Hanoi is the world’s copycat capital when it comes to hotels, restaurants and tour operators, but there’s nowhere else like Y Lan Guesthouse, quite possibly the most authentic homestay in Vietnam. Behind a thick door off a busy boulevard in the French Quarter, the quiet, modest guesthouse faces an incredibly beautiful 150-year-old temple. The tiled temple, fronted by wooden columns and dangling orange lanterns, houses the ancestor altars of the family of Mrs Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh, the guesthouse owner. Bedroom number three, with louvered shutters, has a balcony overlooking the pretty fan-shaped tile tips of the temple. No-nonsense Mrs Oanh, who speaks French but little English, provides breakfast on the marble-topped table next to the family kitchen, and will take you inside the family temple if you ask.
This perfectly pitched Hanoi hotel combines Indochine elegance with a modern ambience. Ceiling-height padded silk headboards prop up wonderfully comfortable beds layered in white cottons in rooms with polished wooden floors, silk lamps, red Oriental trunks-turned-tables, and chairs upholstered in silver cotton and chenille. Its location on Hang Trong, just south of the Old Quarter, and just around the corner from one of the most popular shopping streets, Hang Gai, makes it the perfect base for shopaholics. After a day pounding the streets, head to the top-floor Le Royal Spa, for a soothing foot massage.
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