Hanoi has been a capital since 1010, when the emperor Ly Thai To moved his court here and named the city Thang Long, the "ascending dragon". Dynasties, French boulevards, American bombs and the socialist decades all left something behind, and most of it still stands within a few kilometers of one small lake: an 11th-century university, a French opera house, a prison that held both Vietnamese revolutionaries and American pilots, and a mausoleum with a queue. Hanoi doesn't separate its layers, it lets them pile up.
It's loud and humid, and the traffic never stops. It's also where several of Vietnam's best-known dishes were born, within walking distance of your hotel. Five days is the right amount: two for the lake, the Old Quarter and the French Quarter, one for Ba Dinh and West Lake, one on the water at Ha Long Bay, and one for the sights outside the center.
The plan keeps each day in one part of town. Start on a Tuesday: the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is open only Tuesday to Thursday and on weekends, in the morning, and the Museum of Ethnology is closed on Mondays. The bay falls on a Friday, and day five lands on a Saturday, when the streets around Hoan Kiem Lake close to traffic. Traveling in January? Read the tips on weather and on Tet, the lunar new year, which in 2027 starts on 6 February. For the country as a whole, see Vietnam.
Every stop from the plan below, colored by day. Pick a day to see its route.
A bowl of pho at dawn, the lake and its temple, the old guild streets, lunch of grilled pork and noodles, and water puppets at night.
Vietnam's first university, the prison that held two sides of history, French boulevards, egg coffee and a fish dinner.
The Mausoleum and Ba Dinh Square, the One Pillar Pagoda, the old citadel, a bowl of crab soup and sunset on West Lake.
A long day out to the limestone islands: up to three and a half hours each way by road, four or five hours on the water.
The country's 54 ethnic groups in one museum, a banh mi, an old iron bridge, the railway street and Saturday night around the lake.
Everything today is within a 20-minute walk of the lake, so you can do it all on foot. Start early, because the lake is at its best before 8am when Hanoi does its tai chi and jogging, and the pho shop on Bat Dan serves only at set times. The one trap is crossing the streets: read the tip on motorbikes before you step off the curb.
Pho is the national dish, and Hanoi is where it comes from: pho first shows up in written records in northern Vietnam in the early 1900s. The Hanoi style is plain on purpose, with a clear beef broth, rice noodles, scallions and a squeeze of lime. The southern bowl comes with a plate of herbs and sweeter sauces, and the noodles differ too.
Pho Gia Truyen on Bat Dan street is a Michelin Bib Gourmand pick, and the line outside tells you so. It serves in two windows, roughly 6 to 10am and again in the evening, so it's your first stop. Take a stool, eat, pay, leave. For the lighter chicken version, pho ga, look for the shops with boiled chickens hanging in the window.
Hoan Kiem Lake means "Lake of the Returned Sword". The legend says that the emperor Le Loi, boating here after beating the Ming Chinese, was met by a Golden Turtle God who surfaced and asked for the magic sword that had given him victory, and he handed it back. The little tower in the middle, Thap Rua, is the turtle's monument. There were real giant turtles in the lake for a long time, and the last known one was found dead in January 2016.
Walk a lap of the lake, then cross the red Huc Bridge to Ngoc Son Temple on Jade Island. It honors the 13th-century general Tran Hung Dao, who beat back three Mongol invasions, along with a patron of scholars and the 19th-century writer who restored the temple. It's small and crowded, but the bridge at 7am is the postcard.
Hanoi's Old Quarter is the old merchants' district just north of the lake, known as the "36 streets" because each street belonged to a guild that traded in one thing. The names still carry the trades: hang means merchandise, so Hang Bac is silver and Hang Ma is paper offerings. Most streets now sell the same shirts and phone cases, but a few still sell what their name says, and those are the ones to wander.
Pick a lane and keep walking north toward Dong Xuan Market, the big hall the French built where two small markets once stood, and into the covered alleys behind it, where people buy fabric, plastic sandals and dried food by the sack. Carry small bills and look at prices before you pick things up.
Bun cha is the Hanoi lunch: grilled pork patties and pork belly in a bowl of sweet, sour fish sauce, with cold rice noodles and a plate of herbs on the side. You dip the noodles, add the herbs, and drop the pork in. Smoke from charcoal grills on the street is the sign that lunch is close.
Dac Kim, at 1 Hang Manh, is in the Michelin Guide's Bib Gourmand list and a place locals send you to. It's small, crowded and not pretty. Order bun cha with a side of nem, the fried spring rolls, and nothing else.
