CNN
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Hanoi’s Metropole Hotel sits imposingly on a corner in the city center, bright white with neat black shutters. As guests pull up in front of the French Colonial building, they are greeted by staff members wearing chic silk tunics.
Framed photos throughout the lobby show some of the hotel’s most famous guests, from French presidents Francois Mitterand and Jacques Chirac to the writer Graham Greene, actress Jane Fonda and silent film star Charlie Chaplin. In 2019, the Metropole hosted US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for a summit.
But below the elegant tile floors, there’s another, darker layer of history.
As Vietnam marks the 50th anniversary of reunification this week, the hotel — now called the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi — is highlighting its war heritage.
April 30, 2025 marks half a century since the the fall of Saigon and the helicopter evacuation of US ambassador Graham Martin, ending what Americans call the Vietnam War and what Vietnamese call the American War.
While most of the big, formal anniversary events like a military parade and a new airport terminal opening will be held in the southern metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), Hanoi, as Vietnam’s capital, has plenty of its own history to share.
The Metropole opened in 1901 when Vietnam was under French control. It passed through multiple owners until it was taken over by the Communist government in the 1950s and renamed the Reunification Hotel.
It was one of the few hotels allowed to house foreign visitors during the war, so many famous politicians, journalists and artists passed through.
In 1965, the hotel built an underground bunker where guests could shelter during US air raids. According to hotel manager Anthony Slewka, the space could hold about 100 people — roughly the same as the number of guests — and was divided into four chambers with two access points.
After the war, the bunker was forgotten — until 2011, when a contracting company remodeling the hotel’s Bamboo Bar re-discovered it.
Now, the Metropole offers two daily tours of the bunker to hotel guests at 5:00 and 6:00 p.m.
While in the bunker, visitors can see original light bulbs and other fixtures while listening to the Joan Baez song “Where Are You Now, My Son?,” which she recorded while staying at the Metropole. The song incorporates music, spoken word, clips of a Vietnamese woman crying out for her son, and the sound of air raid sirens.
Baez spent time in the bunker during her Vietnam visits and has spoken about how seeing the war’s effect on people made her a peace activist.
Travelers to Hanoi who want to learn more about the war era can also visit the Hoa Lo Prison, where American prisoners of war — including, famously, the late Senator John McCain — were held. Nicknamed “the Hanoi Hilton,” it has been converted into a multimedia history museum and has extensive English-language materials.
Meanwhile, Hanoi’s Vietnam Military History Museum is the largest museum in the country following an upgrade in fall 2024. The outdoor section displays planes, tanks, rockets and artillery that were used by the American military during the war.
The embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh, the revolutionary who led the North Vietnamese army and became the president of Vietnam, is on public display at a large building in central Hanoi.
The mausoleum is just a short walk from the Presidential Palace complex, which features a traditional wooden stilt house he lived in.
These days, Americans comprise the largest group of visitors to the Metropole, says hotel manager Slewka. Some are veterans of the war and want to come back to see the country again, but others are young people of the post-war period who are simply interested in Vietnam’s food, culture and scenery.
According to Vietnamese government data, the US is the fourth largest source of international tourists and the largest market outside of Asia, with 717,000 American tourists traveling to Vietnam in 2023.
While the Metropole’s bunker tours prove popular with guests, Slewka says that the majority of their questions are about much more than the structure itself.
“Mostly, they want to know if they like Americans here or not.”
Slewka, who was born in the US and raised in Canada, always gives the same answer.
“Vietnamese people are very forward-facing. They are looking to the future.”
