“Modern hotel, good value for money”

I stayed here with my friend for 3 nights in begining of October. The hotel is located in center of the Old Quarter - Ma May street - (very busy area with many motobikes so watch out when you cross the street). The back side room is very quiet and has a window look over the Old Quarter. Especially, it has a computer connect to the internet so we can chat with our friends any time. I certainly recommend this hotel to everyone.

(John_Haward, Sydney: Oct 18, 2007)

“Clean, safe, friendly and cheap!”

Fantastic location and some of the friendliest staff I have ever encountered. This place is a bargain and if we were to return to Hanoi, we would stay again without hesitation.

(vanmarie72 Sydney: Oct 6, 2007)

“Nice stay at the Sunshine Hotel”

The Sunshine Hotel is an excellent hotel. Room rates are very reasonable, and you get a lot for your money. All the rooms are clean and bright, with real tubs in the bathroom and comfortable mattresses, but the superior and deluxe rooms are even better, because they come with a PC and high-speed internet in the room. I have never seen that in another hotel for this price. Staff is also friendly and helpful, and can help you book plane tickets, etc. Also, the location is fantastic -- walking distance from all the sights and shops in the old quarter. The only thing I didn't like was the tile on the floors of the rooms, which is very tacky, fake-wood print. However, it is always freshly mopped and spotless. Overall, I highly recommend the Sunshine Hotel.

(kate0614 New Haven, CT: Aug 31, 2007)

“Best budget hotel in Old Quarter”

This is the best spot in the Old Quarter. Excellent location, excellent service, free high speed internet and breakfast, very clean and spacious rooms with tv, private bathroom and they even include complimentary fruits when you arrive. It's busy and hard to get a room if you just walk in. Sunshine Hotel has a couple of subsidiary hotels right around the neighbourhood so they will pay for your cab to take you to a nearby location if there are no rooms. Highly recommend this hotel!

(Misterbrow... Toronto: Aug 5, 2007)

“Excellent service at Sunshine”

In April 2007, we returned to Vietnam for the 3rd time and concentrated on the North. We had booked our first night at the Hanoi Joy (definately not as it appears on the website) and decided to check out and look for something more central/brighter/friendlier. We found it at Sunshine Hotel at 86 Ma May street. I believe there are number of Sunshin Hotels however you must try this one. The owner of the hotel was the most helpful, honest, friendliest person we have come across during our 3 visits to the country. The hotel has an elevator and we booked a basic room for $22US. It was located on the 4th floor and in the middle of the building, so no windows, but the bathroom was fantastic. New, clean, fully functional. There was one night we returned from a trip unexpectedly, and were luck enough to get an upgrade to one of their suites which faced Ma May with a large balcony. This room is valued at $35 and if that was within your budget, go for it!. As far as tourist information is concerned, we have found the hotel operators try and sell you on their preferred tours, even if it isnt what you are after. The manager took the time to listen to what I wanted - which didn't involve tourist trips but trips on local buses and the like - and she said 'certainly that is easy for me to do for you'. Not only did she book us everything we wanted with no deviation from our plans, she also arranged with the drivers/transport people to keep an eye out for us and help us get from A to B! We kind of felt like royalty.

I had all of our preferred accommodation chosen - using Tripadvisor and Lonley Planet - but we ended staying at the hotels the Manager showed us. At no time was she pushy or did she bad things about the ones we had chosen, she just wanted to show us options. We are so glad we stayed where she recommended. Do yourself a favour and stay at Sunshine 2 at 86 Ma May street.

(Shonee Australia: May 5, 2007)

““Cheap and Cheerful Firetrap””

Our traveling party of 5 landed in Viet Nam, were driven through Ha Noi, and deposited at this hotel. First impressions were that the staff spoke little English, and were quite abrupt. But those impressions were to improve throughout the visit. The staff were actually very pleasant and helpful, even trying to wave away some street vendors trying to tempt us with their ware from outside the large glass hotel front to the street. Hung, a lovely young lady with undisputedly the best English of the staff, was especially helpful – she was in charge of booking tours and sightseeing trips, but also helped us at other times when the language barrier became a problem. Hung was helpful, but not forceful, with tour bookings. She booked us what turned out to be a fantastic trip to Ha Long Bay, and readily assisted with information to help us in other parts of Viet Nam, even though we didn’t book these tours through her. She also booked our air tickets from Ha Noi to Hue with minimum fuss and at a relatively small cost.