Five minutes west of the lake, St. Joseph's Cathedral is the oldest church in Hanoi. The French began building it in 1884 and opened it in December 1886, in a Gothic Revival style meant to recall Notre Dame in Paris. The facade is dark and weathered, and the twin towers are the best part.
The main gates open mostly during Mass, so you may only see the outside and the square, which is fine. The streets around it, Nha Chung and Nha Tho, are lined with cafes and boutiques. On Sunday evenings the 6pm Mass draws crowds that spill into the street.
Water puppetry is a northern Vietnamese art with roots in the flooded rice fields of the Red River delta. Wooden puppets stand in a waist-deep pool and are moved by puppeteers hidden behind a screen, using long poles under the water, to a live band of traditional instruments and singers. The scenes are farming, fishing, dragons and, of course, a turtle and a sword.
You won't follow the words, and you don't need to. The show lasts under an hour, and the theatre is a block from the lake on Dinh Tien Hoang. It's touristy and slightly corny, and also the most Hanoi thing you can do with an evening.
This is the history day, and it zig-zags less than it looks on a map: Temple of Literature in the morning, Hoa Lo a short Grab ride away, then a slow walk east through the French Quarter. Both of the first two sights are open daily, so this day never hits a closing day.
The Temple of Literature was founded in 1070 as a temple to Confucius, and in 1076 it became the Imperial Academy, Vietnam's first national university, which taught the country's officials until 1779. It sits south of the old citadel in a sequence of courtyards, gardens and gates, and it's one of the calmer places in the center at 8am. It's on the back of the 100,000 dong banknote.
Look for the stone stelae of the doctors, the scholars who passed the royal exams, each carved with their names. In the days before Tet, calligraphers set up outside the temple and write wishes in Chinese characters, a custom that goes on today.
Hoa Lo is a street name that also means "stove", from the shops that once sold them there. The French built the prison between 1896 and 1901 for Vietnamese political prisoners, and it was brutally overcrowded: by 1954 it held more than 2,000 people. Many future Communist leaders served time in it.
The museum spends most of its space on that colonial story. It spends little on the second one. During the American War the North Vietnamese held captured US airmen here, who called it the "Hanoi Hilton". John McCain was one of them. The Vietnamese account says prisoners were treated well, while American accounts, backed by testimonies and Senate reports, describe torture. Read the exhibit with that in mind. Most of the prison was demolished in 1993-94 to make way for a tower, and the gatehouse is what remains.
Walk east from Hoa Lo toward the lake and you cross the French Quarter, with its wide tree-lined avenues and colonial villas, ending at the Hanoi Opera House at the head of Trang Tien street. The French built it between 1901 and 1911, modeled on the Palais Garnier in Paris but smaller, and for decades it was the center of French cultural life in the city.
It's also where history turned. On 19 August 1945 hundreds of thousands of people rallied on the square in front of it, setting the August Revolution in motion. Admire the facade from the steps, and if a concert is on in the evening, a ticket is worth considering.
Egg coffee, ca phe trung, was born in Hanoi. The story, told by the founder's son, is that Nguyen Giang developed it in the late 1940s when milk was scarce, whisking egg yolk with sugar and condensed milk to top a strong robusta coffee. The family still runs Cafe Giang on Nguyen Huu Huan street, a few steps from the lake.
It tastes a little like tiramisu in a cup, and it arrives sitting in a small bowl of hot water to keep warm. Eat the foam with the spoon, then drink the coffee underneath. It's sweet, so one is plenty. The cafe is small and busy, so expect to share a table.
Cha ca is the dish that gave a street its name. The Doan family opened a small eatery on Hang Son street in 1871, and the street became Cha Ca, "grilled fish lane". Fish marinated in turmeric, galangal and fermented rice is grilled, then finished at your table in a hot pan with plenty of dill and scallions, and eaten with rice noodles, herbs, peanuts and a pungent shrimp sauce.
The original at 14 Cha Ca street serves only this dish, so you sit down and the pan arrives. Reviews run from "the best thing I ate" to "overpriced and brusque", and both can be true on different nights. Cha Ca Thang Long on Duong Thanh is the other name people mention.
Bia hoi means "fresh beer": a light draft lager of around 4% alcohol, brewed daily and delivered in barrels to small bars and street corners, where it's poured into thick glass mugs and drunk on tiny plastic stools. It doesn't keep, so it's drunk the same day, and it costs a fraction of any other beer.
