Four days in Hanoi: a thousand-year-old capital, all of it out on the street
Three nights in the Vietnamese capital, with the sights taken early, the museums saved for the heat, and the evenings spent eating on plastic stools
- Length
- 4 days, 3 nights
- Where you stay
- Hanoi
- Places
- 9 across 4 days
Hanoi has been a capital for a thousand years, and it wears every one of its rulers somewhere. There are Chinese temples in the Old Quarter, French villas along the wide avenues south of the cathedral, Soviet monumentalism in Ba Dinh, and a skyline of glass going up around all of it. Almost none of that is in a museum. It is on the street, and the street is where you spend most of a visit.
The city is small at the middle and very walkable, which is fortunate, because getting across it by road is slow. Hoan Kiem Lake sits at the centre; the Old Quarter is the tangle of lanes north of it, the French Quarter the grid to the south, and the mausoleum and the citadel are a little over a kilometre west. Everything below except one museum is inside that circle.
Four days is the right length: one to get your bearings by the lake, two full days for Ba Dinh and the older streets, and a final morning that does not need a taxi. What is left over goes on coffee, on the market lanes, and on learning to cross the road.
Highlights
- Hoan Kiem Lake at six in the morning, when half the neighbourhood is doing tai chi on the paving
- Ho Chi Minh in his mausoleum, guarded, silent and open only until late morning
- The Temple of Literature, a Confucian academy founded in 1070 and still the calmest place in the city
- Hoa Lo Prison, the French colonial jail that Americans later nicknamed the Hanoi Hilton
- Bun cha for lunch: charcoal-grilled pork in a bowl of sweet-sour broth, with noodles and a hedge of herbs
- Crossing the road on foot, slowly, without stopping, while the motorbikes flow around you
Where to stay
Hanoi
The city is built around water. Hoan Kiem Lake is the middle of it, small enough to walk round in half an hour and busy from before dawn, and there are dozens more lakes and ponds scattered through the districts, including the very large one to the north west. The Old Quarter north of Hoan Kiem grew as a trading town of craft guilds, which is why so many of its streets are still named for a commodity: silk, sugar, tin, paper, votive offerings. Some of them still sell it.
South of the lake the French laid out the wide avenues and the plane trees, and put up the opera house, the cathedral and the villas that estate agents now describe as heritage. West of both is Ba Dinh, the political quarter, where the mausoleum, the governor-general's old mansion and the imperial citadel sit in a lot of open space. That geography is the whole plan: lake and Old Quarter first, Ba Dinh on a full day, the French Quarter's museums when it is too hot to be outside.
Hanoi is not a comfortable city and it is not trying to be. It is loud, it smells of charcoal and petrol, and the pavement belongs to whoever got there first. It is also one of the great eating cities of Asia, and the most interesting thing you can do here costs nothing: sit on a stool with an iced coffee and watch the street work.
Day by day
Day 1 in Hanoi
Hoan Kiem Lake, Ngoc Son Temple and the Old Quarter
Arrive, drop the bags, and go straight to the lake. Hoan Kiem is a ten minute walk from most of the Old Quarter, and doing a slow circuit of it is the fastest way to work out where you are and how the city moves.
The legend attached to it is the founding story of Vietnamese independence: Le Loi, who drove the Ming out in 1428, is said to have been lent a magic sword by a golden turtle in the lake and to have given it back here after the war. Hence the name, the Lake of the Returned Sword. The turtles were real. The last confirmed giant softshell turtle in the lake died in 2016, and an earlier one is on display, preserved, in the temple on the island.
Then eat. Bun cha is Hanoi's dish and lunchtime is when it is served, but the evening version of the same street will do on a first night: grilled pork, cold noodles, herbs, and a bowl of broth to dip everything in.
- 16:00
Hoàn Kiếm Lake
NatureWalk the full circuit, anticlockwise, and stop at the red bridge on the eastern shore. At weekends the surrounding roads close to traffic and fill with families, skateboards and impromptu dancing.
