My experience is opposite. I got hot meters twice - once in Saigon on my first visit when taxi from the airport 1km down to the road showed on meter 180K (real price was 50K) and second times - in Dalat when trip was shown on meter as 170K and on next day exactly on the same trip/road with real taxi it was 80K.

In both cases (in retrospect) it was clear that taxis/drivers were fake. In both cases it was MaiLinh but after examining situation afterwards, I released that there was some stuff that I needed to pay attention - driver was not wearing standard green shirt, there was no dashboard sticker showing prices per km/min travelled and paint job on the car was quite crude.

I defaulted to take only uber/grab in cities where they are available, but at Dalat they have not arrived yet.

The Sheraton looks walkable to the 2 main sights along West Lake: Tran Quoc Pagoda and Quan Thanh Temple. I have not done this walk before, and you need to factor in the weather. From there you can hail a cab to the Old Quarer of Hanoi, around the Hoan Kiem lake.
The JW is definitely out of the way.

Thank you!!!

I suggest a combo of Expedia, Agoda/Booking.com, and Trip Advisor for reviews. If you see anything that you don't like, then immediately move on to the next place. There are so many options that you can be a bit picky.

I'm sure you mean in Hanoi you want to be in the old quarter. Crazy is right, there are too many options to list. If you want to stay on points or use status at a major hotel, then maybe some suggestions can be made. Otherwise it's tough as there are hundreds of small hotels in each city that are clean and decent. I would suggest for Saigon though staying in district 1. And usually hotels listed in "Ben Thanh Market" area are decent and a step above those you find on Bui Vien or Pham Ngu Lao streets for boutique hotels. If your budget is a little higher, the Park Hyatt is excellent and very central to the city.

Does the massive subway construction around Ben Thanh affect which area you would recommend? It looks like walking could be a bit scary in some spots, but I have not been there during the construction.

by https://www.flickr.com/photos/nomadicnotes/, on Flickr

The metro construction is a pain in the butt for accessing any businesses along the Le Loi Boulevard (the corridor from Ben Thanh Market to the Opera House), either by car or by foot.
In my opinion walking along the narrow alleys that they have created along most of the length of Le Loi Blvd is indeed scary and I would not recommend. Thus, my favorite hotel of late, the Liberty City Center, located at the corner of Le Loi Blvd and Pasteur Street, is now off my list until the construction project is closer to completion.

The hotels in the Ben Thanh market are however mostly located in streets that run parallel to Le Loi Blvd (such as Le Thanh Ton St, Ly Tu Trong St). Those hotels are perfectly accessible by cars, bikes, and those streets are very walkable to the Ben Thanh Market or to the other major sights in the City.

Likewise, the hotels in the backpacker area (Bui Vien Street/Pham Ngu Lao Street) can also be accessible via the parallel streets.

Just came back from a trip to Hanoi, HaLong bay, Hoi An, the Mekong and HCMC. HCMC was my least favorite and in my mind not worth more than a day and a half. Probably the only place I wouldn't want to return to.

I assume picking up a metered Mai Linh or Vinasun taxi from Hanoi airport to the Old Quarter is straight forward. I've used both companies in HCMC but my previous short trip to Hanoi included a pre-booked airport to hotel pick up. This time I'll use a taxi to save a few pennies. Any ball-park estimate on what that would cost?

Thanks

Last July, I paid around 350,000 VND for a taxi from Noi Bai Airport to the Hilton Opera hotel.
To the Old Quarter should be around this number or not more than 400,000 VND.
Picking up a taxi at Noi Bai is straight forward.

Looking for some advice/suggestions on our trip to Vietnam for the upcoming Christmas/New Year.

We are arriving in SGN late on 22 DEC, and will be staying 1 day/2 nights before flying to Phu Quoc where we have 3 nights. On 27 DEC will fly to Da Nang. Then our flight home is from Hanoi on 2 JAN. We are looking to have at least 2 nights in Hanoi (including New Years Eve).

Question is how to split our time between Hoi An, Hue and Hanoi and whether to visit Halong Bay?

Is it feasible to have 2 nights in Hoi An, transfer by car or motorcycle to Hue for 1 night, fly to Haiphong (from DAD) in the morning for a Halong overnight cruise and transfer to Hanoi the next day? In the case of an overnight cruise, how early can we expect to arrive in Hanoi? Sea plane seems to be out of our budget, but we will opt for private transfer, especially if it can save us some time.

Alternatively if we skip Halong Bay (this is difficult to decide based on feedback/reviews - but we are not really flexible on dates so need to commit before we know the weather forecast) should we extend Hanoi to 3 nights and still stay 3 nights in Hoi An/Hue or add another day there?
If we decide to do both Hue and Hoi An is there one we should do before the other ( considering Hanoi or Halong Bay is the next stop ) ?
I see there are flights from both HUI and DAD to HAN, both only from DAD to HPH.

All and any comments and suggestions are welcome! :)

KRS, I'm interested in the answers to your trip. I'd like to do a Hanoi trip with Hoi An thrown in and possibly other places. I like the old time feel of Hanoi and prefer places like that.

I prefer less places and longer there. I'm not a huge mover every few days between cities or hotels.

Personally, I think you are trying to squeeze in too much. I would skip Phu Quoc and add more time in Saigon and Hanoi. Phu Quoc is not that interesting, the beach is ok, nothing special.

Day trip from Hanoi to Ha Long is very do-able, it only takes 2.5 hours with the new expressway.