Oxalis Home — Hotel in Quảng Bình Province

This review is not for Oxalis Tours. The tours are amazing! 5/5! Great guides, safety staff, porters, all lovely people.

This review is for staying at the Oxalis dormitory and the reception there. I stayed in the dormitory the night before and after my tour.

The people at the reception do not speak English very well. This led to many many misunderstandings. They just seemed very uneasy when talking to me, while I tried to explain and ask everything as calmly and simply as I could. I constantly felt unsure of everything: did they understand an will they take care of it or not?

Furthermore the food is quite expensive, which would be fine if it was great, but it wasn’t… Instant Noodles for breakfast cost 50.000, and a meal will easily be 150.000. They charge 20.000 for water, whereas all the other dorms I’ve stayed in charged half of that, and there is no possibility to refill your bottle with filtered water.

Apart from the food being expensive they charge 60.000 per kilo of laundry?! Any other place I’ve been to charges half or less? It’s not an express service either, just laundry??? Why so expensive?

If you stay in the dormitory, be prepared to have absolutely no rest. During both of my stays, a Vietnamese family would check in or stay up until 00:30, talking loudly, turning on the lights and FaceTiming people on speakerphone, even after asking them to be quiet since it was past midnight. To avoid this the night after my trek, I asked the reception if I could maybe sleep in the other dormitory that had no other people arriving that night, but this was not a possibility?! I had seen it in use during my first night, it was not out of use or anything. I just wanted a good night rest after my trek, and the room was available but they checked me into a room with people arriving at 23:00 and leaving at 05.00 anyway. Dormitory etiquette does not exist with Vietnamese families. The lights will go on, people will laugh and shout and you will not sleep, no matter what time it is. I had already paid for the room for two nights when I arrived before the trip, otherwise I would not have stayed there again…

The dorm itself has seen better days. The bunks are creaky and the wall is deteriorating. The bathroom with two sinks, a shower and the toilet is huge, but also has all facilities in one room, which means you cannot use the toilet if someone is taking a long shower. There are other toilets if you walk outside, down the stairs, through the restaurant area to the back of the building, but that’s a long way when it’s 01:00 and you’ve just been woken up by some people loudly arriving and FaceTiming their uncle. The A/C seems to be running at half of its capacity. There was an intention to give every bed it’s own light, but the switches next to the beds just lead to random lights in the room. Another fun game to play after midnight: have someone turn on a random light and then loudly discuss for 15 minutes which switch turns it off again.

Obviously I am a little bit salty about my stay (maybe a bit too salty, it was not super terrible) but after days of sweating, covered in mosquito bites, with some mild jungle sickness and no proper sleep for 5 days straight, I would have really liked a nice place to rest, and if you’re looking for something like that, this just...

I stayed one night in August after returning from an Oxalis Trek (five stars). I had seen photos and booked a River view room. When I arrived the staff were friendly but the check in station was very chaotic and cluttered amounts tables and other groups. They should move this out near the entry. Upon settling into my spacious and clean room, I was extremely disappointed to find my view was ground floor, with a tree, and restaurant tables and water sports storage all blocking any view or hope of privacy through the windows (This is why I can only give two stars) The ground floor room should not be called a river view and should instead be labeled as ground floor riverside and is well overpriced at AUD$66 compared to other places in Vietnam. ||The Good news. The staff were fantastic and moved me to the upper floor which had the view I expected to see from the website photos. This room (3rd floor) has one of best views you will ever see. I could and did spend hours sitting on the balcony in the evening and early morning watch the light change and the boats go by. Was one of my favourite memories of Vietnam so thank you to the staff for making it happen, Would have been a 4-5 star review had I not had the first disappointment. ||Room for improvement is the roof top. This large space is the highest point in town and could be the worlds best beer garden/cafe and attract visitors from other hotels to come just to relax and buy food/drinks. when i visited it was bare, no seating and was used for drying laundry. Really hope they develop this as it could be a real highlight. ||Friendly staff and management try their best but i feel the place has not fully reached it's potential, but worth a night just for the...

We stayed in a private room with double + twin beds for 3 nights before/between/after two treks. (Highly recommend both the Tu Lan and Hang En treks!)

Pros: Gorgeous balcony view (river + mountains), very spacious, comfortable beds, powerful A/C and fan, quiet area, beach access, free bike and kayak access, 100,000 VND toward breakfast daily, decent to great food (phở bò decent, sautéed chicken with lemongrass and chili great), great coffee next door, flexible with early check-in, very convenient for tours that leave from Oxalis headquarters in Phong Nha, staff right downstairs if you want to book an additional tour, free luggage storage.

Cons: General location, limited food/drink options in this quiet part of town, rather far from pharmacy/WinMart/other restaurants (especially if you have sore legs from trekking! There is no Grab service in Phong Nha as of June 2024), food/drink at Oxalis is a little overpriced, bathroom was like a sauna when it’s hot outside.

Pro tips: I recommend booking a transfer with Oxalis from Đồng Hỏi as the bus can be tricky (far from airport) and other transportation is limited in this area. Also, if we’d planned better, we would have stayed with Oxalis in Tan Hoa the night before our one-day Tu Lan tour - it’s a beautiful rural area with a gorgeous lodge as well as homestays; the transfer from the airport is longer, but you’d get to sleep in the morning of the tour while others drive 1.5 hrs...