Hanoi - the capital of Vietnam
Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam is located in the northern part of the country. Many people think that Ho Chi Minh (the old Saigon) is the capital because it is the biggest city.
I (Kenneth) have Hanoi as a favorite city along with Hoi An.
Hanoi is a bit of a middle ground between cozy Hoi An and the mammoth Ho Chi Minh City.
Hanoi hides the old city with the popular 36 streets.
The capital has much else to offer. The French Quarter, new modern high-rise buildings such as Lotte Tower and new modern residential complexes such as Times City and Royal City with large shopping centers underground.
The population of Hanoi is 7-9 million people.
Pakkerejser med Hanoi
$1.895 / per person v. min. 2 pers.
- 15 dage
- Hele året
På denne rejse vil du opleve: Hanoi, Halong Bay, Sapa, Hoi An, Mekong Delta og Ho Chi Minh City
$1.495 / per person v. min. 2 pers.
- 15 dage
- Hele året
På denne rejse vil du opleve: Hanoi, Halong Bay, Ho Chi Minh City, Cu Chi, Mekong Delta og Phu Quoc
$1.995 / per person v. min. 2 pers.
- 15 dage
- Hele året
På denne rejse vil du opleve: Hanoi, Hanoi City tur, Halong Bay, Mai Chau og Badeferie i Hoi An
What to see and experience in Hanoi?
Hanoi Old Quarter
Walking around the old district is an adventure in itself.
Experience regular life, with cozy streets, traffic, and street sellers. Small local shops are frequently set up in the locals’ living rooms, and in some cases, their bedrooms.
The French Quarter
The French have left their mark on Hanoi. It can’t just look at the local Banh Mi (sandwiches). Many buildings in the old quarter also bear the stamp of French architecture.
St. Joseph’s Cathedral
The beautiful St. Joseph’s Cathedral is centrally located in Hanoi. If you’re going for a walk around Hoan Kiem lake anyway, stop by. It is often in use on both Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Hoa Lo imprisoned
Hoa Lo prison, also called the Hanoi Hilton – not to be confused with the Hilton chain, however. Both the history and the buildings hide Basque stories from the various wars and colonial times.
The Temple of Literature
The Temple of Literature was built in 1070 as a university, but has since become a place where students go to pray for a good study time. If you are lucky, you can see the local students taking pictures in their traditional and beautiful Ao Dai costumes.
Tours from Hanoi
Several of our trips have different 1, 2 and 3 day trips and excursions from Hanoi. If you have special wishes, we can also include them in your trip. Read about our tailor-made trips here.
Shopping in Hanoi - Local markets & shopping malls
There are numerous shopping options in Hanoi, a metropolis of one million people.
Hanoi has it all: local markets, small mini-marts, Circle K, supermarkets, shopping centers, and luxury brands like Gucci and Chanel.
Here are some of our favorite locations to shop in Hanoi.
Dong Xuan market
Dong Xuan is actually a wholesale market, but it is the most famous market among tourists, and they want to do business with you.
Here you can e.g. much else buy:
- clothes, shoes & sandals
- bags, rucksacks, suitcases
- everything for the kitchen
- hammocks
- food (in small restaurants)
- meat, fish, fruit & vegetables
- much much mor
REMEMBER: That the quality is not always what it pretends to be.
Blomster market
The Quang Ba flower market is not distant from the center and opens at 02. The market specializes in flowers and flower accessories. The atmosphere and vibe are calm and relaxing.
There are no yells and screams about special discounts here; instead, the aromas and beauty of the flowers are enough to entice customers. In the little stalls, you can spend your time tying bouquets and arrangements.
Long Bien market
Many people visit the Long Bien Bridge, but few go underneath it. Perhaps it’s the schedule of the events, as everything ends at 6-7 a.m., forcing you to wake up early.
In exchange, you will receive rewards for all of your senses. It’s a meat, fruit, and vegetable market, along with all the colors and odors that come with it.
Many small markets in the city
When you walk around the city, you will see that there are many small markets, both with fruit, vegetables and meat, that pop up during the day. There are also other markets that sell everything for the household and then some.
Vincom Shoppingcenter
Vincom is located in many places in Hanoi and has a little bit of each. You will not find any copy goods here. Most centers have one or more sports brands such as Nike, Adidas etc.