The hotel doesn’t have fancy facilities, such as a gym, but you get a workout anyway, climbing the stairs to your room. Of all the hotels we stayed at in Viet Nam, only a very small percentage featured a lift, and this wasn’t one of them. From our view point, climbing the stairs wasn’t too great a hassle, but the one set of stairs seemed to be the only way of escape in an emergency, especially given that the windows of our rooms featured heavy security grilles. Thinking about the danger of a fire freaked us out a bit, but then a fire was probably a less likely and less threatening danger than many other everyday Ha Noi activities, such as crossing the road or even walking down the footpath.

The rooms at the Sunshine hotel were great. They had a nice Vietnamese look and feel, and were clean and large, with their own bathrooms. Two of my traveling companions, connoisseurs of cornices, have pointed out that the rooms featured some superb plasterwork. We could phone between rooms, and the rooms all had working air con. One of my friends’ rooms overlooked the Hotel Donga, which was certainly a bonus as far as photo opportunities went!

Breakfast was included in the room rate, and the breakfasts were quite good – we ate omelets and Vietnamese style – large but light – bread roll on many occasions, but also had the choice of Pho Bo (traditional Vietnamese noodles with beef) and other dishes. There were 3 computers with free internet access in the foyer. The internet worked most of the time – which is good by Viet Nam’s standards – and was quite a good, fast connection. You rarely had to wait to get a computer.

The hotel is in the old quarter, and as we mostly focused on seeing this part of Ha Noi, it’s hard for us to say whether this is the best bit to stay in or not, but most of the reviews/articles about Ha Noi certainly seem to recommend it. You could walk out of the hotel, right into the thick of the action – in fact you could get lost within minutes of leaving the hotel (as one of our party did) so when you leave, pay attention to how to get back. There was another Sunshine Hotel also, just up the road, and another around a corner, so you have to make sure you are at the right one. The one just up the road featured a restaurant, which we were also impressed with – it had an extensive menu of Vietnamese and Western dishes, at cheap prices (about 3 – 5 Aussie dollars for a main, about 1 Aussie dollar for a large beer).

Overall we thought this hotel was a nice, friendly place to stay, with good facilities and helpful staff. For the price we paid, we certainly though it was good value for money and would recommend it to other travelers.

Tips/Secrets: — If it's your first time in Vietnam, ask for the airport pickup so you don't have to contend with taxi touts on arrival.

(Ejidy Hobart, Australia: Jan 11, 2007)

“Glorious”

Great price-performance, we paid $30US/night. 12 foot ceilings, French colonial style, tile (much better than carpet!) floors. Good coffee with breakfast (included!), free internet, great location. Shower head was a bit dribbly and bathroom somewhat small. Beds firm, linens in good shape. Bakery down the street to the left, fresh US$.20/mug beer down to the right, hot soup at night on the corner. Friendly staff, seems safe. Our favorite hotel in Hanoi. Bring earplugs for a quiet night ;)

(Stampgrabb... Singapore: Oct 24, 2006)

“Great spot in Ma May Street”

We stayed at the Sunshine Hotel on and off over 3 weeks in Sept/Oct 2006, between trips to other places. We found the staff to be very friendly and helpful and the rooms are large, clean and well serviced. The front rooms have a balcony overlooking the street but can be noisy. Mr. Hung and his assistant at the travel desk are especially charming and efficient, booking trips and flights anywhere. We stored luggage at the hotel while off on trips for several days at a time without any worries about safety and were always made welcome on our return. We returned from a trip to Sapa at 6.00a.m. and gained immediate access to the hotel, were given breakfast at 7.00a.m. and a room by 8.30a.m. We met many interesting and friendly people of all ages from all over the world also staying at the Sunshine and wouldn't hesitate to stay there again if in Hanoi. Ma May Street is a lively interesting street within easy walking distance of Hoan Kiem Lake and anywhere in the old quarter.

