Hanoi travel guide: Finally, here we are! It’s been a while since I visited Vietnam, and yet never did I pen down this piece.
The capital of Vietnam is a mix of history, culture, nightlife, and outstanding scenic landscapes. To speak of history, museums and theaters spoke tales dating back centuries. The thousand-year-old pagoda structures stood bold yet silent amidst all the noise.
Nightlife was nothing short of excitement; what seemed normal, trafficky streets during the day turned into a whole pedestrian festival with musicians, dance performances, street food, traditional games, outdoor drinking bars, and whatnot!
Sit back and enjoy this read while you plan your Vietnam itinerary. Here goes my things to do in Hanoi, or better yet, the Hanoi Travel Guide.
Hanoi Travel Guide: The Backstory
I visited Hanoi without an idea of the place. I wasn’t even certain of it being a prefecture or city (don’t judge). Hanoi is a big city, man, it’s the capital! My friend told me as we drove to his house in Bắc Ninh from Hanoi’s Airport.
Capital, as in the capital of Vietnam? I thought. I hadn’t a single idea of Vietnam. Quite shameful for someone who calls themselves a travel blogger. In my defense, I was looked upon as having a trip with completely spontaneous decisions.
My friend had a rough itinerary planned, and I intended to go along with it. And hell did it go well!
While Vietnam was one of my best travels so far, there were some things I regretted. You see, Vietnam is a place to explore with free spirits rather than planning everything out – or at least that’s what I believe. There are no Universal Studios must-prebook tickets of any sort here.
Unless it’s a specific popular Halong Bay cruise you’re looking forward to, make a rough itinerary with this Hanoi Travel Guide and keep your options open for adventure.
Hanoi Travel Guide: Best Travel Tips
Here’s the really important stuff before we get to the places. The whens, safety, and some things to keep in mind on your Hanoi trip. Here goes the Hanoi Travel Guide!
When and How Long To Visit Hanoi?
Hanoi Travel Guide: The best time to visit Hanoi is during the sweet autumn between August and September. Hanoi gets super hot in the summer and chilly in the winter. Also, make sure to have a weekend available with at least one day to check out the weekend Hoan Kiem walking street.
How long to visit Hanoi? Three days are perfect to visit the city! This lets you cover all the important spots to see – the Old Quarters, the historical museums and temples, and also the Water Puppet Theatre.
However, the three days are purely for Hanoi city. Plan your short trips to Ha Long Bay, Hue, and Sapa, or Hue from Hanoi with additional time.
Solo Travel: Is Hanoi Safe to Visit?
Hanoi is a super safe city to explore for solo travelers as well. I had a friend who was solo traveling in Vietnam who found it quite comfortable to travel alone here as a girl. Some say it’s safer compared to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).
Though I honestly loved Saigon more than Hanoi, it’s undeniably a bigger city with higher chances of pickpocketing. Speaking of which, even in Hanoi, be aware of pickpockets when in crowded places.
Hanoi Budget Travel Tips
Hanoi is more or less a walking-friendly spot when exploring the main city. Plan your itinerary such that you visit the closest places first and have the next nearest destination from there, and most places are within walking distance.
From personal experience, here are my budget travel tips when in Hanoi.
- Pick a stay around Hoan Kiem or Old Quarters: There are a handful of hostel options in the alleys of Old Quarters at reasonable rates of 150,000 VND to 200,000 VND per night (SGD $7.9 – $10.5). These let you access most of the sightseeing destinations, considering you’re willing to walk a little. The Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi Train Street, Thang Long Water Puppet Theater, Beer Street, and Hoa Lo Prison!
- Take a bus when possible: Though language is a hassle, it’s fairly easy to look up your bus number and hop on. These cost pretty low, from 7,000 VND to 40,000 VND. When in a hurry, keep the Grab app handy (like Uber) to avoid getting ripped off.
- Avoid airport taxis to your hotel! Unless it’s midnight with no alternative, airport taxis charge exorbitant rates (we got charged over 400,000 VND. I’m not proud of it). Be it Hanoi or Saigon, there are plenty of buses to and fro the airport during the day.
- Booking attraction tickets: Most entry tickets to temples or museums are quite cheap. Even better if you look Asian, as they can’t recognize and overcharge you; no, we weren’t lucky. But for some must-see places like the Thang Long Water Puppet Theater, which start at 150,000 VND, book from Klook.com to get better deals when getting multiple tickets from the same platform.
