My first visit to Vietnam was in 1994 so I have stayed at a lot of hotels there and watched the quality rise steadily over the last 15 years. Even so, I was pleasantly surprised by the Ha Long Pearl. It is charmless, modern highrise but the staff are helpful, the rooms are perfectly comfortable, the wi-fi works and it's across the street from the water. Every morning I got up at 6am when it was still cool out and walked for an hour by the sea. The views were lovely although most of the time it was hazy and overcast so the famous rocks didn't look as good as they could have. The hotel is a drive from the center of town but minutes on foot from the souvenier stalls, cafes and sea food restaurants by the water. I was there for a conference and so had all my meals at the hotel and the food was not bad at all. The breakfast was not bad at all-they do pho to order and eggs as well which was more than I expected. more