

And each of its 47 rooms highlights one of them, with hand-painted murals and portraits of era-defining figures-like Pablo Picasso on the artists’ floor. Each floor has a theme: drama, actors, artists. Never one for understatement, its designer Bill Bensley created a ‘petite auberge’ inspired by the nearby Hanoi Opera House, where he pictured the starlets of the 1920s would congregate. The Capella Hanoi (doubles from Rs30,000) boldly threw open its gilded doors right opposite the grand dame of Vietnam’s hotels, The Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi, in early 2021.


Here’s a pick of the best new hotels, restaurants and bars for the season: Best new hotels in Hanoi One year on, from the capital Hanoi in the north, to the central coast and down to Ho Chi Minh City, usually called Saigon for short, Vietnam is back to its dizzying levels of intensity, with some deliriously good new places to eat, drink and sleep.