- Go crazy on food stalls and picky on restaurants: Choices for dinner every evening are endless in Hanoi. Spend a little more on street food stalls as they cost pretty low, from 10,000 VND to 40,000 VND. Feel free to bargain a little as well! As for fancier restaurants, explore a little to pick yours – there are tons of options competing with one another for the same delicacies.
- Get a water bottle along, water isn’t free in Hanoi. Like most Southeast Asian countries, water isn’t free in Vietnam. Tap water is unsafe to drink. A plastic water bottle can cost up to 10,000 VND – so get a bottle along and save money while saving the planet (try not to lose it).
That sums up my Hanoi budget travel tips. Last but not least, for solo travelers, dormitories are far cheaper than private room accommodation.
I recommend using HostelWorld to book stays at reasonable rates, which brings us to the next part, my favorite Hanoi hostel picks!
My favorite Accommodation Picks
For those in search of a specific vacation spot away from the city, feel free to skip ahead. All these hostel stays I picked lie around the Old Quarters to Hoan Kiem lake for good reason; there are dozens of options, the localities are pretty, and it’s easy to get around!
I stayed at the OldTown Hanoi Backpackers Hostel (name changed now) in the Old Quarter, and it was undoubtedly the best decision!
Here are other budget yet adequate hostels that I would choose for myself when in Hanoi. Grab your favorite pick today!
- The One Hostel & Rooftop (Quite popular now)
- Hanoi Backpackers Hostel (More known for its friendly backpackers community)
- Lake View Backpackers Hostel (Lies at the heart of the city, close to Hoan Kiem Lake)
NOTE: I receive a small commission from the above HostelWorld links. I only promote as I trust and use their service for most of my own travels. They’ve got great budget accommodation and a friendly community of travelers.
Things to do in Hanoi: City Guide
Voila, we finally heeya! While there could be more places to visit, I believe these destinations are the must-visit; the rest are sprinkles and glitter. I’ve visited most places mentioned on this list, and the others are places I regret missing. If not for the additional day trips, I believe 3 days should be sufficient to get around the city itself. But without a doubt, staying longer always wins.
Apologies, but there isn’t any order to the places mentioned below. Again, Ha Long Bay and visiting nearby destinations are trips away from the city. But since they’re quite convenient from Hanoi, I had to mention them.
Now, have fun reading this list of Things to do in Hanoi!
Explore Old Quarters
Old Quarter, aka the 36 Guild Streets of Hanoi, is a bustling part of the city with vendors selling clothes, jewelry, traditional Vietnamese clothing, and street food. But it isn’t just the marketplace that makes it interesting.
As the name suggests, the Old Quarters, lying North of the Hoan Kiem Lake, have been around for centuries. The street itself is colorful with ancient architectural buildings used to date, pagodas and temples cramped in between shopping complexes, streets ever-busy with people and bicycle vendors, yet sheltered by a canopy of trees.
The Old Quarter has a thousand-year history connected to the royals at Thang Long Citadel. Over the years, through French colonialism, the Old Quarters portray a strong character with a variety of diverse features from different historical periods.
Spend an evening or even a day exploring the narrow alleys – you’ll find tales of descendants born and brought up in here. Take a free walking tour around the place!
I wish I had known more of the Old Quarters prior. I walked through the evening street crowds and even found a hidden coffee cafe! But I bet I’d have explored further if my history brush-up were better. Read an insightful Old Quarters guide here.
Most budget and backpack travelers settle down in hostels tucked away in the alleys of the Old Quarters.
We stayed at one called the Old Town Backpackers Hostel in Hanoi. It was a bit squeezy to get through the narrow stairway to the top, but the dormitories themselves were spacious with a clean bathroom area.
Go on a food tour!
This goes as one of the main things to do in Hanoi. The pho bo (Phở), street-side banh mi (Bánh Mì), variety of sticky rice (Xôi), the colorful fruit drinks (Chè Thái), and the egg coffees (Cà phê trứng) at cute cafes. Well, the list goes on as you dig deeper, but you get the idea.
One way to a food tour can be a stroll through Hoan Kiem Lake’s walking street or through Old Quarters, getting a bite of every delicacy; spend an adventurous half day or more trying to converse with bicycle vendors and restaurant staff. But for foodies, I’d recommend booking yourself a food tour. Learn about its origins, preparation, and ingredients as you go.
