Ho Chi Minh 101 - Grand Silverland Hotel & Spa • Sassy Urbanite's Diary

I’m getting lazier in updating my blog… I did my Ho Chi Minh 4D3N trip last October but I still haven’t started to post anything about it…

Anyway, it was quite an impromptu trip to Ho Chi Minh as we got a really good bargain for air tickets which we only paid RM149 for all in for a return ticket thanks to AirAsia.

I’d never been to Vietnam before so I wasn’t sure what was to expect so I kept my expectation minimum. The first impression that hit me when I first landed in Ho Chi Minh was the amount of motor bikes on the roads! They were everywhere and it was madness seeing the roads being filled with so many motor bikes!

Anyway we went straight to our hotel, Grand Silverland Hotel & Spa downtown in District 1 and right behind of Ben Thanh Market. It was quite early around 9am that we got to the hotel but they had rooms available hence they allowed us to check in early. The check in was swift, they led us to sit at the lounge area and got us tower and welcoming drinks, while the front desk staff processed our check in. The staff even brought us some brochure on some local tours. It was such a nice touch for them to do so, made us felt so welcomed. The hotel was small, simple and clean, we got a good deal from Hotels.com for only USD243 for 3 nights inclusive of breakfast, which made it even better value for our money.

The Hotel

Entrance and Lobby

Our deluxe room was fine although the decor was slightly dated to my taste. It was clean and functional which were good enough for me since we wouldn’t be spending much time in the room anyway. The bathroom was spacious with a bathtub in it. The downside of the room was that it had no window attached to it, only a fake one which helped a little to give the impression that the room actually had a window, so much for the motto of “if you don’t have it, fake it!”

Comfy beds

Simple layout of TV and chairs with the fake window

Bedside table with a really loud clock

The bathroom

Bathtub

The breakfast was simple although choices were limited, but I’m not really a breakfast person so it didn’t bother me much. I mostly chose the standard western breakfast menu with sausages, potato, ham and egg, and also the Vietnamese fried rice. I still think that Vietnamese rice are so delicious and quite addictive too, similar feeling too whenever I was in Thailand.

The standard western breakfast with a touch of Vietnamese rice

The breakfast stand

The other end of the breakfast stand

The most fascinating part of the hotel was the rooftop swimming pool overlooking the city skyline. The city view was quite beautiful but I’m sure Ho Chi Minh’s skyline has yet to be fully transformed and it will be totally different in 5-10 years time. We went to had to look but sadly didn’t get the chance to use the pool. Overall, the Grand Silverland Hotel & Spa is convenient hotel strategically located in the downtown area. It was extremely easy to get around on foot or by taxi. The hotel staff were friendly and service was good. For the cheap price that we paid, I thought it was totally worth every penny.