Ta Hien street in the Old Quarter is the famous tourist corner, loud, crowded and pure Hanoi. The beer isn't the point, the stool is. Sit, watch the traffic, order a plate of peanuts and talk to the table next to you. The toast is mot, hai, ba, yo ("one, two, three, cheers").
The Mausoleum only opens in the morning and the queue starts early, so be at the gate by 7:45am. The rest of the day follows from Ba Dinh to the lake, with Grab between the Citadel and West Lake. Do this on a Tuesday to Thursday, or a Saturday or Sunday: the Mausoleum is closed on Mondays and Fridays.
Ba Dinh Square is where Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence on 2 September 1945. The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum on the square was inaugurated in August 1975, inspired by Lenin's in Moscow. The embalmed body lies in a glass case in a cool central hall, guarded by soldiers, and the line moves in silence past it in a few minutes.
The rules are strict. It's open in the morning only, Tuesday to Thursday and on weekends, closed Monday and Friday. From November to March the doors open at 8am and visits run until about 11am on weekdays and 11:30am on weekends, and the queue can be shut off earlier. Cover shoulders and knees, take off hats and sunglasses, keep quiet, and leave cameras and phones put away. Large bags go to the counter. Afterward, wander the gardens to see the Presidential Palace from outside, and the simple stilt house nearby where Ho lived.
Two minutes from the Mausoleum, the One Pillar Pagoda is a small wooden shrine standing on a single stone pillar in a lotus pond. The childless emperor Ly Thai Tong dreamed that the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara handed him a baby boy on a lotus, and when a son was born he built this in 1049 in thanks.
What you see is a reconstruction: a Vietnamese lieutenant in the French army dynamited the pagoda in 1954, and it was rebuilt in 1955. It's tiny, usually crowded, and takes ten minutes. The Ho Chi Minh Museum and the stilt house are in the same complex, with a small ticket (around 25,000 VND, 1 USD).
Bun rieu is a sour, tomatoey soup: freshwater crab is pounded into a paste that floats in a red broth with rice noodles, fried tofu and tomato, and the full version adds congealed pork blood. It comes with fresh herbs, and a dab of shrimp paste on top is traditional.
The shop at 22 Hong Phuc in Ba Dinh serves it from the early morning to about mid-afternoon, which fits the Mausoleum schedule. It tastes sour and a little funky, and Hanoi people love it while some visitors don't. If crab isn't your thing, have a bowl of pho ga instead.
The Imperial Citadel of Thang Long is where Hanoi began. Construction started in 1010, and the Vietnamese court sat here until 1789. The French later demolished almost all of it to make room for barracks and offices, leaving only the North Gate and the Flag Tower. UNESCO listed the central sector in 2010.
So don't expect a palace. What you get is an archaeological site, with excavated foundations, a main gate and the remains of royal halls, and only a small fraction of it has been dug up so far. It's quiet and shows how much is buried under the city.
Take a Grab north to West Lake. Tran Quoc Pagoda is the oldest in Hanoi, with a history going back to the 6th century. It originally stood on the bank of the Red River, until the river's encroachment led to its move in 1615 to a small island here, joined to the shore by a short causeway. A bodhi tree in the grounds is a cutting from the tree in Bodh Gaya, India, given in 1959.
It's small and calm, a good place for quiet before the sunset. Quan Thanh Temple, a Taoist temple dating to the 11th century, is on the lake's edge nearby and can be a short stop on the way.
West Lake, Ho Tay, is the biggest lake in Hanoi, and it's where the city exhales. Walk the causeway on Thanh Nien street between West Lake and the small Truc Bach lake as the sun goes down, order a coffee or a coconut and watch the sky turn orange.
For something more active, take a Grab along the shore to Tay Ho, the district expats like, with cafes, Western restaurants and quiet side streets. In January the sun sets early, and haze often hides it, so go a little before.
The honest version: Ha Long Bay is roughly 150 km east of Hanoi by road, and the expressway takes 2.5 to 3.5 hours each way, depending on traffic and where you're picked up. A day trip means you leave at 7 or 8am and get back around 7 or 8pm, with four or five hours on a boat. That is enough to see the islands, not to enjoy them, which is why many people take an overnight cruise instead. Expect a 12-hour day and a tired evening, so don't plan dinner on a schedule. Friday is a normal day for the bay.
