Red River Delta (Northern Vietnam)
Hanoi
Give Hanoi two or three nights as your northern opener: base by the Old Quarter, eat bun cha and egg coffee around Hoan Kiem, and book the Ha Long cruise or Sapa night train before you fly on.
Best length
2-3 nights as a northern opener
Airport
Noi Bai (HAN), ~27km north of the centre
Airport to centre
Grab/Xanh SM ~₫280,000-400,000 (£8-11.50); Bus 86 ~₫45,000 (£1.30)
Best base
Old Quarter for atmosphere; Hoan Kiem/French Quarter for quiet
Best months
October to April (cool, dry)
In short
Hanoi at a glance
Almost every UK trip to northern Vietnam starts in Hanoi, and it works best as a 2- or 3-night opener: base in or beside the Old Quarter, walk Hoan Kiem Lake and eat bun cha and egg coffee rather than at the hotel, take the chaotic traffic slowly, and treat the city as the launchpad for an overnight Ha Long Bay cruise, Ninh Binh or the night train to Sapa before you fly on.
The short version
- Stay in the Old Quarter for atmosphere and food on the doorstep, or a few streets south in the calmer Hoan Kiem/French Quarter if motorbike noise will ruin your sleep.
- Book a mid-range overnight Ha Long Bay or Lan Ha Bay cruise from Hanoi rather than a day trip — the day version is four hours of coach each way for two hours on the water.
- Skip a Noi Bai taxi tout and use a Grab or Xanh SM car for roughly ₫280,000-400,000 (about £8-11.50) to the Old Quarter; the orange Bus 86 is about ₫45,000 (£1.30).
- Two full days covers the Old Quarter, Hoan Kiem, the Ho Chi Minh complex, the Temple of Literature and one street-food crawl; the bay and Sapa are separate overnight trips.
- October to April is the cool, dry sweet spot; December and January can be genuinely cold and grey, and May to September is hot, humid and wet.
Hanoi rewards a different kind of attention than most capitals: the headline sights are quick, and the real city is the Old Quarter’s tangle of trade streets, the kerbside stools, and the slow circuit of Hoan Kiem Lake at dawn. Where most first-timers go wrong is treating it as a sightseeing checklist — racing the Ho Chi Minh complex and the Temple of Literature in a sweaty afternoon — when the point is to walk slowly, eat constantly, and let the traffic teach you to cross the road by stepping out and not flinching. Two unhurried days in the centre beats three rushed ones.
The other mistake is forgetting what Hanoi is for. This is the northern launchpad: the overnight Ha Long Bay cruise, the karst rivers of Ninh Binh, and the sleeper train to Sapa all start here, and they’re the trips people remember. Give the city two or three nights, book your bay cruise before you fly rather than from a pavement agent, and build the rest of the north around it. The structured planning below — where to stay, what to book, how to get in from Noi Bai, and a realistic budget in pounds — picks up from here.
Plan your Hanoi trip
Keep a first trip focused: book the big timed sights, then leave room for neighbourhoods and food.
Top things to do in Hanoi
Hoa Lo Prison
Hoa Lo Prison — the 'Hanoi Hilton' to the American pilots held here — is the surviving corner of a much larger jail the French built from 1896 as Maison Centrale, in what is now the Hoan Kiem district a 10-minute walk south-west of Hoan Kiem Lake. Most of the complex was demolished in the 1990s, so what you tour today is the front gatehouse and the brutal French-era wings: the communal cells with prisoners still shackled to the floor on display, the death-row cachot dungeons, the original French guillotine, the almond (bàng) tree the inmates used for everything, and the escape sewer two prisoners crawled out through in 1945. A smaller upstairs section covers the war-era US POWs, including John McCain's flight suit and the cell propaganda photos. It's a self-guided 1 to 1.5 hours by day, or you can book the after-hours 'Sacred Night' storytelling tour for a guided, candlelit version.
Temple of Literature
The Temple of Literature (Van Mieu) is Hanoi's calmest big sight: a walled Confucian temple founded in 1070 that became the country's first national university in 1076, laid out as five linked courtyards you walk through front to back. The highlights are the Khue Van Cac pavilion gate — the one on the ₫100,000 note — and the 82 doctors' stelae mounted on stone turtles around two square ponds. It's a flat, 45-60 minute walk-through rather than a half-day, best done early before the school and tour groups arrive, and it pairs naturally with the Ho Chi Minh complex 15 minutes north in one morning.
Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre
Book a Thang Long water-puppet show a day or two ahead — it's the most popular evening ticket in the Old Quarter and the better performances sell out. The theatre sits on the north-east shore of Hoan Kiem Lake, so it slots neatly after a walk round the water and dinner. Shows run about 50 minutes, the puppeteers work waist-deep behind a bamboo screen over a real pool of water, and a live band plays traditional music alongside, so the lack of English narration barely registers. Pay the top ticket tier for a seat in the middle rows: front-row spray and a low angle, or a flat view from the very back, are both worse than the centre.
Where to stay first
The areas that make a first visit easier — not an exhaustive directory.
Old Quarter (Hoan Kiem district)
££ mid-rangeThe walkable, atmospheric heart: street food, the lake and easy cruise and tour pickups on the doorstep, at the cost of constant motorbike noise and narrow tube-house hotels. The default first base. Ask for a room off the street and high up if you're a light sleeper.
Best for: First-timers wanting atmosphere and food on the doorstep
French Quarter / South Hoan Kiem
£££ premiumA few streets south of the Old Quarter around the Opera House: calmer, greener, with colonial architecture and the smarter four- and five-star hotels like the Metropole. The trade-off most couples are happy with if the Old Quarter feels too frantic.
Best for: Quieter nights and smarter hotels within walking distance
Tay Ho (West Lake)
££ mid-rangeA leafier, more residential and expat-heavy area around the big lake, 15-20 minutes north by Grab. Better cafes, sunset bars and pool hotels, but you'll taxi in and out for the Old Quarter sights, so it suits a longer or repeat stay.
Best for: Calmer, residential base; cafes and lake sunsets
Around Ta Hien (beer street)
£ valueThe loudest corner of the Old Quarter, where the bia hoi stools spill across the junction until the small hours. Cheap beds and walkable to everything, but pick it for the scene and the price, not for sleep.
Best for: Backpackers, nightlife, budget
Airport to city centre
| Option | Time | Cost | Book ahead? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grab or Xanh SM car to the Old Quarter | 40-55 min | ₫280,000-400,000 (£8-11.50) | Metered, cashless; cheapest fixed-price door-to-door |
| Bus 86 (airport express) to the Old Quarter | 50-70 min | about ₫45,000 (£1.30) | Cheapest; runs to Hoan Kiem and the rail station |
| Hotel or pre-booked private transfer | 40-55 min | from about £12-18 | Easiest after a 12-hour overnight flight |
| Airport taxi (metered) | 40-55 min | ₫350,000-450,000 + ~₫25,000 toll (£10-13) | Use the official rank, not a tout; agree a meter or fixed price |
When to go
Sweet spot: October to April is the cool, dry season and the clear winner for Hanoi, with comfortable temple mornings and the best weather for an onward Ha Long Bay cruise; October-November and March-April are the sweet spot before the heat or cold bite. December and January can be genuinely cold and grey at 12-17C, so pack a warm layer.
May to September is hot, humid and the wet season, with heavy afternoon downpours and the risk of tropical storms hitting the northern coast — the worst window for a bay cruise. Winter (December-January) is dry but cool and often overcast. Avoid Tet (Vietnamese New Year, around mid-February 2026), when much of the city shuts and prices spike.
What it costs
Direct return economy from Heathrow on Vietnam Airlines to Hanoi (HAN) starts around £790-£800, rising in peak season and around Tet (Vietnamese New Year, mid-February 2026); one-stop fares from Manchester, Edinburgh and other UK airports through a Gulf or Asian hub are often cheaper than the direct flight.
Daily budget per person
Hanoi is one of the cheapest capitals you'll eat in: a bowl of pho or bun cha runs ₫40,000-90,000 (about £1.10-2.60) and a Bia Hanoi on the kerb is under a pound, so the budget leaks come from cruises, tours and rooftop cocktails. Carry small dong notes and count the zeros — ₫500,000 (£14) and ₫50,000 (£1.40) look alike. All dong figures use £1 ≈ ₫35,000 (June 2026).
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