(Groovygran Perth, Australia: Oct 20, 2006)

““Clean basic rooms” ”

Ideal location, situated in the Old Quarter. The staff here are very friendly (especially the only lady working there). Rooms were clean and basic, they left fruit and complimentary water in our room. We used Sunshine as a base to leave our luggage whilst we went to Sapa and Halong Bay and the staff were very helpful and our luggage was safe. They even let us use a room to shower when we returned from Halong Bay at no extra charge.

They have a travel agency in reception which offers many trips. They booked all our onward flights for us, hotels and airport transfers which took them about 5 minutes and we'd been trying to organise for about 2 hours!!

The only disappointment was a trip to Sapa which we booked through the hotel travel agency, we ended up staying in a youth hostel and going on a very strenuous testosterone charged hike when we had booked 3 star accommodation and a 'light' hike. Our guide was terrible - he left us at a waterfall as night fell with no instructions on how to return to our homestay and once we found our way back, expecting to be able to mingle with the local people (him as a translator) he watched TV all night! I would definitely recommend using handspan, they are more expensive but you are guaranteed quality every time.

(sjzm1 London: Oct 12, 2006)

“Loved the Sunshine Hotel, Hanoi”

We booked the Sunshine Hotel in the Old Quarter because it was recommended in the Lonely Planet and by Trip Advisor (June 2006). We were delighted with our stay there. We had a double room - very clean, quiet (at the back of the hotel) reasonably priced, air-conditioned (necessary in July). The stand-out feature of this hotel was the friendliness and charmingly efficient service of the hotel staff and the travel agent, who is located in the hotel..

We used the travel agency to book flights, trains, buses, taxi transfers and tours to Ha Long Bay, Sapa, Hue, Hoi An and HCMC. The prices were very reasonable. The travel agent, Mr Hung, was the best we have ever encountered - extremely helpful, well organized, efficient and a source of excellent advice about where to go and what to see.

The hotel staff were exceptionally warm, welcoming (invited us to lunch on the second day) efficient and generous. We left our luggage there while we took a couple of tours in the north. We returned from Sapa early in the morning. As our flight was not until midday, they gave us breakfast and a room to shower and rest at no cost, even though we had already checked out.

We'd return to the Sunshine anytime – they provided a wonderful introduction to Hanoi and Vietnam.

(Leah & Robin Sydney: Jul 30, 2006)

“Sunshine Hotel is a bright spot in the bustling Old Quarter”

We stayed in the Sunshine Hotel in the heart of the Old Quarter in Hanoi.

Yes, it is noisy but being in Ma May is a fabulous location with charm, authenticity and non-stop action. We loved it!

Our room was exceptionally clean, cheerful and very reasonably priced. The service was friendly and genuine. The staff showed great kindness towards our family. Breakfast was included in the price. We used the hotel driver to pick us up from the airport.

We are a married couple with two teenage children. The hotel brought in an extra mattress and made up a bed for us so that we could all be together. We even had a balcony which overlooked the bustle of the street and a vase of beautiful fresh roses.

I used the travel agency attached to the hotel to organise an overnight cruise to Halong Bay and an excursion to Sapa. Both tours were well priced and exactly what we asked for. The travel agent was an absolute delight to deal with and I couldn't recommend his service more highly. He was meticulous in his organisation. The hotel looked after our luggage during these excursions and provided us with breakfast and a shower upon our return, even though we had officially booked out.

We enjoyed the hospitality of this hotel enormously. We felt that we were leaving friends when we finally said goodbye. Thank you, Sunshine Hotel. You made our time in Hanoi very memorable!

(Malvolio Tasmania, Australia: Jun 5, 2006)