Asia - Safe place to leave luggage in Hanoi

I have an day in Hanoi (not overnighting). Any idea where I can safely leave my luggage while I pay tribute to Uncle Ho and grab a bowl of pho.

Also does anyone know how much a taxi to the airport costs from downtown?

I have an day in Hanoi (not overnighting). Any idea where I can safely leave my luggage while I pay tribute to Uncle Ho and grab a bowl of pho.

Also does anyone know how much a taxi to the airport costs from downtown?

Not sure about where to put your bags (we left ours at our hotel when we went overnight to Halong Bay).

As for taxi, we paid $10USD from our hotel which i think is the standard rate, but i think you can probably negotiate it down to 100,000 dong or around $6US.

As for taxi, we paid $10USD from our hotel which i think is the standard rate, but i think you can probably negotiate it down to 100,000 dong or around $6US.

Hanoi Noi Bai airport to city centre - US$10 is pretty standard. A VN friend once told me nothing is fixed in VN and knowing this to be true, I tried negotiating down. Despite speaking VN, I got nowhere and rather than lose face got a minibus! (A great laugh, but highly dangerous...). On a later occasion I arrived with an airport worker. She argued away, but failed to get anything better than US$10 (even with me out of sight). They have things pretty well sewn up at the airport.

Going the other way, is a different story. NoiBai/Airport taxi pretty much has a monopoly for arriving pax. So if you can get one of these in the city centre, you can get a good deal - as little as US$5. This is because some of them end up travelling back to the airport empty anyway. But other taxi companies find it difficult to collect at the airport - so will usually want more than US$10 to take you there....

My suggestion is to see if you can spot a Noibai/Airport taxi on the street and negotiate. You're in a weak position if you look foreign and have any bags with you. A better bet is to get a cafe or restaurant to phone and negotiate a price for you. Sometimes Noibai taxi will send you a minibus just for you - the price should be the same unless you requested one in the first place. Reconfirm the price before you get in.