- You can also find:
- Clothes & shoes
- Suitcases
- Furniture
- Kitchen equipment
- Supermarket
- Toys (including LEGO)
- Bookstore
- Cinema (it’s crazy cheap to go to the cinema in Vietnam)
Vincom is clearly our favorite shopping centre. They are also found in Danang and Ho Chi Minh City.
The above list is subject to the reservation that not all products and types of stores are available in all centres.
Map of Hanoi
Map of HanoiVietnam’s capital, Hanoi, is located in northern Vietnam. The map here depicts both Hanoi’s Old Town and its surroundings. We propose living in Hanoi’s Old Town. There are many places in and around Hanoi that you can explore on your own, but there are also several that you should see with a guide. See the map of Hanoi below.
What to see in Hanoi?
Long Bien Bridge
The Red River divides Hanoi, and the Long Bien Bridge connects the two. The rust-red bridge, which is almost 100 years old, looms over the river’s water, and its characteristic architecture, combined with its survival of American bombardment, has made it one of the city’s most prominent icons.
Until North Vietnam gained independence in 1954, the Long Bien Bridge was known as the Paul Doumer Bridge, named after the governor of French Indochina. During the Vietnam War, the bridge played an important role in the fight against the Americans, as tons of rice were delivered across it to troops in Dien Bien Phu. The Americans attempted to demolish the bridge multiple times with bomb assaults, but it was not until 1972 that a concerted bomb attack brought traffic to a halt. However, the bridge was reconstructed and is now an important component of Hanoi’s self-image, with appreciation in both poetry and song.
More new bridges
Today, there are four other bridges crossing the Red River, and because the Long Bien Bridge is only utilized by trains, motorcycles, and walkers, a substantial portion of traffic is diverted to the other bridges. But it is still the Long Bien Bridge that has the most mental associations, and while it is commonly assumed that Gustave Eiffel (the architect behind the Eiffel Tower) designed the bridge, this is now a dubious assumption – but the story fits in well with the romanticized storytelling the bridge represents.
Perfect for wedding photos
So do the many brides and grooms that cross the bridge every day with their photographers, and you can see pledges of love carved in the rusted iron in several spots. The bridge is especially popular in the late afternoon, since it provides an ideal background for sunset.
Long Bien Bridge is well worth a walk. The 2.4 kilometers above the Red River provide both a spectacular perspective of life by the river and the opportunity to get up close to architecture that draws you in from afar. If you happen to be on the bridge at sunset, there is a surprise waiting for you that will practically take your breath away.
Long Bien market
Many travelers in Hanoi choose to spend some of their time at the capital’s pride, the Long Bien Bridge. The rusted steel building with the continual buzz of scooter traffic is a popular trip location, including for Vietnamese, who may enjoy the view of the Red River and its hectic flow of heavily loaded boats. If you gaze down, you can’t help but notice another bustling area beneath the bridge: the huge Long Bien Market.
Tourists rarely visit the market, which is a shame because it offers an experience that impacts all of the body’s senses. But you need to get up early! It’s almost over at 6-7.
The Long Bien Market, located adjacent to the bridge, is Hanoi’s busiest wholesale market. The first trucks come at 1 a.m., heavily loaded with fruit and vegetables, and you can feel the hustle and bustle from the vast Yen Phu Street.
The market already peaks at 3 p.m., illuminated by electric lamps and fluorescent tubes and accompanied by a deafening noise of cries for deals, and despite the tight lanes between the stalls, there is a brisk movement of scooters and carts carrying goods.
When the light shines its first rays at 6 a.m., the day is nearly done, and the products are hauled away for resale through Hanoi’s small alleyways. There will now be more space, and the sale will continue for private persons for a few more hours – as street sweepers begin to clean up after the night’s busy commerce.
Although the Long Bien Bridge market is exclusively geared at Vietnamese bargain hunters, outsiders are welcome and are frequently greeted with polite and curious smiles. If you have fewer visitors early, you should be careful not to stand in the way of the active flow between the stalls, as this may easily cause frustration in an already stressed atmosphere.
St. Joseph Cathedral
St. Joseph Cathedral, with its two bell towers, rises in the heart of Buddhist Hanoi and dominates the view with its neo-Gothic architecture, undoubtedly inspired by Paris’ Notre Dame church.
The church was also erected by the French toward the end of the twentieth century and is a fine example of French colonial architecture in the city. The church serves as a gathering place for Hanoi’s Catholic population, as well as a major tourist destination. The church’s rustic and worn facade blends very nicely with the neighborhood’s bohemian vibe, which includes numerous snug little hotels and atmospheric eateries.
