InterContinental Hanoi Westlake

The Hotel

InterContinental Hanoi Westlake opened on 26 October 2007 as IHG's flagship Vietnam property and the first international five-star to be built on the West Lake (Ho Tay) — the 500-hectare freshwater lake at the northern edge of central Hanoi, the city's principal natural feature, surrounded since the 1990s by Hanoi's diplomatic-quarter and expat-residential districts. The architectural commission was Hong Kong practice WATG with interior architecture by Hong Kong-based Hirsch Bedner Associates; the brief was for the most ambitious hotel on the lake — and the result is genuinely architecturally significant: three separate building pavilions (the main building on the shore, plus two over-water pavilions) connected by 90-metre raised lakefront walkways extending out into the lake, with all three pavilions housing guest rooms and the over-water pavilions reading from the shore as floating Vietnamese-architectural objects on stilts.

The 318 rooms — including 41 suites — divide between the main shore-pavilion (218 rooms) and the two over-water pavilions (100 rooms; the booking premium category for guests wanting the literal-lake address). Standard categories begin at 36 square metres; the Lake View categories add the unobstructed West Lake aspect; the Royal Suite at 200 square metres is the milestone unit, on the top floor of the main pavilion with a private lakefront balcony. Bathrooms are travertine; bath products are Agraria, IHG's signature.

The dining programme is the operational layer. The Saigon Restaurant — the named Vietnamese fine-dining room on the over-water pavilion — runs the property's principal Vietnamese register; Milan Italian is the all-day brasserie programme; Café du Lac handles the lobby-and-lakefront register; the Diplomatic Lounge is the business-and-aperitivo programme on the main pavilion's first floor. The Sunset Bar — on the western over-water pavilion's roof — is the property's signature image, with a 360° West Lake sunset view that no other Hanoi hotel can match. The IHG Spa runs eight treatment rooms; the outdoor heated swimming pool is on the lakefront walkway, the largest hotel pool in central Hanoi at 25 metres; the kids' pool and family-pool programme are in the main pavilion's lower-ground level.

The Tay Ho address is the booking trade-off relative to the Hoan Kiem central five-star cluster. From the front door it is twelve minutes by car to the Hanoi Opera House and the central five-stars (Metropole, Capella, l'Opéra), eight minutes to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the Temple of Literature, and 35 minutes by car to Noi Bai Airport. The Tay Ho neighbourhood is the diplomatic and expat quarter, with high concentrations of embassies, international schools, and Tay Ho dining; the lake itself supports a 17-kilometre walking-and-cycling path that the hotel uses for the daily morning programme. For travellers wanting the lake-and-pool five-star booking with the Wellness-Retreat-and-Family-Holiday register over the central-walking-Hanoi register, this is unambiguous. Metropole and Capella are the central alternatives; IC Westlake is the lake-resort answer.

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