Most tours collect you from your hotel in a minibus and take the expressway east, which makes it 2.5 to 3.5 hours depending on traffic, against 3 to 4 hours by the old road. Many cruises leave from Tuan Chau International Passenger Port, on an island joined to the mainland near Ha Long city. You can also take a bus or limousine van to Bai Chay and a Grab from there, which is cheaper but less flexible.
A tour is the easiest way to do a day trip, and quality varies a lot. Pick an operator with a small boat, a fixed price and an itinerary that says how long you'll actually spend on the water. A very cheap ticket usually means a crowded boat and a long lunch.
Ha Long Bay means "descending dragon", after a legend in which dragons spat out jewels that became the islands. It has well over a thousand limestone islets, and UNESCO listed the core in 1994. Your boat weaves between jungle-topped towers of rock, past fishing families who live on floating houses, and usually stops at a cave or a floating village.
Be realistic: this is the best-known bay in Vietnam, and the main routes get crowded with boats anchored in the same coves. In winter there are fewer people, but it's cool, grey and often hazy, so the islands look moody rather than postcard-bright. Bring a jacket, because the wind on deck is cold.
Lunch is served on board, usually a set menu of rice, spring rolls, vegetables, fish and some squid or prawns. It's decent and sometimes dull, with a good view. People living on the bay raise fish in nets under their floating houses and sell them to restaurants, so the seafood, at least, is local.
Tell the crew about allergies before you leave the dock, not at the table. Drinks are extra and priced for tourists.
If you can spare a night, swap the day trip for an overnight cruise in Lan Ha Bay. Lan Ha is the southeastern edge of the same limestone landscape, around Cat Ba Island, and it was added to the same World Heritage listing in 2023. It has the same karst towers with fewer boats, and cruises there stress kayaking and swimming. The catch is the journey: the pier is farther than Ha Long, often with a ferry or speedboat leg, so Lan Ha doesn't work as a day trip.
The verdict: with one day, do Ha Long. With one night, do Lan Ha, or a quieter corner of Ha Long. A night on the water gives you sunrise and dusk after the day boats have gone, which is when the bay looks best.
This is the free-form last day, and Saturday is the right day for it: the Museum of Ethnology is open and the Hoan Kiem walking street runs in the evening. The museum is about 7 km from the lake, so go there first by Grab and work your way back toward the river and the lake. Long Bien is best near sunset, which comes early in January, so do Train Street after it or skip it.
The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology is the best museum in Hanoi, and it's out of the way, which keeps it quiet. Vietnam officially recognizes 54 ethnic groups, and the Kinh majority is only one. This museum shows how the others live, through clothing, textiles, tools and a lot of context. The main building is shaped like a Dong Son bronze drum and was designed by an architect from the Tay minority.
Outside, a garden holds full-size houses from different regions that you can walk into. A second building covers Southeast Asian cultures. Give it a long morning, and unlike the temples it never feels like a queue.
The French brought the baguette to Vietnam in the 19th century, and by the early 20th it was a staple. Banh mi is what Vietnamese did with it: a short roll with a thin crisp crust and a light crumb, filled with pate, cold cuts or grilled pork, pickled carrot and daikon, cucumber, cilantro and chili. The famous street version took shape in Saigon, but you'll find it on every Hanoi corner.
Look for a cart or window in the Old Quarter with a queue of office workers. Point at what you want, say khong ot if you don't want chili, and eat it standing. It's a cheap, good lunch you can carry to the bridge.
The Long Bien Bridge was built between 1899 and 1902, when the French governor Paul Doumer's name was on it, and at 2.4 km it was one of the longest bridges in Asia. It was then the only bridge over the Red River at Hanoi, and American aircraft bombed it repeatedly from 1967. Only half of it keeps its original shape, which is why it looks patched together today.
It still carries trains, motorbikes, bicycles and walkers. Cross it on foot in the last hour before sunset for the river, the sandbank farms and the skyline, then walk back. Watch your footing and give way to the motorbikes.
Train Street is an active railway line where houses stand a hand's width from the tracks and trains squeeze through several times a day. It became a tourist stop, with cafes selling coffee beside the rails, and then a safety problem. Commercial activity was banned in 2019, the cafes carried on, police swept the area in November 2025 and the cafes were back within days. On 27 February 2026 the city and the Ministry of Construction agreed to reduce passenger trains on this section and halt freight, with the works due by mid-2026, so the train times you read online may be out of date.
