Hanoi Daewoo Hotel: Does Being Outside the Old Quarter Cost You?

Location & getting around

The hotel sits about 4km from central Hanoi, and that distance creates both its advantage and its drawback.

The advantage first: Noi Bai International Airport is 20.96km away, about 30 minutes by car — the closest tier among Hanoi hotels. Hoan Kiem-area properties run 42–44 minutes, so the gap is over ten minutes. On arrival and departure days that converts straight into time.

Lotte Center Hanoi and Lotte Department Store are listed as within walking distance, and reviews repeatedly mention how convenient the Lotte supermarket next door proved.

The drawback is the sights. Hoan Kiem Lake is 4.07km away, the night market 3.92km and Hanoi railway station 3.04km (about 14 minutes by car). Reviews put the Old Quarter at roughly 20 minutes by Grab. It is not walkable.

Closer by are the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology at 1.77km, the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum at 2.35km, West Lake at 2.87km and Tran Quoc Pagoda at 3.07km. A hospital is 600m away. Agoda scores the location 8.8.

One review sums the position up better than any distance can: it recommends the hotel to people who want to avoid the bustle of the Old Quarter.

Rooms & occupancy

Built in 1996, with a renovation completed in 2021. 411 rooms, rated five-star.

Confirmed room types are deluxe city view, club twin, deluxe suite and club suite. Connecting rooms are available for families or groups who want to be adjacent.

Children aged 5–11 stay free — a wider free-stay bracket than most Hanoi five-stars, which changes the maths with primary-school-age children.

Reviews frequently mention club room benefits: snacks, fruit and drinks in the club lounge, and complimentary laundry. Late check-out also comes up often — one guest reports 4:00 PM on a club room, another paying roughly 73,000 KRW to extend a standard room to 6:00 PM. Confirm the terms when booking.

Check-in is 2:00 PM, check-out noon. Guests skew towards business travellers, followed by families with young children, solo travellers, couples and families with teenagers. The average stay is two nights.

On ratings, plainly: 8.5 overall and 8.3 from families with infants, on the low side among the Hanoi five-stars covered here. It does have the largest sample at 7,465 reviews. Positive sentiment on views runs at 75%.

Facilities

There is an outdoor pool, a sauna, a hot tub, a fitness centre, a playground, gardens, restaurants and a bar/lounge, banquet halls and meeting rooms, plus contactless check-in and check-out.

What reviews mention above everything else is the pool and sauna.

• The pool draws particular praise, with repeated comments on its size and cleanliness and how well it worked with children.
• The sauna gets specific description: baths, a steam room and changing facilities, and guests report still being able to use it after check-out.

Together those suit one itinerary especially well, and it recurs across reviews: a late-night flight. Check out, spend the day out, come back in the evening, use the sauna to clean up, then head to the airport. Combined with the 30-minute airport run, it genuinely works.

Room amenities get a mention too — an iron, slippers, toothbrush and toothpaste provided, so guests did not need to pack their own.

Breakfast divides opinion. Some call it generous and good; others describe it as ordinary but single out the pho.

Compared & alternatives

To walk the Old Quarter, the opposite profiles serve better: Apricot Hotel is 140m from Hoan Kiem Lake, and Melia Hanoi 630m, with the railway station 740m away.

If service quality is the priority, Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi rates 9.4 from couples.

For business trips or a West Lake itinerary, also compare Lotte Hotel Hanoi.

Bottom line

Thirty minutes to the airport and Lotte Center on foot are the two reasons to pick this hotel. Add the pool and sauna and you get a combination that is hard to match on a late-flight day in particular.

It also suits anyone who finds the Old Quarter’s density tiring, and families building the trip around a pool.

If you plan to walk to Hoan Kiem and the Old Quarter, 4km means a car every time — and the ratings sit lower than others in its class. Rates vary by date and occupancy.