Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi Hotel

Discovered nearly one year ago, the old underground shelter of Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi Hotel will open to the public as from May 22. Tourists who travel to Vietnam since that date should not miss the chance to visit this underground shelter.

The Hotel’s general director Kai Speth said that the 40-square meter bomb shelter has been well preserved to honour Metropole staff's contributions to ensuring safety for important guests during wartime from 1960 to 1972.

Gemma Cruz Araneta, a Filipino journalist, described the shelter in May 1968 as “a long tiny concrete room with green wooden chairs and an electric fan that can be turned into a special discotheque.”

Araneta is expected to visit the shelter together with Bob Devereaux, an Australian diplomat, who engraved his name on the wall of the room in 1975.

Historian Andreas Augustin, author of Metrople’s mysterious history book, is building an exhibition area of the hotel’s historical path dating back to 1901.

The exhibition area will run 18 metres along the hotel’s corridor to highlight Metropole Hanoi’s 110-year old history. On display will be photos of the hotel before and after being upgraded, as well as its famous guests, including Charlie Chaplin, Jane Fonda, Joan Baez and Angelina Jolie.