Explore Hanoi with group and private tours designed around your pace, travel style and interests, historic temples, French colonial architecture, local markets, hidden alleys, street food and everyday neighbourhood life, by car, Jeep, Vespa or on foot. Planning where to stay? Our Hanoi where-to-stay guide 2026 has neighbourhood tips and local advice.
Discover Hanoi's vibrant streets on a guided Vespa tour, weaving through the Old Quarter, Train Street and hidden alleys. Street-food tastings, iconic landmarks and a creamy egg coffee finale.
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Hanoi's hidden alleys, iconic landmarks and vibrant local life on a half-day vintage Army Jeep tour. Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, Train Street, West Lake and the Old Quarter, with a meal and egg coffee included.
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Capture Hanoi's most photogenic spots on a full-day guided photography tour, Train Street, Long Bien Bridge, hidden cafés, mural alleys, flower markets and the Lotte Tower Skywalk, with perfectly timed light.
Learn more →A Hanoi tour is where almost every northern Vietnam journey begins and ends, so it pays to know the city well. A thousand years of history is folded into lantern-lit lanes, lakeside temples and pavement cafes where the coffee is thick and the stools are always low - chaotic, graceful and completely addictive.
Because Hanoi is the gateway to Ha Long Bay, Ninh Binh and Sapa, most travellers pass through twice, which makes it the ideal place to ease into the rhythm of the north. Below are the sights worth your time, how many days to give the city, and the questions we hear most before people arrive.
The places and rituals that capture the old capital, from lakeside temples to a bowl of pho at a pavement stall.
The heart
Thirty-six ancient streets, each once given over to a single trade, still humming with silk, tin, herbs and street food. Best explored slowly on foot, ideally early, before the heat and the scooters build.
The centre
The city's green heart, ringed by joggers at dawn and lit red at night. A slender bridge leads to the temple on its little island - the calm eye at the middle of the storm.
History
The mausoleum, the stilt house and the One Pillar Pagoda sit together in a solemn, carefully kept quarter that tells the story of modern Vietnam and the man at the centre of it.
Old learning
Vietnam's first university, founded in 1070, a series of tranquil walled courtyards and lotus ponds dedicated to Confucius. A rare pocket of quiet and one of the city's most photogenic corners.
On the plate
Pho, bun cha, banh mi and the famous egg coffee whipped thick and sweet. A first-evening food tour maps the city's flavours early, so you order like a local for the rest of your trip.
After dark
The centuries-old water puppet theatre is a charming hour, and the rooftops around the Old Quarter trade the street-level chaos for a cold drink and a view over the tangle of rooftops and wires.
Hanoi rewards a little patience. Here is how the days tend to shake out, depending on your pace.
1 day
Enough for the headline sights - the Old Quarter, Hoan Kiem Lake and a proper bowl of pho - if Hanoi is only a staging post before Ha Long Bay. Rushed, but better than skipping it.
Old Quarter · Hoan Kiem Lake
2 days
The length we usually suggest. Time for the museums and the Ho Chi Minh complex, an unhurried food tour and an evening to simply wander. The city stops feeling like a blur.
Sights · food tour · a free evening
3 days
For those who like a city. Add the Temple of Literature, a coffee-shop afternoon, the West Lake temples, or a day trip to the Bat Trang pottery village or the Perfume Pagoda.
Plus day trips and slow mornings
Two days is the comfortable answer - enough for the Old Quarter, Hoan Kiem Lake, the main museums and a proper food tour without rushing. One day works if the city is only a stop on the way to Ha Long Bay, while three days suits travellers who enjoy lingering in cafes and adding a day trip. Most people pass through Hanoi twice, so the time adds up naturally.
Very much so. Hanoi is the cultural heart of Vietnam - older, slower and more atmospheric than Ho Chi Minh City, with a food scene that alone justifies the trip. It can feel chaotic at first, but a day or two in and most people fall for its faded grandeur, lakeside calm and pavement life.
The Old Quarter puts you in the thick of it, walkable to most sights and the best street food, though it is lively and noisy. The nearby French Quarter and the streets around Hoan Kiem Lake are a touch calmer and more polished while staying central. For a first visit we usually point people to the Old Quarter or its quieter edges.
It is about a two-and-a-half hour drive on the expressway, and a private transfer is the most comfortable way to go - most cruises include a pick-up from your Hanoi hotel. This is why nearly every northern itinerary starts in Hanoi before heading to the bay. We arrange the transfer so the two link seamlessly.
Yes, Hanoi is generally very safe, with little serious crime against visitors. The main things to watch are the traffic, which takes nerve to cross at first, and the occasional overcharging or taxi scam. Agree fares in advance or use a reputable app, keep an eye on your bag in crowds, and you will have no trouble.
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