The streets are lined with trees, the tops of which provide a green roof against the sky in various spots. Although the neighborhood is popular, there is a different calm here than in the rest of the old district, and with Hoan Kiem Lake nearby, central Hanoi is still easily accessible.
This is where you’ll discover the city’s few examples of graffiti, and the small cafes on the uneven pavements serve cheap and wonderful food, freshly squeezed juice, and coffee in a variety of shades. Time is not a stress factor here, and while a crowd can be seen in the area in front of the church, the café ambiance of Parisian Montmartre has taken over. The agenda is established by the dark coffee and dense fogs of chain-smoking literati and pocket philosophers who, in addition to Thang Long cigarettes, breathe life on the streets from their small plastic chairs.
St. Joseph Cathedral is located at 40 Nha Chung Street.
Natural History Museum in Hanoi
The Natural History Museum in Hanoi is relatively new and a nice choice for an activity if it rains one day or if you have curious children on the vacation.
A enormous Tyrannosaurus dinosaur greets you at the entryway, as if it were torn from a Jurassic film, and you are then invited to a natural history experience.
Tourists do not frequent the museum, but school classes and kindergartens are regular visitors, and the experience is designed to impart the natural science cosmos as effectively as possible.
The museum covers 300 square meters and tells the story of life’s evolution from 3.6 billion years ago to the present.
The display contains about 2000 geological models and over 800 fossils that are more than 150 million years old. There are also over 6,000 animal models, including amphibians, reptiles, fish, and marine species.
The museum also houses a collection of insects, butterflies, dried plants, and mushrooms.
The evolution of humans occupies a large portion of the museum’s space and, among other things, gives kids a good understanding of a complex process.
The museum is not primarily viewed through European eyes, but it is frequently visited by school groups, who are generally given an entertaining and instructional presentation of natural science. Vietnam is highly ranked in the world rankings of biological diversity, with more than 300 species of land animals, 800 species of birds, 420 species of reptiles, and 3,500 species of plants, so the museum is a given, and one can only wonder why it is so new.
Remember to check the opening hours.
Stroll through Hanoi's Old Quarter
The old quarter of Hanoi hides so many experiences in the nooks and crannies and little side alleyways that it is an obvious place to visit. At the same time, the experience can be coupled with local cuisine and an understanding of the capital’s gourmet diversity.
A morning journey can begin with breakfast, which in Hanoi is noodle soup (Pho). Pho is available everywhere in Hanoi, from the most expensive restaurants to the smallest street eateries. The taste varies by location, and the recipe is frequently passed down through multiple generations. A Vietnamese saying states that if you ask 9 individuals where to find the best Pho, you will get 10 different answers… Pho has become linked with Vietnam in numerous ways. The most popular versions are Pho Ga (chicken) and Pho Bo (beef), and the dish is typically served for breakfast and lunch.
Pho Gia Truyen (49 Bat Dan Street) is a well-known Pho restaurant that has been in business for decades. There is sometimes a big line to purchase a lunch, but you also receive the famed Pho from one of Hanoi’s most reputable restaurants.
After breakfast, you can explore the many little and very narrow stores, or take one of the small side streets, which can lead you deep into the heart of the district, which most people only know from the bigger roads. It is, among other things, where many of the pavement eateries make their cuisine, as well as where a substantial portion of the population resides.
There are several tiny temples to visit in the Old Quarter, including the Bach Ma Temple (76 Hang Buom Street), which is claimed to be the city’s oldest temple. The temple is dedicated to a white horse that led Emperor Ly Thai To to the city, where he promptly began building on the city wall.
Lunch can be served at any of the hundreds of street kitchens and eateries, capping out the morning. Bun Bo Nam Bo is one possible recommendation.
Bun bo Nam Bộ is a Vietnamese glass noodles dish with grilled meat. The dish is presented with glass noodles, marinated meat, fresh veggies, and roasted onions on top. The beef is lean, and the dish contains little oil, making it light but satisfying. Add some lime and chili and you’re well on your way to throwing your taste senses into overdrive. For the greatest Bun bo Nam Bộ, visit the restaurant at 89 Hàng Điếu.
A tour through Hanoi’s Old Quarter is never boring, and surprises are always just around the corner, so you can easily plan a similar journey the next day without fear of recurrence.