HotelChatter

The hotel, once a French governor’s residence during the country’s Indochina years, updated and modernized its existing art deco motif. It preserved the historic ambiance, so the whole place feels almost as though you’re visiting the estate of a wealthy, eccentric uncle—the kind who collects nude watercolors and taxonomy.

There’s even a library filled with quirky paintings, handicrafts, and books that have that magical old-book smell to them. If the hotel could talk, it would have the aristocratic accent of Dr. Frasier Crane.

The suite rooms in the original mansion all have individual themes—Suite d’Ornithologue, Monuments d’Egypte, Voyage en Chine, and Chambre Rouge. The eclecticism extends beyond the suites. The sales manager at the hotel, Nguynen Thuy Ngoc Quynh, says she rarely sees Vietnamese guests, that most of her visitors are American, French, or German.

Greece’s prime minister and former first daughter Chelsea Clinton were among the international guests last year. They even have a South African chef. Sounds like this is the place to stay after you’ve had one too many bowls of pho.