So the honest answer: over the past year it has been open one week and swept by police the next, and nobody can promise what it will be in January 2027, or whether the trains will still run on this stretch. Treat it as a bonus, not a plan. If barriers or police are in place, walk away and don't look for a way around them. If it's open, stay at a cafe that's clearly operating and do what the staff say the moment a train is announced.
On weekends the roads around Hoan Kiem Lake close to vehicles. The walking street runs from about 7pm on Friday to midnight on Sunday, and a second route through the Old Quarter is pedestrian in the same evening hours. Hours have shifted over the years and change around holidays, heavy rain can suspend it, and in past years it was paused for the days around Tet, so check locally.
Saturday night is the time: families, teenagers, street musicians, vendors with grilled snacks and plastic toys, and the night market on Hang Dao selling clothes and souvenirs. Walk a lap around the lake, have a last bia hoi and say goodbye to the city. It's loud and cheerful, and a good way to end five days.
Hanoi is a good base: some of Vietnam's best day trips and mountain trips start here, ordered below from nearest to farthest.
A potters' village on the Red River that has been making ceramics for centuries, with workshops where you can throw a pot and a market of bowls, tea sets and tiles. It's an easy half day, and a good rainy-day plan.
Getting there: About 13 km southeast, 30-40 minutes by Grab or city bus
The Perfume Pagoda, Huong Pagoda, is a complex of Buddhist shrines in the limestone hills of My Duc, and a place of pilgrimage. Allow a full day. It's much busier during the spring festival after Tet.
Getting there: About 60 km southwest, 2 hours by road, then a boat on the river
Limestone towers rising from rice paddies, rivers you travel by rowboat and old temples, often called Ha Long Bay on land. It has its own guide: see 3 Days in Ninh Binh.
Getting there: About 95 km south, 1.5-2 hours by road or train
A valley of rice fields and White Thai stilt-house villages in the hills, good for walking, cycling and a night in a homestay. In winter nights are cold and the fields are bare, so it is a calm, grey landscape rather than a green one.
Getting there: About 140 km west, 3-4 hours by bus or car
If you can spare a night, this is the better way to see the bay: sunset, a night at anchor and sunrise after the day boats have left. Lan Ha Bay, around Cat Ba Island, is quieter than Ha Long. See day four for the honest comparison.
Getting there: About 150 km east to the Ha Long piers, 2.5-3.5 hours by expressway, then a boat
Mountain town in the Hoang Lien Son range, with Hmong and Dao villages, terraced valleys and Fansipan, at 3,147 m the highest peak in Indochina. It needs two or three days. Winter is cold, temperatures can fall below freezing, snow has been recorded, and fog often hides the views, so it's a trip for the cold, not for terraces at their greenest.
Getting there: About 300 km northwest; 5.5-6 hours by limousine van on the expressway, or an overnight train to Lao Cai (around 8 hours) plus a 35 km transfer
Northern food is plainer and more subtle than the south's, built on broth, rice noodles, herbs and fish sauce. These are the dishes and drinks that Hanoi does best.
Hanoi's beef noodle soup, pho bo, has a clear broth simmered for hours with charred ginger and onion, flat rice noodles, scallions and lime. The chicken version, pho ga, is lighter and sweeter and is eaten with chicken skin and lime leaf. Northerners add only a little chili and vinegar and skip the hoisin. The choice is simple: beef for a deeper bowl, chicken when you want something light.
Where to try it: Pho Gia Truyen on Bat Dan, a Michelin Bib Gourmand shop, for beef. For chicken, any shop with boiled chickens hanging in the window.
Charcoal-grilled pork patties and pork belly served in a sweet, sour broth with cold rice noodles and herbs. It's Hanoi's lunch dish and nearly impossible to find after 3pm. It became world famous when Barack Obama ate it with Anthony Bourdain in 2016 at Bun Cha Huong Lien, and that shop now draws tour groups.
Where to try it: Bun Cha Dac Kim on Hang Manh for locals' lunch. Huong Lien on Le Van Huu for the photos and the Obama table, but go early or late to avoid the groups.
The French baguette, Vietnamese-style: a short crisp roll stuffed with pate, pork, pickled vegetables, cilantro and chili. The best ones are made in the morning and sold out by lunch. It costs about 1 USD.
Where to try it: A cart or window with a queue of office workers, in the Old Quarter around Hang Ca.
