Attraction
Hoan Kiem Lake and Ngoc Son Temple
The lake at the heart of Hanoi, linked to the legend of the returned sword, with the Turtle Tower and the 18th-century Ngoc Son Temple on…
Most of the things to do in Hanoi are found in a compact centre around Hoan Kiem Lake. North of the lake lies the Old Quarter, the old merchant town of 36 streets named after the trades once practised on them, with Dong Xuan Market on its edge. To the west, Ba Dinh holds the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the One Pillar Pagoda and the UNESCO-listed Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, while the Temple of Literature, founded in 1070, stands in Dong Da. West Lake and the Tay Ho district offer pagodas, lakeside cafés and sunset views away from the traffic.
Hanoi is one of Asia's great food cities. Street food such as pho, bun cha and banh mi sits alongside egg coffee in old family cafés, Michelin Bib Gourmand favourites and three one-star restaurants, and the evenings bring bia hoi corners, jazz and cocktail bars. Three days covers the main sights, the Old Quarter and a good range of food, and four or five days allows time for day trips to Ha Long Bay or Ninh Binh.
Attraction
The lake at the heart of Hanoi, linked to the legend of the returned sword, with the Turtle Tower and the 18th-century Ngoc Son Temple on…
Attraction
Hanoi's Confucian temple, founded in 1070, home to Vietnam's first national university and the stone stelae recording the names of successful royal examination candidates.
Attraction
The granite mausoleum on Ba Dinh Square where Ho Chi Minh's embalmed body lies in state, open on selected mornings under strict rules of dress and…
Attraction
The UNESCO-listed heart of the old imperial capital, with the Doan Mon gate, the Kinh Thien Palace foundations, the 1967 D67 building and excavations spanning a…
Attraction
A small wooden Buddhist pagoda raised on a single stone pillar in a lotus pond, first built in 1049 and rebuilt after its destruction in 1954.
Attraction
A museum devoted to Vietnam's 54 recognised ethnic groups, with galleries of costumes and crafts and an open-air garden of full-size traditional houses.
Café
The family café where egg coffee was invented in 1946, still run by the founder's son in an alley off Nguyen Huu Huan Street in the…
Café
A simple second-floor café overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake, opened by the daughter of egg coffee's inventor and known for its hot and iced egg coffee.
Café
A Hanoi coffee house dating from the early 1950s, where the owner once swapped coffee for paintings by struggling artists, whose works still line the walls.
Café
A specialty coffee shop by day and European bistro by night, hidden in a lane off Phan Huy Chu Street and listed as a Michelin Bib…
Café
A café hidden behind a shop on Hang Gai Street, reached through a courtyard and an old house, with a rooftop terrace overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake.
Café
A three-storey café beside Hoan Kiem Lake whose walls are covered in hundreds of handwritten sticky notes left by customers, from quotes to reflections on life.
Hotel
Hanoi's grand colonial hotel, open since 1901, with a restored wartime bomb shelter, celebrated restaurants and a guest list from Charlie Chaplin to Graham Greene.
Hotel
A 47-room luxury hotel designed by Bill Bensley around the theme of opera in the 1920s, with a Michelin-starred teppanyaki counter and an indoor pool.
Hotel
A luxury hotel on West Lake with overwater rooms, six restaurants, an outdoor pool and Sunset Bar, which the hotel describes as Hanoi's only overwater bar.
Hotel
A five-star art hotel overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake, decorated with contemporary Vietnamese art, with a rooftop pool and bar facing the lake.
Hotel
A five-star MGallery boutique hotel on Trang Tien Street that pairs French colonial architecture with opera-inspired interiors, a spa and a pool.
Hotel
A 120-room hotel on Hang Trong Street near Hoan Kiem Lake, with a 12th-floor outdoor pool, rooftop bars and views over the lake, cathedral and Old…
Bar
Vietnam's first jazz club, founded in 1997 by saxophonist Quyen Van Minh, with live jazz every night from 9pm on Trang Tien Street.