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- 17:00
Ngọc Sơn Temple
VisitThe small temple on Jade Island, reached over the scarlet bridge. Inside, alongside the shrines, is a preserved giant turtle from the lake in a glass case, which is more affecting than it sounds.
- 19:00
Bún Chả Đắc Kim
EatBun cha done the Hanoi way: charcoal-grilled pork patties in a bowl of sweet, sour, fish-sauce broth, with a plate of cold rice noodles and a pile of herbs to work through. Around 100,000 dong.
With more time: The Old Quarter is best seen without a route, so give the rest of the evening to it. The lanes north of the lake are named after the goods once made on them, the beer corner at Ta Hien fills up after dark, and the water puppet theatre on the eastern shore runs short shows most evenings if you want something to sit down for.
Day 2 in Hanoi
The mausoleum, Ho Chi Minh's stilt house and the citadel
Ba Dinh is a morning, and an early one, because the mausoleum shuts before lunch. Go by taxi, be at the gate not long after opening, and expect a queue that moves quickly and in silence.
The rules are strict and enforced at the entrance: knees and shoulders covered, no bags, no phones out, no photographs inside, no hands in pockets, no talking. You file past the body in about a minute. It is closed on Mondays and Fridays, and for a stretch in the autumn when the embalming is maintained, so check before you build a day around it.
The exit leads directly into the garden compound where Ho Chi Minh actually lived from 1954 until his death in 1969. He declined the mansion at the front of it, built for the French governor-general of Indochina and finished in 1906, and used a small house and then a wooden stilt house behind it instead. Whatever you make of the politics, the contrast between the two buildings is the point being made, and it is made well.
The citadel is a short ride away and a good afternoon: an archaeological site rather than a restored palace, layered with a thousand years of foundations and a Vietnam War command bunker underneath.
- 08:00
Hồ Chí Minh Mausoleum
HistoricOpen mornings only, and not on Mondays or Fridays. Dress to the code or you will be turned away at the barrier, and leave bags and cameras at the deposit before joining the line.
- 09:30
Hồ Chí Minh's Vestige in the Presidential Palace Area
HistoricThe compound the mausoleum exit puts you into: two modest houses in a landscaped garden, a carp pond, and the mango-lined drive the official photographs were always taken on.
- 12:00
Lunch near Ba Dinh
EatThe quarter is government offices and embassies rather than street food, so eat at one of the cafes on the lanes towards the citadel before the afternoon.
- 14:00
Hanoi Citadel
OtherThe imperial citadel of Thang Long, added to the UNESCO list in 2010. Above ground there is the Doan Mon gate and the flag tower; below it, the bunker from which the north ran its air defence, kept as it was left.
With more time: Two more things sit inside the same compound if the morning has gone quickly: the One-Pillar Pagoda, a small wooden shrine on a single stone column, and the Ho Chi Minh Museum behind the mausoleum, whose displays are stranger and more inventive than the subject would suggest.
Day 3 in Hanoi
The Temple of Literature, Hoa Lo Prison and the Women's Museum
Three sights inside a square kilometre, and the day gets harder as it goes.
The Temple of Literature was founded in 1070 as a Confucian temple and six years later became Vietnam's first university. Five walled courtyards run back from the gate, and in the third of them stand the stelae: stone tablets on the backs of tortoises, carved with the names of the men who passed the doctoral examinations between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. It is the quietest place in central Hanoi and it opens early.
Hoa Lo is the opposite kind of visit. The French built it around 1900 to hold Vietnamese political prisoners, and about two thirds of it was demolished in the 1990s for an office tower; the gatehouse and a few cells survive as a museum. The bulk of the display covers the colonial period, the guillotine included. A smaller section covers the American pilots held here from 1964, who gave the place the sardonic nickname it is now best known by abroad, and it is presented as a story of good treatment, which is not the account the prisoners gave.
