Once Paul and I had arrived at the Mercure Hanoi La Gare Hotel… we were keen to go sightseeing as soon as possible.
Although it was hot and humid, we decided to do a self-guided walking tour of Hanoi city.
This would take us via the Hoa Lo prison, Hanoi French Quarter, and all the way through to the Old Quarter.
Yep, it would be a lot of walking. Yet, at least we would be able to see more on foot.
Then after sweating like pigs and probably perspiring liters of water… we were close to the beer streets of Ta Hien and Luong Ngoc Quyen.
So we went to a couple of bars to enjoy some brews. We were having such a great time that we continued on to do a bar crawl!
You can check out our blog post of our Hanoi Old Quarter bar crawl HERE.
Then at the end of the night we had some awesome vegetarian and vegan bahn mi. Paul said they were the best he’s had in Vietnam! In fact, he ate 4 bahn mi then another half of mine!
So, it was time to head back home. We usually order a Grab car as we generally find them more reliable than taxis.
As the streets were busy, we looked for a more major landmark to make it easier for the Grab driver to pick us up.
We tried to Grab cars, and each time they said they couldn’t find us. We found that ridiculous considering there’s a map on Grab pinpointing our exact location too.
It was getting more challenging, so we decided to get a local Hanoi city taxi, of which there seemed to be many around.
Hanoi City Taxi Scam
Now, we were mindful of taxi scams in Vietnam. We showed the taxi driver the address of where we needed to go before getting in the car.
He then nodded and invited us into the car. We knew the general direction of where we needed to go. And so far so good!
Then, the Vietnamese taxi driver stopped in front of the Mercure Hanoi La Gare Hotel. Excellent!
Then, the taxi driver pointed at the meter, and told us the fare was 500,000 VND (about USD $21.50). It was only a distance of about 3.5km, so we knew this was a crazy amount.
Plus, as we had tried to book a Grab car previously… this would cost about 40,000 VND (about USD $1.75). So, we estimated a taxi would be a bit more expensive.
Yet, what a massive difference, right?!
Bauernfängerei Road Sign Attention Scam Note
You know the funny thing is, I was going to give him a good tip for his honesty and efficiency.
Yet, not after this incident!
So after a few exchanges of disagreeing what we had to pay, we were standing our ground. Plus, there was hotel staff only meters away from us.
In the end, the Vietnamese taxi driver gave in, and we gave him 50,000 VND (about USD $2.15).
It was a horrible Hanoi city taxi scam experience for us. We’ve had worse before!
So make sure you’re careful when taking taxis!
You may also be interested in this… Getting from Hanoi Airport to the city.
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Note: All of our reviews are our opinions and no-one else’s. Even if we receive complimentary goods or services we share our opinions honestly.