A well located hotel adds great  value to your trip – I have devised a simple three step process to find the right location for a hotel . This series now runs into the sixth post after Tokyo, Hong Kong, Vienna, Zurich and Rome Choosing the right hotel.

Malati and I have made numerous leisure trips across the world. With time, experience and a lot of hindsight our hotel selection has become more focused and precise. Which means  more comfortable and convenient stays. And of  course a more pleasurable holiday and pleasant memories! While price is important the biggest challenge I have faced is in deciding the location of the hotel. In the past, I would have got a good price, and a great deal with lots of add-ons only to find that the hotel is far away from most places I wished to visit and nowhere near public transport. As a result the holiday became a drudge even before it began! However  with experience I have evolved a simple process to arrive  at the best  choice  of  the location. Malati and I visited Ho Chi Minh City earlier this year and here is our selection process.

City Centre or Away?  This is the first decision point in selecting a hotel location. Do you prefer to stay  away from the city center where the hotels are cheaper and then use the savings to pay for local transport or stay in the city center where the hotels are slightly more expensive. In the case of Ho Chi Minh City there is no metro railway and airport Tan Son Nhat airport is just a few kms from the city center. However traffic being what it is in Saigon it could take you at least 30- 45 mins to get to the city center. ( District 1 and 2 ). With such proximity and hotel rates at 25 to 50 % lower the airport area makes for a very viable option. What makes it even more acceptable is the low cost of taxis when compared to any European city. On the other hand a city center hotel allows flexibility in sightseeing and the option of returning to the hotel for an afternoon siesta before setting out for a second round in the evening. As senior citizens we found this to be a great value proposition. If you are looking at night life would you like to trudge home in the middle of the night after a happy evening? Availability of transport home is always an issue to consider. While taxis in HCM city are affordable and available even later at night there is always an element of safety to be considered. And so the choice of location is therefore determined by your holiday and sightseeing plan.

The Holiday Plan – Define the broad purpose of your visit? Sightseeing? Shopping? Museums and history? Leisure-  Lazy  hotel stay? Eating ? HCM city offers you all options – Your broad purpose will lead you to the places of your interest – which is often different from what the tour guides say.  So if you are a first timer do some research. Some searches on the net for starters  are  “What are the top 10 things to do in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh city”. I found Trip Advisor a great place to start. Lonely Planet is another great site. Once you have gone through a few web sites you would get a pretty good feel of the city, the distances involved  and places to visit. Enough to create an intelligent short list.

We had planned a leisurely stay In HCM city and were able to take in most of the tourist spots in HCM . Our own short list comprised of a visit to the picturesque colonial style buildings buildings such as the Notre Dame cathedral and the Post office. Add the Presidential palace and a local meal at the Saigon Chill down the road from the palace. Do not miss eating out at the Ben Nghe Market and a noisy night at the Turtle Lake. The War Remnants Museum is a must and devote as much time as you can for it – a couple of hours at least. The Ben Thanh market is a great place to pick up some cheap items of interest and also test your bargaining skills. Do not miss to admire the architecture of the Opera House and pack in a show there . We watched the AO Bamboo Circus. We always end up visiting one or two shopping malls to get a flavor of the local consumerism. The Saigon Centre and Vincom Centre are very close to each other and host most of the world leading brands and others. A notable omission was the Sky Deck at the Bitexco Tower which affords a panoramic view of the city. Time permitting slot a river cruise maybe even a dinner cruise and a few outstation tours. We chose the whole day Mekong Delta tour and the Cu Chi tunnels and you can add on more. Vietnam is a beautiful place with lots of things to do and see and experience.

The Visit Plot –  Now  plot your shortlist on a map and you will find that most of your places of interest are bunched together in a small area. Interestingly my area of interest was bound in a small area about less than 1500 m square as you can see in the sketch. While this is generally true in most cities this feature of contiguity of places of interest was most pronounced in HCM city and the sweetener was low cab fares. I would even recommend walking if you could get used to the sultry weather – the locations are so close to each other- For example the Cathedral and the Post office are on either sides of the road and the Presidential palace just a short hop away. Travel is either on foot or in local cabs though public transport is also available.

The Itinerary– At this stage with the  places of interests plotted on the map and a fair  idea of the distances between each of these places make out a detailed  itinerary. Work out the most efficient visit sequence for the day to include travel time and mode: time spent at each location and even your meal and rest breaks. And Voila! Your answer for the ideal location for your stay in HCM city will now stare out at you. Once you have zeroed in on the right location finding the right hotel is an easy task. Needless to say the further away you go from the city centre the prices of hotels drops sharply – True of any city !

I was spoilt for choices and finally zeroed in on the Caravelle Saigon Hotel which was ideally located in the centre of my area of interest and just opposite the beautiful Saigon City Opera house. It was a ten maybe 15 minute walk to any of the other places on the map. It also afforded an evening stroll through the streets of district one and two to admire the buildings, the restaurants and the shops ranging from the high end brands to the local ones and even allowed us to return to the hotel for a short period of rest each day and perfectly suited my sightseeing plan.

 So always remember –

Location first- The rest follows .