The Women's Museum in the afternoon is the surprise of the trip for most people, and a well-made antidote to a morning of men with guns.
- 08:30
Temple of Literature
HistoricGo at opening, before the tour buses and the graduating students in gowns. The stelae in the third courtyard are the thing to slow down for, and the sixty-five-year-old bonsai in the courtyards are not far behind.
- 11:00
Hỏa Lò Prison
CultureAn hour is enough, and it is a heavy hour. Labels are in English as well as Vietnamese. The audio guide is worth the small extra charge for the colonial-era rooms.
- 14:30
Vietnamese Women's Museum
CultureThree floors on marriage customs, street vendors and the women who fought in both wars, laid out clearly and captioned in English and French as well as Vietnamese. Cool, quiet and rarely crowded.
With more time: With a spare half day, take a taxi west to the Museum of Ethnology, which covers Vietnam's fifty-four recognised ethnic groups and has full-size houses rebuilt in its garden. It is about five kilometres out, so it works better as its own trip than as an add-on.
Day 4 in Hanoi
Breakfast pho and St Joseph's Cathedral
Last morning, and nothing that needs a taxi. Pho is a breakfast food in Hanoi, and the places that do it properly sell out and shut by mid morning rather than staying open all day.
Ly Quoc Su and the narrow lane of Au Trieu, both a couple of minutes from the cathedral, are where to go for it: a clear beef broth, flat rice noodles, spring onion, and a fried dough stick to dunk. No hoisin, no sriracha, no basil. That is a southern habit and adding it here will get you a look.
Then the cathedral, five minutes away, which the French finished in 1886 on the site of a demolished pagoda. The exterior is grey and streaked and looks older than it is; the interior is bright and largely empty outside service times.
- 07:30
Pho Tu Lun (Au Trieu)
EatMornings only, and worth being early for. If the queue on Au Trieu is out of the door, that is the recommendation rather than a reason to go elsewhere.
- 08:30
St. Joseph's Cathedral
ReligiousGothic Revival, consecrated in 1886, and free to enter between services. The little square outside is a good spot for an iced coffee, and half of Hanoi seems to agree.
With more time: If the flight is late, the lanes between the cathedral and Hoan Kiem are full of coffee shops on upper floors with balconies, and an egg coffee (whipped yolk and condensed milk over strong Vietnamese coffee) is the local invention worth trying before you leave.
Before you go
Getting in
Noi Bai International Airport is about 30 km north of the centre, which is anywhere from forty minutes to well over an hour depending on the time of day. There are direct flights from most of Asia and a handful from Europe and the Gulf, but nothing non-stop from North America, so that route usually connects through Ho Chi Minh City, Taipei, Seoul or Tokyo. Domestic flights link Hanoi to Da Nang, Hue, Nha Trang and the south several times an hour.
Trains use Hanoi railway station on Le Duan, a twenty minute walk west of Hoan Kiem Lake. The north to south line runs from here all the way to Saigon, and the overnight services to Hue and Da Nang are a genuinely good way to move down the coast: book a soft sleeper and you lose a hotel night rather than a day.
Vietnam's visa rules change often and vary by nationality. Check what applies to your passport before you book, and if you need an e-visa, apply on the official government site rather than one of the many lookalikes.
Getting around
Walk in the middle, and accept that it is slow going. The Old Quarter's lanes are narrow, the pavements are used for parking, cooking and sitting, and you will spend most of your time in the road with everyone else.
Crossing is the skill worth learning on day one. Step off the kerb at a steady, even pace and keep it. Do not stop, dart or step backwards. Motorbikes read your speed and go around you. Cars and lorries do not, so give those the right of way and use them as cover when you can.
Two metro lines are open: 2A from Cat Linh to Yen Nghia in the south west, and Line 3 from Cau Giay to Nhon in the north west. They do not connect to each other yet, and neither reaches Hoan Kiem, so for a short visit they are useful mainly for the trip out to Ha Dong. Fares run from 8,000 to 15,000 dong and you can tap a contactless card at the gates. For everything else, use a ride-hailing app: it fixes the price in advance and removes the argument.