Turmeric and galangal-marinated fish grilled and then fried at the table with dill and scallions, eaten with rice noodles, peanuts and shrimp paste. It's a Hanoi restaurant dish more than a street food and has a fixed price.
Where to try it: Cha Ca La Vong at 14 Cha Ca street, the original since the 1800s. Cha Ca Thang Long on Duong Thanh is the other name people mention.
Sour tomato and crab soup with pounded freshwater crab, fried tofu and rice noodles. Add a little shrimp paste if you're brave. It's a morning or lunch dish.
Where to try it: Small shops around the Old Quarter, and the family stall at 22 Hong Phuc alley, which has been feeding the neighborhood for three generations. Go before mid-afternoon.
Thin sheets of steamed rice batter rolled around minced pork and wood ear mushroom, served with fried shallots, herbs and a fish sauce dip. It's a light northern breakfast. It's best eaten the minute it comes off the cloth.
Where to try it: A banh cuon shop in the morning, where the batter is steamed to order in front of you.
Egg yolk whisked with sugar and condensed milk and floated on a strong robusta coffee, invented in Hanoi in the 1940s. It's thick, sweet and served warm. Eat the foam with a spoon, then sip.
Where to try it: Cafe Giang on Nguyen Huu Huan, the original, in a narrow building with a small ordering counter downstairs. Many cafes near the lake serve it.
The everyday iced coffee: dark robusta dripped slowly through a metal phin filter over sweetened condensed milk, then poured over ice. Vietnam is the world's second largest coffee exporter, mostly of robusta, which is why the drink is strong and chocolatey. In Hanoi you'll also see ca phe nau (brown, with milk) hot.
Where to try it: Any sidewalk cafe on a plastic stool, or the cafes on Nha Chung. Order it ca phe sua da.
Draft lager brewed fresh every day, around 4% alcohol, served in thick glass mugs on street corners. It's light, cheap and meant to be drunk the same day. It's the national beer ritual of the north.
Where to try it: Ta Hien street in the Old Quarter, the tourist corner. Local corners are cheaper and quieter.
Vietnam's village spirit is a clear rice liquor, called ruou quoc lui in the north and often around 40% alcohol. It shows up at group meals with plenty of toasts. Sip it, and buy only sealed, labeled bottles, since homemade spirit is poorly regulated.
Where to try it: At a restaurant or a family table, or a bottle from a shop.
Hanoi is small enough that where you sleep matters less than you think, as long as you pick a quiet street.
Best for: First-timers who want to walk to the food and the lake
The heart of the city, with the most street food, the water puppets and the weekend walking street. The catch is noise: motorbike horns, street karaoke and early deliveries. Choose a room on a side lane or on an upper floor, not on a main street.
Best for: A calmer, more comfortable base within walking distance of the lake
Wide streets, old villas, the Opera House and better hotels. It's a ten-minute walk to the Old Quarter. The catch is that it costs more, and evenings are quieter.
Best for: Early starts at the Mausoleum and the Citadel
A leafy area of embassies, wide avenues and museums. It's calm and a short walk from the Mausoleum. The catch: few restaurants and a Grab ride to the lake and the Old Quarter.
Best for: A longer stay, cafes and a slower pace
The expat neighborhood on the lake, with cafes, Western restaurants and quiet lanes. The catch is distance: it's about 5-6 km from the Old Quarter, so each outing is a Grab ride.
Pinpoint: click each country on the world map - inside the border for full points, the closer the more you earn.
The practical stuff that makes the first day in Hanoi easier.
US passport holders need a visa for Vietnam. The usual route is the e-visa, applied for on the government portal evisa.gov.vn (the Immigration Department's own address is evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn): up to 90 days, single or multiple entry, 25 USD for single and 50 USD for multiple, and your passport should be valid for at least six months beyond your departure. Processing usually takes about three working days, and longer around Tet, so apply a week or more ahead. Beware lookalike sites that charge extra: the real portals end in .gov.vn. Rules change, so check the Vietnamese embassy in Washington before you book.
Vietnam uses the dong (VND), and prices are in thousands. Hotels, malls and better restaurants take cards, but street food, markets, Grab drivers who ask for cash and most small shops don't. Use bank ATMs (Vietcombank, BIDV) or licensed exchange counters, and carry small bills. Tipping isn't expected in cafes and street places, a few thousand dong for a driver or a good meal is a nice gesture.
