The capital of Vietnam is a city of lakes and tree-lined boulevards. Although the transition to a market economy was perhaps most resisted in Hanoi, it's now well under way, and the city is as vibrant as its more well trodden southern counterpart.
Tree-lined boulevards, lakes and parks: This is Hanoi
Hanoi was founded around 1010 AD, shortly after the Vietnamese had attained independence from nearly 1,000 years of Chinese domination. The city was founded by Emperor Ly Thai Tho, who built a citadel and a surrounding walled city just northwest of the current Old Quarter. Hanoi served as Vietnam's capital until the Emperor Gia Long decided to move the capital to Hue in the nineteenth century. In 1902, the French made Hanoi the capital of French Indochina and the Viet Minh declared the city the capital of independent Vietnam in 1945.
Have a coffee at one of Hanoi's distinctive coffee shops
While much damage had been done to the city during the American War, much of it has been repaired. The city still retains a number of sites dating back nearly to its founding, as well as architectural treasures from the French occupation.
See my Hanoi map for an orientation to the sights and attractions of Hanoi. In this guide, you'll also find suggestions on where to stay and what to see.
Hanoi is one of the few major destinations in Southeast Asia that has four full seasons. While it rarely snows, winters can be cold and miserable from December to February. The best time to visit is spring - around April to June - and Autumn, which is best around October and November. See the Hanoi weather page for more information.
You can get to Hanoi over-land from elsewhere in the country via train or car, but most people chose to come by plane. Hanoi's small international airport (code: HAN) is a little less well served by international airlines than Ho Chi Minh City. Visitors coming from Europe may fly into Bangkok and then on to Hanoi via Thai or Vietnam Airlines. From the Americas, there are flights via Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Hanoi has a wide range of hotels on offer, from inexpensive to opulent. The best area to stay in is the Hoan Kiem Lake area, with its wide selection of shops, restaurants and sights, all within easy walking distance of the lake. The very best bets, if you can afford them, are the elegant and relatively new Hilton Opera or the 1901 French Colonial Sofitel Metropole.
All of the hotels below may be booked on-line through one or more of our travel partners.
Hanoi is full of cafes and restaurants where you can get an enjoyable meal at a good price. As elsewhere in Vietnam, Hanoi is very much a "cafe society" with many small coffee shops spread all over the city. When it comes time to eat, the greatest concentration of restaurants can be found in the old quarter north of Hoan Kiem Lake.
A branch of Vietnam's own Trung Nguyen Coffee Shop in Hanoi One example is Ancient Town, serving Vietnamese food in a two story restaurant.
Details about traveling in Vietnam can be hard to come by on the web, and also seem to be changing frequently. Here's some more detailed information about our trip along with some other useful information gleaned from our travels.
Vietnam Visas Yes, you need one. Every visitor does except holders of passports from some member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). How long it takes, and even how much it costs, seems to vary from place to place.
Like many other Asian cultures, close relationships and affectionate behavior in public between people of the same sex is very common and accepted. But such relationships are not necessarily gay. Still, sexual relationships between men are assumed to be quite common and accepted, so long as they are kept private.
There is no "scene" in the western style, since being overtly gay is still not acceptable. There are, however, many places for gay people to meet, especially in Hanoi.
Hanoi has little in the way of high-end shopping, but there are many small shops selling local crafts and manufactured items. The “Old Quarter”, also known as “36 Streets”, is a good place to explore as well as shop. The “36 Streets” name for the district comes from the thirteenth century, when Hanoi's 36 guilds each had their own street. This is why, if you translate the street names of this area, you get “Silk Street”, “Silver Street” and so on.
Vietnam's year is generally divided into just two seasons: the "dry season" and "rainy season." Hanoi swings between a downright cold dry season and a very tropical wet season.
Historical Weather Patterns for Hanoi The dry season runs from November to March. This is also the coldest time of year, when night-time temperatures require a good warm jacket.
Average Monthly Highs & Lows (°C) The wet season follows the cool season from about May to October.
The Fine Arts Museum in Hanoi is housed in a building that once served as the French Ministry of Information. The structure and form is very classical, yet with oriental touches to the roof and other details.
The Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts in Hanoi The collection within the museum's two wings ranges from ancient antiquities to contemporary art. The ground floor of the main wing houses the oldest artifacts.
In spite of his own wishes to be cremated, the body of Ho Chi Minh was preserved and put on display in a monumental mausoleum facing Ba Dinh Square in front of the Presidential Palace. While materials of the highest standard were used in its construction, and the design is supposed to resemble a lotus flower, unfortunately it looks like a plain gray concrete box.
Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum The mausoleum is a place of pilgrimage for Vietnamese, but it's worth noting that it's usually closed from early September to the end of December while Ho's body is sent to Russia for maintenance.
At the heart of Hanoi, both literally and figuratively, is Hoan Kiem Lake. Although just one of many parks and lakes in Hanoi, Hoan Kiem is the most important. The lake lies just south of the old ancient part of town, and is the center of a sort of Arthurian legend. According to this legend, in the fifteenth century a fisherman found a magical sword in his nets one day, and he presented it to Emperor Ky Thai To (also known as Le Loi).
Sandwiched between the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the Ho Chi Minh Museum is the small yet elegant One Pillar Pagoda. The Pagoda was originally built by Emperor Ly Thai Thong around 1049. It was destroyed by the French just before they quit Hanoi in 1954. The structure you can see today is a reconstruction.
The pagoda perched on top of its one pillar The legend goes that the Emperor built the pagoda in gratitude to the Goddess of Mercy after he had a dream of her seated on a lotus and presenting him with a baby boy.
One of the oldest sights in Hanoi is the Temple of Literature, called Van Mieu in Vietnamese. The "temple" was founded in 1070 by Emperor Ly Thanh Tong, and is dedicated to the Chinese philosopher Confucius. Six years later, Vietnam's first university was founded here to teach the children of royalty and aristocracy (generally called mandarins). In 1484, another Emperor Le Thanh Tong had stele erected in one of the courtyards to record the statistics and achievements of those who received doctorates from the university.
A lot of guides list the water puppet show as a “must see” in Hanoi. I was frankly quite skeptical, but was happily surprised to find that the show really is something that shouldn't be missed.
Water puppetry is an art form which originated in Vietnam at least 1,000 years ago. The puppets are essentially marionettes, except that in place of strings or wires, the puppets are mounted on long poles, which remain totally hidden under a shallow pool of water.
Hanoi is a city of many lakes, most of them with surrounding parks. The most well known and perhaps the most popular is Hoan Kiem Lake near the center of old Hanoi. The largest of the city's lakes is West Lake, which naturally is just to the west of the old town. West Lake and its neighbor Truc Bach are lined with restaurants, as well as a few hotels. The two lakes are separated by just a causeway.
Taxis are easy to get at Hanoi airport. There is a queue just outside the terminal, at roughly the center of the drive. As at all international airports, you should avoid any touts who approach you in the terminal building. Taxis are metered, with the cost of transport to a city center hotel running about 200,000 Dong for the 45 minute trip.
If you want to save yourself some hassles, you can book your airport transfers in advance through Viator.
