Hanoi: the city of ancient temples, delicious street food, serene lakes, and an overwhelming abundance of motorbikes. (If you can cross a road in Hanoi, you can cross a road anywhere.) You’ll want to spend at least three days here, and this Hanoi Vietnam itinerary is for a minimum of three days in Hanoi. If you have longer, I’d recommend staying on for at least a day or two more, to soak up everything this wonderful place has to offer.
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We arrived in Hanoi via the sleeper train from Da Nang– a port city which is bordered with tropical beaches and filled with glistening skyscrapers, crowned with a yellow dragon bridge which breathes actual fire. Hanoi is worlds apart from Da Nang, but it has a magical charm which I instantly fell in love with.
This tried-and-tested itinerary for three days in Hanoi focuses in on several different areas of the city, which are all quite closely packed together, from the chaotic lanes of the Old Quarter to the wide boulevards of the French Quarter. My first trip to Vietnam was only 10 days long- read up on the full itinerary here– so we actually used Hanoi as a base to go out and visit other parts of the country, heading up to the hilly Sa Pa region to hike through some of the most stunning landscapes I’ve ever seen, and also travelling across to Ha Long Bay for a magical cruise through serene (but jelly-fish-filled) waters.
Three days in Hanoi Vietnam: What you need to know
- Make sure you carry enough cash on you, as although cards are accepted (especially in more touristy locations), there are plenty of places which are cash only. Currently €1 is equivalent to around 26,000 Vietnamese Dong.
- I find that whenever I travel, the best way to stay connected is using an eSim. This is basically an international sim card which you can just download onto your phone via an app, cutting out the faff of hunting down local sim cards and physically taking things in and out of your mobile. My favourite eSim to use is Airalo, and while I was travelling in south east Asia I used this 30 day Asia eSim. If you’re only travelling in Vietnam, this eSim gives you 10GB for 30 days.
- I’d recommend downloading the Grab app before you arrive. This is basically Vietnam’s answer to Uber; taxis are incredibly affordable and the quickest way to get around Hanoi. If you’re travelling alone, you can also select a Grab bike instead, and catch a ride on a motorbike (which is cheaper.)
- This is a bit of a niche one, but if you’re used to European/American toilets, it’s definitely worth bringing a pack of tissues with you just in case! They aren’t big on toilet paper in Vietnam, so to avoid getting caught short it’s good to have some emergency toilet paper in your bag.
Three Days in Hanoi: Day One
- Walk through the Trúc Bach neighbourhood
- Ride a swan pedalo on Trúc Bach Lake
- Cool down with a green bean ice cream
- Get bún cha for dinner in the Old Quarter
- Try dessert at Little Bowl
Temples in Trúc Bach
The Trúc Bach neighbourhood might not be the most obvious place to start your three days in Hanoi, but it’s definitely a great way to ease yourself gently into the city’s bustling atmosphere. This mostly residential area is a hidden gem away from the busy crowds of the Old Quarter. The leafy streets are beautiful for a wander, filled with crumbly old houses and shops, locals on bicycles laden down with fresh fruit and vegetables, and there’s also a healthy dose of coffee shops and restaurants around the lake.
Trúc Bach Lake is the highlight of the afternoon. Hanoi is chockablock filled to the brim with expansive lakes, and up until the 17th century, Trúc Bach was part of the West Lake- which is so gigantic that you can’t see the other side. This small portion of the West Lake was split off so that farmers could raise fish within its waters (the fish-farming game is strong in Vietnam, I’ve seen it with my own eyeballs in Ha Long Bay), although these days it’s incredibly polluted and not the kind of place you’d want to be sampling fish from.
Well-known to Americans as the place where future politician John McCain was shot down during the Vietnam War, these days the vibe of this area is far more peaceful. (Although you’ll probably spot the monument commemorating the plane’s crash landing.)
Take a stroll around the lake, past the Tran Quoc Temple which is Hanoi’s oldest pagoda, and Thuy Trung Tien Temple which is on an island in the lake, and carry on along the road that divides Trúc Bach from the West Lake. The shady tree-lined pavement is perfect on a hot sticky day- as are the huts selling ice cream.
(I really enjoyed the green bean ice cream in Vietnam, but personally would advise you to steer clear of the durian flavour. Way too oniony for my liking.)