There are plenty of options for food tours and local guides, so it shouldn’t be hard to find yours. Here’s a popular food tour on Klook.com that takes you around the Old Quarter. Picking the Train Street option is better if you wish to avoid the trouble of entering it on your own (read about my Hanoi Train Street experience here)
Apart from the food-tasting tours, there was another that caught my eye, a far deeper experience into the restless food market of Vietnam. An experience by A Chef’s Tour called the Hanoi Food tour (unaffiliated). These start at 4 am, when the local markets begin to wake up for the busy day ahead!
Take a Day Trip to Ha Long Bay
Halong Bay (or Hạ Long Bay) isn’t a single walk-in spot, or even in Hanoi for that matter. It’s a scenic area with strangely pleasant limestone mountains that span over 600 square kilometers in the emerald green waters of Northern Vietnam.
It lies around 170 km (close to three hours’ drive) from Hanoi. Though not a part of the city, I had to put this World Heritage Site on this list. Without a doubt, this was one of my best experiences in Vietnam – and it’s a fairly easy trip from Hanoi in case you haven’t visited!
It was recently elected as one of the new 7 Wonders of Nature, and it deserves every bit of it! Read my blog on Ha Long Bay here.
We only visited Halong Bay for a day, but one could spend 2 or 3 days depending on your itinerary. For a single day, I found this tour package that seems to be quite reliable, with a bunch of options including pick up point (Hanoi or Ha Long), bus type, and food.
Visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
Not far from Old Quarters is the grand Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, housing Vietnam’s prominent war hero and President Ho Chi Minh himself. Plan your visit cautiously as it’s open for no more than a few morning hours on specific days of the week.
I visited at the right time only to realize the Mausoleum was closed for that month (it closes every year for 3 months for preservation maintenance). Get your itinerary right and get there early. Queues under Vietnam’s scorching heat are longer than those at Japanese sushi restaurants on a Sunday evening.
However, it wasn’t all disappointing, Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum is surrounded by a museum (Ho Chi Minh museum), the One Pillar Pagoda, the living quarters of the legend – the Presidential Palace, also called Ho Chi Minh’s Stilt house.
Don’t miss the Hoan Kiem Walking Street
For things to do at night in Hanoi, one is the Ta Hien Beer Street, the other is the Hoan Kiem Walking Street.
Keep in mind the place opens up only on the weekend. This is a more recent addition to Hanoi, but it isn’t a new place. The Walking Street refers to the whole stretch of the main road wrapping around the Hoan Kiem Lake.
Roads are busy on weekdays, and Vietnam’s urban traffic turns into a whole arena with vehicles blocked out for weekend nights. Street stalls take over the roads. Guitar and other traditional performances pop up with crowds gathered around like flash mobs. We saw a bunch of kids skating as well and playing all sorts of local games.
This was one of the places in Hanoi that children would definitely enjoy.
Towards Old Quarter Streets up north of the Lake, the restaurants and bars come fiercely to life with loud music and crowds, the Ta Hien Beer Street. We squeezed through the plastic tables laid out on the narrow streets with beer bottles and steaming Vietnamese dishes.
Families, couples, and squads of friends were out for a respite of fresh air.
Watch a Water Puppet Show
Things to do in Hanoi: A water puppet show is a must in Vietnam. And the Thang Long Water Puppet Theater in Hanoi must be the best among them.
Entering the grand Thang Long Theater right by the Hoan Kiem lake, I was worried if it was a show held purely for tourism. Maybe it was; however, it was actually beautiful. Apart from the exposure to the rich cultural stories of Vietnamese village folk, it was a mesmerizing performance by itself.
The puppeteers, characters’ voices, and music had perfection written all over it. It was not just a ‘window into Vietnam’s traditions’, it was the painstakingly created art form that made it special.
Water puppet shows remain solitary to Vietnam and have been for over a thousand years. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of performances across the country. But the Thang Long Water Puppet Theater seems to have some of the most talented folk, and their shows have been consistent for years.
Shows typically begin late afternoon, around 4 pm, and last an hour. There are multiple priority seating options, from basic to VIP (these are closer to the stage) to multilingual.
You can prebook the tickets here on Klook.com along with your preferred seating option (scroll down on the booking page to check the seating arrangement of different tickets in detail).
Visit the Pagodas and ‘Hanoi Hilton’
For one, there’s the One Pillar Pagoda (Diên Hựu tự) close to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum in Ba Đình district. While it does have concrete stairs up to the pagoda, it’s not open for visitors. It made sense after all, considering it was built in 1049, a good thousand years ago.