The trick to crossing a Hanoi street is to walk slowly and steadily at a constant speed, with your eyes ahead, and let the motorbikes flow around you. Do not stop, run or step back. They predict you. Wait for a gap, step out, and keep going. On pavements, watch for motorbikes parked or riding on them. Don't rent a motorbike: a US international driving permit isn't valid in Vietnam, so you'd need a Vietnamese licence, and Hanoi is no place to learn.
Use Grab for cars and motorbike taxis: the fare is fixed in the app, so there's no haggling. At Noi Bai, book on the app after you collect your bags and follow the signs to the pickup area, and ignore people in the arrivals hall offering a ride. A small share of street taxis run fast meters, so stick to Grab or well-known taxi firms. Bus 86 to the Old Quarter is the cheap option.
Hanoi's coldest month averages around 16 degrees C, and nights can be cooler, with a record low of 2.7 degrees C. It is damp and grey more often than sunny, with a humidity above 80% and some drizzle, which makes it feel colder. Houses and hotels are often unheated. Bring layers, a light waterproof jacket and closed shoes, and expect hazy skies at Ha Long Bay and Sapa.
Tet, the lunar new year, falls on Saturday 6 February 2027. The government approved a seven-day public holiday from 4 to 10 February. Expect many restaurants, shops and small family businesses to close for several days, prices and transport to be packed in the days before, and locals to be away. The Museum of Ethnology is closed for Tet, while Hoa Lo says it is open. The week before Tet is lively, with flower markets and calligraphers at the Temple of Literature, and the empty streets during Tet are their own experience. Book trains, buses and rooms early.
Hanoi is safe in terms of violent crime. The usual hassles are overcharging, fake Grab drivers at the airport, taxis with doctored meters and a trick where a driver claims you handed over a smaller bill, so say the amount out loud when you pay. Keep your phone in a front pocket near the road, because bag snatching from motorbikes happens.
An eSIM or a tourist SIM bought on arrival is the easiest way to have data for Grab and maps. Vietnam runs on 220 V, so bring a universal adapter. Vietnamese is tonal, and most people in hotels and tourist places speak some English, while street vendors may not. Xin chao (hello), cam on (thank you) and bao nhieu (how much) go a long way.
Yes. Three days cover the main sights, and five add the Mausoleum area, West Lake, the Ethnology Museum and a day at Ha Long Bay without rushing. If you have only three, do days one to three of this plan.
Hoan Kiem Lake, the Old Quarter, the Temple of Literature, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Ba Dinh Square, the One Pillar Pagoda, Hoa Lo Prison, the Imperial Citadel, Tran Quoc Pagoda on West Lake, the Museum of Ethnology and the water puppets. Add the food: pho, bun cha, egg coffee and bia hoi.
Ha Long Bay is the classic, but it's a long day, about 2.5 to 3.5 hours each way plus the boat. Lan Ha Bay is quieter but better as an overnight. Ninh Binh is the easier and often more rewarding day trip, with its own guide.
Yes, violent crime against visitors is rare. The main risks are traffic and petty scams, such as overcharging and bag snatching. Cross streets slowly, use Grab and keep your phone away from the curb.
No. A bowl of pho or bun cha is about 2 to 4 USD, an egg coffee about 2 USD, a bia hoi under 1 USD and most museum tickets 1 to 4 USD. Tours and the airport transfer are the biggest costs.
Yes. Apply for the e-visa on the official portal, evisa.gov.vn. It allows up to 90 days, single or multiple entry, for 25 or 50 USD, and processing usually takes about three working days, longer around Tet. Your passport should be valid for six months beyond your departure. Check the Vietnamese embassy in Washington for the latest rules.
Both. Cards work in hotels, malls and many restaurants, but street food, markets, small cafes and some Grab rides need cash in dong. Withdraw from bank ATMs and keep small bills.
Cool, grey and damp, around 16 degrees C on average, so bring layers. Tet 2027 starts on 6 February, with a public holiday from 4 to 10 February: many businesses close and travel is packed, but it's also the most festive time in the city.
Find Hanoi on the map, learn the flag and check how much you really know about Vietnam.
Lanterns, tailors and a beach that is losing a fight with the sea. Five days in Vietnam's most photographed old town, planned honestly.
Saigon by any name: French boulevards, Chinese temples, war history and a street food scene that never really sleeps.
Rivers that run through mountains, a tenth-century capital and rice fields in between. Three days in Vietnam's karst country.
Vietnam