Swan Lake IRL
And to really make the most of your time at Trúc Bach, get yourself onto one of the famous swan pedalos which drift across the green ripples. Pay in cash at the office next to the main nesting-place of the gargantuan swan boats, and head out for an hour of hilarious pedalling and attempting not to crash into your fellow swans.
Dinner in the Old Quarter
Head into the Old Quarter in the late afternoon as the sun is lower in the sky and tinging everything with a hint of gold. You can easily walk from one area to the other in about twenty minutes, or just use the Grab to order a taxi or bike. The Old Quarter is the beating heart of Hanoi (it’s quite a frantically beating heart, but full of soul, that’s for sure), and later in the day its atmospheric streets are downright beautiful, and practically bubbling over with life.
Streets are crammed full of tiny plastic stools and tables on which families and groups of friends perch to enjoy bowls full of steaming broth and noodles; make sure you try bún chã while you’re in Hanoi. Bun Cha Huong Lien is famous for having hosted the then President Obama and Anthony Bourdain, and by all accounts it serves a truly delectable bún cha. The table where Obama and Bourdain sat is now preserved in a glass case, and the restaurant has added a ‘Combo Obama’ to the menu, which consists of a bowl of bún cha, a fried seafood roll and beer.
Do not under any circumstances skip dessert
After dinner, get yourself over to Little Bowl, which serves nothing but bowls of ché- a classic Vietnamese pudding served with ice. I had never tried ché before, but tucking into a bowl of this whilst sat on the pavement outside at nighttime was a downright wonderful experience. I had the yoghurt bowl with jackfruit- which consists of condensed milk, yoghurt, tapioca, pandan jelly, basil seeds and something called blueberry pop balls. I still haven’t quite worked out what blueberry pop balls are, but the whole thing was completely natural and a taste sensation.
10 out of 10 for you, Little Bowl.
For a completely different nighttime foodie experience in Hanoi, this bike tour of Hanoi looks incredible. The company hires mostly women as local guides; head out on a scooter into the city and sample all the delights Hanoi has to offer with a knowledgeable local.
Breakfast in Hanoi
Breakfast in Vietnam is very different from a western breakfast- noodles, meat and vegetables in hot, salty broth, is a standard breakfast meal- and although I got used to this style of breakfast pretty easily, after a while we were all craving something that wasn’t noodles. So maybe you will be, too. (Coffee shops in Vietnam also serve, for the most part, only coffee; so there’s no chance of picking up a pastry in the morning. Although the coffee itself is quite frankly an art form. More on that later, pals.)
Even if you’re not in need of a breakfast that reminds you of home, the Hanoi Social Club is just atmospherically, and aesthetically, a great establishment. Inside an old French colonial mansion on a quiet lane in the Old Quarter, this restaurant and bar stretches right up over several floors and onto an extremely pretty and leafy roof terrace. Their breakfast and brunch menu is delectable (I had the French toast), although dinner isn’t half bad either.
Art and temples and staying out of the heat
We were visiting Hanoi in early May, and temperatures in the city at that time were around the 40ºC mark every single day. In the centre of a crowded city buzzing with motorbikes, this can get a little stifling.
The Vietnam Fine Arts Museum is in a beautiful old colonial building, away from the crowds of the Old Quarter. The artwork on display takes you on a journey from the ancient times, up until the modern day- and although the ancient artwork is beautiful, it’s the more contemporary pieces that I found really interesting. Soldiers march across canvas forests, guerillas crawl through silken rice fields, and watercolour women gather in factories and on farms. It’s a very patriotic look at life in Vietnam, with occasional undertones of propaganda. But when a nation has endured as much war as this one, is it any wonder that there’s so much art created about it?
Entry to the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum is in cash only, and is the equivalent of around $1.50 USD.
Only a few minutes away from the Fine Arts Museum, is the Temple of Literature. Built in 1070AD, this beautiful temple was home to Vietnam’s very first university: the Imperial Academy. The shrine is dedicated to Confucious, a Chinese philosopher who was dedicated to education, and Vietnamese students often come here before exams, to pray for good grades. The temples are arranged around five peaceful courtyards, and it’s a really pretty place to come and spend some time.