The much larger pagoda in Hanoi is the Tran Quoc Pagoda (Trấn Quốc Pagoda). It’s also the oldest pagoda, at 1500 years old, and stands at 15 meters in height!
However, admittedly, pagodas do get boring to look at after a short while. It’s a paradise for history and architecture enthusiasts. Otherwise, it doesn’t put so much of a dent if you miss it out… I’m bad at pushing this out, ain’t I? Well, I do recommend it for photo enthusiasts – the Tran Quoc Pagoda in the West Lake, its causeway, and the shimmering sunset make it a stunning spot.
Hoa Lo Prison Relic (Hỏa Lò Prison), commonly referred to as Hanoi Hilton, is a prison built by the French during their rule to house Vietnamese revolutionaries fighting for independence. When the French were kicked out of the line, it turned into a prison for American pilots during Vietnam’s post-war period.
Apart from the history, it’s the guillotines, horrifying leg chains, and inhumane tools used in these prison houses that make it worth the visit. It was said to be an unbreakable prison with high-voltage electric wires and broken glass on its 4-meter walls.
Have a Coffee by Hanoi Train Street
Finally, the Hanoi Train Street! Part of the Old Quarters, the ‘Train Street’ is a railway route with super close settlements. While the place doesn’t have much historical significance, it’s the sight itself that makes it wonderful.
I highly recommend visiting it for a coffee or even better – settle down for dinner here and get wonderful pictures along!
Today, it stands as a tourist magnet with dozens of cafes lined up by it. It attracted so many visitors that the trains had to be stopped sometimes. Thus, the locals took serious action to ban the train from the street.
However, it’s open today under strange circumstances, where there’s more reading between the lines to enter it. We got pushed out ourselves once, but later we found another way in. It’s a long story; read my full Hanoi Train Street experience here.
Go on a motorbike tour
I wasn’t planning on adding this until I read this eccentric blog (and probably the best among all my research for this post) on tips for riding in Vietnam. It’s not a super unusual thing to do, but it’s definitely something.
Coming from India, where riding a motorcycle is nothing short of a war with the shoal of other bikes, pedestrians, cows, dogs, rickshaws, SUVs, etc., riding a motorcycle in Vietnam was child’s play to me.
However, I heard many visitors calling it a ‘rollercoaster experience’, something I can’t relate to. But hey, I promise it is quite something to surf through the traffic on two wheels in Vietnam.
Riding the outskirts is a soft breeze in your hair with outstanding scenery, while the city is floating through traffic, where you see less road and more vehicles pressed around you.
That may sound horrifying, but there’s pure bliss in motorcycling in Vietnam. I quite miss riding a bike with no awareness of the road lines – which are mere suggestions than rules.
Another Day Trip to Ninh Binh
This falls outside Hanoi, but it’s a sweet day trip (or two) if you’ve got some extra time on your hands. Actually no, this should definitely be on your travel list when in Vietnam.
Ninh Binh is a province with limestone karsts, rice paddies, and endless trails of rivers spread over the plains. Like Ha Long Bay, the Trang An Landscape complex is another World Heritage site and makes for the heart of Ninh Binh.
This isn’t just a road trip; you can row through the winding rivers across your preferred route among the selection on small boats through paddy fields and mountains.
We visited Ninh Binh for a day, and the coolest part of our boat ride was that our route had a pitch-dark cave that we paddled through!
Travel to nearby destinations
Things to do in Hanoi: Like the mentioned Ninh Binh and Ha Long Bay earlier, travel to other destinations close to Hanoi. Northern Vietnam is truly a beauty to experience with unbelievable natural scenery.
As most fall in rural parts and Hanoi is no more than a few hours’ drive from all these spots,
Here are all the trips to take from Hanoi:
- Trang An, Ninh Binh: The Trang An Complex and the Hoa Lu Old Town are not to be missed!
- Halong Bay: As mentioned earlier, take a day trip or two days if staying a night on a cruise appeals to you.
- Ba Be Lake: This is the largest natural freshwater lake in Vietnam, with peculiar limestone cliffs around it.
- Cao Bang Ban Gioc Waterfall: This is a bit further off from Hanoi; it’s best to stay overnight. And yes, it’s absolutely stunning!
- Trip to Sapa: This is another city tour in Vietnam to look forward to – a hill station with terrace rice fields, local tribes, and this happens to be one of the few places where snow falls!
That ends this Hanoi Travel Guide. Happy traveling! :)