Capella Hanoi
Capella Hanoi brings the spirit of the Roaring Twenties back to the Vietnamese capital. Situated in the city’s French-influenced Old Quarter, just moments away from the Hanoi Opera House, the hotel offers 47 stunning rooms and suites, four restaurants and bars, a wonderful spa and a memorable selection of local experiences.
The landmark hotel is the brainchild of avant-garde architect and hotel designer Bill Bensley. As with all of his projects, Bensley approached Capella Hanoi with the eye of a storyteller, drawing on the building’s past as a ‘petite auberge’ – a boutique hotel and rendezvous point for artists, singers and high-society socialites in Hanoi to see the opera. The result is an Art Nouveau masterpiece that’s an ode to the stars who once caroused within its walls.
The 47 rooms and suites are individually styled with over 1,000 pieces of original operatic memorabilia, from costumes and theatre programmes to old photographs, opera glasses and relics from old sets.
The theme extends to the Backstage restaurant, which elevates the flavours of northern Vietnam to new and stunning heights, while transporting diners to the backstage of an opera, with gowns, stage props and antique trunks all personally collected by Bensley himself and displayed around the restaurant.
There’s also the Diva’s Lounge, serving heavenly cocktails and a selection of sweet treats in honour of the opera’s many famous female artists; The Hudson Rooms, a New York-inspired rooftop bar serving oysters and caviar by day and cocktails by night; Koki, perhaps the finest Japanese restaurant in Hanoi; and the regal Auriga Spa, complete with sauna, steam room, fitness centre and indoor pool.
And let’s not forget the work of the Capella Culturists, who have spent years designing a collection of local experiences that delve into the capital’s rich cultural heritage, from ceramics and lacquer work to visits to Vietnam’s only artisanal gin distillery.