Entry to the Temple of Literature is in cash only, equivalent to about $1 USD. This is a sacred place of worship; be respectful and dress appropriately. (Covered shoulders, and long trousers or a long skirt.)
If you haven’t already, try the coffee
Vietnam takes its coffee extremely seriously, and no trip to Vietnam would be complete without sampling some of the nation’s favourite coffee-based beverages. Trust me. If these three days in Hanoi are your introduction to this glorious country, then you’re in a great location to really get to grips with the coffee culture they have to offer.
My favourite is coconut coffee, which is actually ice-blended coffee, condensed milk and coconut milk; it’s more of a coconut-coffee-slushie, and it’s an amazingly refreshing way to cool down on a sticky hot day.
Second to that is the surprisingly tasty egg coffee, which really is coffee made with an egg. Espresso, topped with a blend of whipped egg yolk and sweetened condensed milk and more commonly served over ice than hot- it’s kind of like a coffee-flavoured liquid meringue.
We tried several great coffee shops in Hanoi- detailed over on my post on Hanoi coffee shops. Most of them were great, some of them were a little overrated, but despite (and perhaps because of) its gimmicky vibe, I did love The Note Coffee. This coffee shop of a seemingly infinite number of floors, overlooks a corner of Hoàn Kiem Lake; if you can get a seat by a window, it’s a great spot for people watching. But inside, the coffee shop is just as interesting. Every surface is covered in brightly-coloured post-it notes, on which visitors from all over the world have scribbled messages onto.
Walk around Hoàn Kiem Lake
Nobody could possibly spend three days in Hanoi- or even fewer than that- and not visit the Hoan Kiem Lake. This beautiful spot is at the epicentre of the city, and at the weekends the roads that surround the lake are also closed off to traffic so that the public can freely roam around wherever they please. As popular a spot as this is for tourists, it’s just as popular with locals, and well into the evening there are families of all ages out and about enjoying the atmosphere on the lakeside.
Market traders sell souvenirs, street food and fruit, artists set up easels to draw their lakeside scenes or tourist caricatures, groups of old people congregate to practice tai chi, and children play da cau, which involves a shuttlecock and your feet. It’s all a bit lovely, really. After dark, the crowds continue, and one night we walked along the lakeside to stumble upon a group of older locals dancing with wild abandon to some music. Not as a performance, might I add; just for the fun of it.
The legend of the Hoàn Kiem Lake is a downright wonderful one- involving a sword and a turtle- and the little stone tower in the middle of the water, known as Turtle Tower, is one of the most well-known landmarks of Hanoi.
Watch a water puppet show
Don’t leave Hanoi without going to see a water puppet show. We went to the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre which is right next to the Hoan Kiem Lake, and it was a really great way to experience Vietnamese traditions.
The tradition of water puppetry began in rice paddy fields in the Red River Delta (in Northern Vietnam), at least as far back as the 11th century, and I thought it was really wonderful to see how this way of telling stories has been preserved. The Thang Long Theatre has a specially-designed pool which looks as if it’s the facade of a temple, and puppeteers are hidden behind a bamboo screen, using their puppets to tell folk stories about rural life in Vietnam- as well as the story of the Hoán Kiem Lake. Meanwhile, on each side of the water-stage, a small orchestra of traditional instruments and singers provided live music to accompany the tales.
Guys. It is magical.
The water puppet show only lasts about 50 minutes, and although our audience was made up of a big mix of nationalities and ages, it was captivating for everyone. Even the two children sat directly in front of us- one looked about 5 years old, and the other was about 2- were kept gripped the whole way through.
There are usually four performances per day, and although it’s possible to buy tickets on the day from the box office, the queue can be long, and they often sell out quickly. If you need tickets for a certain date or time, you can book online through Viator, or go to the box office a day or two in advance to pre-book.
Visit the sites of the French Quarter
On the very last morning of your three days in Hanoi, check out a whole new neighbourhood, just around the corner from the Old Quarter. Whilst the Old Quarter has narrow lanes and higgledy-piggledy houses stacked upon each other, the French Quarter is a grid of wide leafy boulevards, a tonne of slick designer stores, and some seriously ornate French colonial architecture.
