Came back from Hanoi last Saturday, was a very enjoyable trip. Second time there and the weather in January is excellent. About 20+ degrees in the day, very comfortable.
The list of food places recommended by finale1 were great! had a good time eating the local food, and best of all, ultra cheap! One 6" sandwich or a bowl of beef pho was like S$1.60. Just keep eating!
We took a day tour to Halong Bay, booked the tour at one of the local tour agencies on the first evening we were there, and the tour bus picked us up at our hotel on the second morning. The price came up to about S$58 per person, includes 2 way transfer (bus each way takes about 3-3.5hours), lunch, kayak/boat ride, and visit to the halongbay cave. The weather can be erratic, on the day of my trip it was a bit misty, so wasn't as good as my first visit there. The bus is also the smaller, 20+ seater kind, for people with long legs you might want to bear with it. I would recommend staying 1 night there for slightly more (2D1N tours are about 100/pax, you sleep on the boat), so it does not feel like you wasted 6 hours of a day just to get to Halongbay and back.
The 3 nights at Intercontinental were excellent as I last tried, impeccable customer service, large nice room, toilet and bed. Only pity was that we spent most of our time at Old Quarter and didn't make better use of the gym, pool or chill at the bar. I would also highly recommend a meal at my favourite Italian restaurant, Milan, on the second floor of the hotel. 2 main course of pasta, 1 12" pizza, 2 soft drinks for S$50. It is really very good Italian food at very reasonable Singapore-level prices.
Already looking forward to going back, maybe sometime this year end to visit Sapa
