The Legend of the Hotel Metropole
(Our preferred Hanoi hotel on our Vietnam Photo Adventure)
We often get asked about the wonderful hotel selections we make on our adventures, and the Hotel Metropole in Hanoi is a fine example of the types of properties we love to feature on our trips.
An award-winning historic French colonial-style 5-star hotel, the Hotel Metropole Hanoi is located in the heart of Hanoi, near Hoan Kiem Lake and the magnificent Opera House. Boasting a classical white façade, green shutters, original wrought iron detail, wood paneling, and a lush courtyard lawn, the hotel is one of the region’s few remaining hotels of its era.
Built in 1901 by two private French investors, the hotel quickly became the rendezvous point for colonial society in the first half of the century. Following Vietnamese independence in the 1950s, the new national government opted to maintain it as the official hotel for visiting VIP’s. During and after the war years, it became a base for the press and diplomats.
Ninety years after it had risen so gloriously from the swamps of ancient Hanoi, the Thong Nhat Hotel was closed for the face-lift of the century. Under the first phase, the existing hotel was refurbished over the next eighteen months, reopened in March 1992, and called the Hotel Metropole. The second phase started in 1994 when work commenced on the 135-room Opera Wing and the four-story Metropole Center office tower above it, both of which opened in late 1996. After the reconstruction of the new Club Rooms, replaced Metropole offices, the third phase was finished in 2008 with the completion of the Club Metropole Lounge and Imperial Suite, offering an impressive new oasis of charm and luxury at Metropole Hanoi.
The hotel guest list over the past years has included the Presidents of the United States of America, France, and Switzerland, the Prince of Monaco, Denmark, Sweden, the King of Malaysia, the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke and Duchess of Bedford, the Prime Ministers from Australia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, France, Canada, Nigeria, Norway, and Vietnam, and important business delegations such as the World Presidents Organization, the Asia Leaders Forum, the 5th Asia-Europe Meeting, the APEC 2006 Leaders Week, as well as famous people like Catherine Deneuve, Charlie Chaplin, Jane Fonda, Stephen Hawking, Oliver Stone, Mick Jagger, Sir Roger Moore amongst others. It also includes a host of corporate heavyweights. The hotel’s bars remain a haunt for international and local journalists wanting to pick up the latest business news.
While traveling to distant lands on photo adventures, we feel it’s important to experience the people, their culture, architecture, unique hotel properties, restaurants, and watering holes.
Join us on one of our VIETNAM PHOTO ADVENTURES for the photographic adventure of a lifetime!
We look forward to seeing you very soon.
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