St Joseph’s Cathedral, a huge neo-gothic Catholic cathedral, is located in the French Quarter, as well as the stunning yellow Hanoi Opera House, and the Hoa Lo Prison. Admittedly the Hoa Lo Prison, which is now a museum, is far more macabre than the first two hotspots of this area; but a visit here will teach you a lot about the turbulent history of Vietnam.
Book onto a walking tour led by a local, like this one, to make the most out of your time in the French Quarter.
Head to the Vietnam Women’s Museum
I loved visiting the Vietnam Women’s Museum, which is also located within the French Quarter. This museum does a fantastic job of telling women’s stories, whether historically (millions of Vietnamese women served in the military during the war, in fact around 40% of the regional commanders of the Viet Cong were women), or in the present day.
Having just returned from spending two days trekking in the hills of Sa Pa- where we stayed with a Hmong family- I also loved seeing the exhibit about the 54 different ethnic groups in Vietnam and the experience of women within those groups. It’s pretty mind-blowing, and I had no idea there were so many different cultures within this one country.
Ticket entry is only 40,000 VND- which is just a few US dollars- payable on entry.
Take some photos of the Tromp L’oeile Murals
After lunch, it’s off on to the train section of the day. Which is much more fun than it sounds. First up, head to the Tromp L’oeile Murals which are painted onto the railway arches along a fairly unassuming little street in the city.
The murals all depict different aspects of life in Hanoi, and they’re a really lovely addition to an already colourful place. Despite the fact that this is a pretty cool photo spot in Hanoi, we were the only European visitors striding past at the time we went; so this is potentially a nice spot to get away from the crowds.
There are also some great restaurants and coffee shops around the area if you’re yet to eat.
Check out the Long Bien Bridge
Now, pals, this might not be everybody’s cup of tea- particularly in 40ºc heat like we had- and that’s ok. But I’m keeping it on the 3 days in Hanoi itinerary because it’s something we did and I’m glad we did it. Having said that, feel free to drop this section if it’s not for you.
The Long Bien Bridge was the first steel bridge in Vietnam, and it was constructed by French colonists in the late 1800s and early 1900s. You can kind of see the Eiffel Tower-ish influence in the hulking steel structure, which crosses the Red River and links the Long Bien district with the Hoan Kiem district of Hanoi.
These days the bridge bears the same colour as the name of the river it crosses. Its steel frame is weathered with red rusty streaks, and there are a few patches of pavement which have disappeared, leaving gaping holes which you have to sidestep when you’re crossing. The bridge is in fact so old that traffic is restricted to just trains, pedestrians and motorbikes; which did make me feel a bit shaky from a safety aspect.
However. The Long Bien Bridge is an icon of Hanoi and Vietnam, and it was actually pretty cool to walk across it. Our walk to the bridge took us away from the main tourist sites and it was a great way to see a bit more of life in Hanoi. It’s also an awesome spot for photos; graduation or wedding pictures are often taken here by locals, although you might just fancy a ‘here I am in Vietnam’ picture. And I support that wish, pals.
Take a trip to Train Street
Last but not least, maybe one of Hanoi’s most well-known things to do, is to take a visit to Train Street. Which is merely the unofficial name.
Train Street is a narrow lane which has just enough space to fit a train running down the middle, in between two rows of houses, shops and restaurants. The train only passes along the street twice a day, when cafe owners and shop keepers clear the tracks to allow the gargantuan vehicle to plow through. As you might imagine (and maybe have even seen, on instagram), the street has in the past become extremely crowded with visitors; so officially Train Street is actually closed to the public.
However. The closure of Train Street is a very grey area.
There are cafes and restaurants which sit directly on the street next to the train tracks. So if you can get a seat where you can enjoy a drink or a coffee or a bowl of noodles (we had some banging bowls of pho in a restaurant filled with kittens), then technically you’re allowed in. I’ll be honest; if you’re determined to get onto the street, it can still be a bit of an ordeal. (More on that in another post) So if you’re not up for some potential stress, you might be better off with the safety of heading in with a guide.
Whilst three days in Hanoi is, frankly, nowhere near enough to see and do everything, it’s definitely the perfect length of time to introduce yourself to the city. I loved every second of our time there, and although I was in the city with two friends, it’s also a place that I’d be very comfortable revisiting alone. I cannot bloomin’ wait to return.
