Ha Noi Lantern Dorm

For dorm guests, the location is a plus. The beds are nice, with curtains, and there’s air conditioning. Staff are friendly, and breakfast was pretty good. The main thing to fix is how much the beds wobble. When the person in the bunk above moves, the beds around it can get annoying in the middle of the night.

The Lantern is an inexpensive way to stay in the coolest part of Hanoi. It’s in the Old Quarter, very close to the lake and its Friday and Saturday festivities, with plenty of other things to do nearby. For budget travel, I’d absolutely recommend it. The dorms are decent, with curtained beds and big fans. Some guests stay noisy on their phones late into the night, which comes with hostel travel. The staff are friendly, and the lounge downstairs is really nice, with relaxing rooms and a decent restaurant below.

The AC stops working from 2pm to 5pm, right when Hanoi is extremely hot and the sun is coming in. We’re just starting our stay and it’s already been a very bad experience. You can’t really go around the city in that heat, so you end up in the room, but the air conditioning still won’t work. I guess this is what you get for the price.

This was the filthiest, most dysfunctional hostel I’ve ever stayed in, and I’ve been in hostels across Europe, Russia, Asia, and the USA. The dorm was tiny and depressing, so cramped I had to turn sideways to get in. There was orange colored muck growing in patches on the bathroom floor. The door had no lock, and security was minimal. The staff were very nice, but they must be delusional if they can’t see how filthy the place is.