Bar
A long-running Hoan Kiem bar that began as a beer pub in 1995 and is now a whisky, cigar and cocktail lounge with a seasonally changing…
Bar
A 40-seat counter bar on Tong Duy Tan Street named after the Negroni, known for infused Negronis and a competition-winning pho cocktail.
Bar
A gin bar hidden upstairs in a building near St Joseph's Cathedral, with 1920s-style decor and house-infused gin and tonics in nine flavours.
Bar
An open-air bar and restaurant on the very top of the 65-storey Lotte Center Hanoi, the highest rooftop bar in the city, with views in every…
Bar
The bar of Hanoi's historic Metropole hotel, above the 1964 bomb shelter where Jane Fonda and Joan Baez sheltered during the 1972 air raids.
Restaurant
Chef Sam Tran's Michelin-starred restaurant opposite the Temple of Literature, serving a single seasonal tasting menu rooted in traditional Vietnamese cooking.
Restaurant
A Michelin-starred restaurant in the style of a vintage northern tea house, serving refined home-style Vietnamese dishes at moderate prices near the Temple of Literature.
Restaurant
A Michelin-starred teppanyaki counter for 14 guests in the basement of Capella Hanoi, cooking premium seafood and beef flown in from Japan.
Restaurant
A Michelin Bib Gourmand pho shop on Bat Dan Street, serving bowls of northern-style beef pho made to order at the counter, morning and evening.
Restaurant
A Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant in a century-old townhouse, specialising in cha ca, turmeric-marinated catfish finished at the table with dill and spring onions.
Restaurant
The everyday bun cha restaurant where Barack Obama and Anthony Bourdain shared a meal, still serving grilled pork, noodles and broth to locals and visitors.
Thing to do
The historic trading district north of Hoan Kiem Lake, known as the 36 streets, where each street was once named after the goods sold there.
Thing to do
Hanoi's best-known water puppet theatre, founded in 1969, staging several 50-minute shows a day of a northern Vietnamese folk art with traditional music.
Thing to do
Hanoi's largest covered market, a three-storey hall on the northern edge of the Old Quarter, with a weekend night market on Dong Xuan Street outside.
Thing to do
Hanoi's largest lake, with a 17-kilometre shoreline, the ancient Tran Quoc Pagoda on an islet and the leafy Tay Ho district of cafés, hotels and restaurants.
Thing to do
A steel cantilever bridge over the Red River opened in 1903, rebuilt after wartime bombing and still crossed by trains, motorbikes, bicycles and pedestrians.
Tour operator
A volunteer club of Hanoi students who lead free English-language city and food tours for visitors, usually starting from your hotel.
Tour operator
A non-profit, student-run organisation founded in 2012 that offers free private walking tours of the Old Quarter, war sites and the Ho Chi Minh complex.
Tour operator
A scooter tour company operating since 2007 that runs city, food, night and village tours of Hanoi as a passenger on vintage Vespas.
Tour operator
The Hanoi arm of Intrepid's Urban Adventures, running a three-hour street food tour, private city tours, a mixology evening and day trips to Ha Long Bay…
Tour operator
An evening experience at the Temple of Literature with light art, folk games, stele storytelling and a 3D mapping show celebrating Vietnam's tradition of learning.
Three days covers Hoan Kiem Lake, the Old Quarter, the Ba Dinh sights, the Temple of Literature and plenty of food; four or five days allows day trips to Ha Long Bay or Ninh Binh
The Old Quarter and the streets around Hoan Kiem Lake are the most convenient for sightseeing and food, while Tay Ho by West Lake is calmer and suits longer stays
Noi Bai International Airport is about 45 km from the centre; airport buses, taxis and ride-hailing cars all make the trip, and many hotels can arrange a private transfer
Street food, local cafés and bia hoi are inexpensive, while luxury hotels, rooftop bars and tasting-menu restaurants are priced closer to international levels
Like any big city, Hanoi calls for sensible precautions: take care crossing busy roads, keep bags and phones secure in crowds, drink bottled or filtered water rather than tap water, and check your government's travel advice before you go
September to November is usually the most pleasant season, and May is also popular when the flame trees bloom
Yes, carry Vietnamese dong for street food, markets and small cafés, as many small businesses do not take cards