a map as the drivers do not speak English. Nor do most people, actually. But they still know how to try and rip you off! The bargaining was getting exhausting as they always started off with a ridiculous price. We prefered to buy in shops with fixed prices.
We took a tour to Halong bay with Handspan Travel. Great guide, comfortable bus. We slept onboard a junk the first night. We say some caves, swam in the sea and had a lovely time. You get your own cabin. The max. amount of people in a group is 16. The next day we went to Cat Ba, an island resembling a building site. We did a trek up a mountain, quite a hard one. I'd recommend the first part of the trip but not the second one. Cat Ba was a place we could have done without seeing.
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| E Shilling |
27 May 2002 |
Stayed at Lucky Hotel - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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Hanoi is a fascinating city - don't be afraid to hire a motorbike (with a driver) and tour the City (I negotiated a price of USD 4 and, as I spent about 5 hours touring one day, I paid my driver USD 20, including a tip. Just as a note for future reference - pay the amount as agreed first and then in increments, provide a tip. If you hand it all over at once (agreed upon payment and tip - i.e., USD 20) - you will probably be asked for more - first provide an incremental tip - say $10, then when asked for more - provide an additional $10. This way, your driver is bound to be happy, as you have honored his request).
I spent the day visiting all the sites (pagodas, museums, shops and galleries) and went from one end of the city to the other - something that can't be efficiently done in a taxi (traffic is too hectic) and wouldn't be feasible on foot. Don't worry - while it may be hard to imagine riding on the back of a motorbike - it's safe and the best way to see the City - you can stop, shop, etc. and your driver will be waiting for you at all times. ,br>
Another tip: Take only the cash you need with you - and prior to arriving, have a STACK of USD 1's, 5's, and 10's -- it makes life much easier for tipping and paying for goods - plus, it avoids receiving piles of Dong - you can pay for everything in USD and some instances, as change you may receive Dong back (as for USD first) - you'll never have to exchange currency - slowly, you'll build-up a pile of Dong. Also, don't show your money to the driver or shop keeper, etc. It's better to not let anyone know how much you have AND quite frankly, I think it's rude - i.e., you have a stack of money and you're paying USD 2 to someone who probably makes less in a month than what you make in a day.
Restaurants - I would recommend both Cafe des Arts and Al Frescos - moderately priced, friendly service and decent food.
Took a day trip to Halong Bay - better than the Bay is the 3-hour coach ride to your destination. The roads are fine - highway system with paved roads - but you will be astounded by the travelers on the road - including bikes, cows, ducks (yes, ducks being led across the highway!), and old Russian-clunker vehicles. And more importantly, the Vietnemese way of life - housing, working fields, hard-working people, etc.
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| U Piyakulkunakorn |
07 February 2002 |
Stayed at Hanoi Hotel - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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It is not located on city center, it suit for business rather than traveller.
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| M Firestone |
20 November 2001 |
Stayed at Green Park Hotel - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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Hanoi was nice. Man they like motorbikes and their horns. One thing to remember is that the departure tax is now 14 US$. Seen a bunch of people scrambling to find cash at the airport.
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| P Slaney |
23 October 2001 |
Stayed at Guoman Hanoi Hotel - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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We flew out of Hanoi's new international terminal on the 23/10/01 and the departure tax is now 14 USD. They will except dong, but as there are no exchange facilities make sure you have enough money. We were 50 cents short which thankfully another traveller lent us as the airport staff were not flexible!
Whilst at the new airport you can admire the bad signage and play 'hunt the toilet'!
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| P Schoonackers |
22 September 2001 |
Stayed at Lucky Hotel - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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Being in Hanoi on business, the situation of the hotel in the middle of town was convenient. Enough taxis around.
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| A Birch |
05 April 2001 |
Stayed at De Syloia Hotel - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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Hanoi is a beautiful town - a sort of Asia meets French colonialism. We didn't notice a lot of begging, compared to other places (like Ho Chi Minh) and the town is attractive and quiet clean. There is plenty to see in Hanoi, lots of trips that can be organised from Hanoi (Sapa and Halong Bay etc), good shopping (especially art and silks). Overall, I think you'd need 7 to 10 days to really do it justice - we were only there for 3, so we'll be back for more!
Most of the guide books we read indicated a lot of corruption - we went prepared (and it would be sensible to do the same) but don't be put off by that, we actually thought Hanoi was very safe and had an incident free stay there.
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| 1 1.florence 2. scott |
22 January 2001 |
Stayed at Lucky Hotel - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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Hanoi is a most liveable city - and a good place to work in.
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