Landmark72 is Hanoi’s tallest building, hosting Sky72 viewing deck experience on its 72nd floor. You can beat the system and save on the admission cost if you stay at InterContinental Landmark72, which occupies a few floors right below the viewing deck. The hotel occupying higher floors (62 through 71) calls for a peculiar check-in situation, where as soon as you arrive in the ground-floor lobby, you’re whisked into an elevator taking you to the 62nd floor, where the actual check-in occurs.
The rest of the building is occupied by offices, which have their own set of elevators. Inside the hotel there’s the buffet place called 3 Spoons as well as dinner-only Stellar Steakhouse that has a separate teppanayaki seating area, which on the hotel signage looks like a separate restaurant without being one.
The rest of the lobby area on the 62nd floor doubles up as lounge and bar open seating area, all looking classy and modern.
This being an office tower that’s shared with other building tenants, the gym on the 7th floor is quite massive, but has general access for its members as well as hotel guests. Attached spa offers services like facials and massages, they also manage the keys for the locker rooms. The locker rooms come with sauna, and there’s an outdoor pool on the 7th floor. The opening hours for the 7th floor fitness facilities are generous, but it’s not a 24-hour fitness room.
The 71st floor has a smaller and less equipped fitness room that is exclusive to the hotel guests only and runs 24 hours. Next to it is a large ballroom reception area that takes up a good portion of the floor – since there was no wedding or conference going on during my stay, the staff just left it empty and accessible, allowing for Hanoi skyline viewing experience. In case you’re wondering what you’ve been missing, here it is.
The breakfast at 3 Spoons was generous and dazzling, from my standpoint a tiny notch above InterContinental Westlake, the sister IHG property in Hanoi.
Two things made up this tiny notch (for me, your preferences might differ):
- Not only there was smoked seabass, but 3 Spoons had smoked salmon in the cold cuts
- They served young coconut juice in a freshly topped-off coconut
The rest of the options – made-to-order egg station, pho kitchen, stations for Indian, Vietnamese and rest of Asian cuisines, were pretty much in line and top-notch. It’s possible to stay at that place for a month and still eat something new at 3 Spoons every day.
On the ground floor (not part of the hotel proper, but still the place where all guests and convention goers arrive first) there are some retail options sprinkled here and there – there’s a chain French bakery, a Starbucks, a small convenience store, a pharmacy, a hair salon and an ATM whose main job was to issue errors when American debit cards were attempted.
Internal courtyard is shared with the neighboring residential and office towers, and has a public pool as well as small shady garden, that probably comes handy during the summer months.
If you don’t need to be near Hanoi’s hustling and bustling Old Quarter, or if motorbike pollution in central areas got to you, and you don’t mind taking a Grab everywhere you need to go, InterContinental Landmark72 is a great option at rates you rarely see for such spectacular 5-star properties anywhere else.