When to go
Hanoi has a real winter, which surprises people who arrive expecting tropical weather throughout. December to February is cool, grey and often drizzling, with temperatures that can sit in the low teens for days. Bring a jacket and do not count on a swimming pool.
May to September is hot and very humid, with heavy afternoon rain and the risk of a typhoon passing over the north in late summer. October and November are the best of it: dry, clear and warm without being oppressive, which is also why they are busy.
Tet, the lunar new year, falls in late January or February and effectively closes the country for a week. Family comes first, shops shut, transport sells out months ahead, and prices rise. It is fascinating to be here for and a very poor time to try to move around.
Money, food and manners
The currency is the dong, and the notes have a lot of zeros on them: 500,000 is the largest, and it is easy to hand over 50,000 instead. Street food, markets and most small restaurants are cash. Cards work in hotels, malls and smarter places, and QR payment is everywhere but generally needs a Vietnamese bank account.
Eat where the plastic stools are. Hanoi's best food is cooked on the pavement by places that make one dish and nothing else, and the good ones are full at the hour they are meant to be full, which for pho is breakfast and for bun cha is lunch. A bowl of either costs a fraction of a restaurant meal.
Temples want shoulders and knees covered and shoes left at the door. The mausoleum enforces this properly, along with silence and no photographs inside. Bargaining is normal in markets and not in restaurants. Tipping is not expected anywhere.
Staying safe
Hanoi is a safe city and serious crime against visitors is rare. The nuisances are overcharging and bag snatching from passing motorbikes, so keep a phone in a pocket rather than in your hand at the roadside.
The genuine hazard is traffic. Take taxis only from the ranks or through an app, agree the fare or insist on the meter, and keep your luggage with you at the boot rather than turning your back on it.
Hanoi is not a city you finish. Four days gets you the shape of it, a handful of things worth crossing town for, and enough practice at the traffic to stop thinking about it.
If you have longer, the obvious next moves are north to the mountains or east to the bay, both of which want two nights rather than a long day trip. The alternative is to stay put and spend the extra time on the streets you liked, which in this city is rarely the wrong answer.
Or make it a longer trip
These trips pass through here on the way somewhere else.
Make it your trip
Every stop, day and place here lands in your account as an editable trip. Move the days around, swap a city, add your own bookings and costs, and share it with whoever is coming.
Common questions
- Is four days enough for Hanoi?
- Yes, for the city itself. Three full days cover the lake, the Old Quarter, Ba Dinh and the main museums without rushing. If you want to add Ha Long Bay or Ninh Binh you need at least one more night, and ideally two, because both are two to three hours away each way.
- When does the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum open?
- Mornings only, and it is closed on Mondays and Fridays. It also shuts for a period each autumn while the body is maintained. Arrive shortly after opening, dress with knees and shoulders covered, and leave bags and cameras at the deposit.
- What should I eat in Hanoi?
- Pho for breakfast, bun cha for lunch, and cha ca (turmeric and dill fish grilled at the table) for at least one dinner. Egg coffee and iced coffee with condensed milk are worth the stop, and the Old Quarter's beer corner sells fresh bia hoi by the glass for less than a bottle of water.
- How do I get around Hanoi?
- On foot in the centre, and by ride-hailing app for anything further. The two metro lines do not reach Hoan Kiem yet. Taxis are fine if you use a rank or an app and insist on the meter.
- Is Hanoi safe?
- Yes. Serious crime against visitors is unusual and the main risks are overcharging and phone snatching from motorbikes. The traffic is the real hazard: cross at a steady pace, never stop or step back, and let cars go first.
- Can I change the days around?
- Easily, with one constraint: the mausoleum is a morning visit and is closed on Mondays and Fridays, so day two has to land on a day it is open. Everything else moves freely.