My Vietnam and Hanoi Guide

I have lived and worked in Vietnam for several years . When not living there, I visit several times a year to work with colleagues at the Institute of Sociology and the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. Several friends have visited me while I was living there, and several more have visited Hanoi without me and have asked for suggestions on things to see and do—so here are my recommendations. Keep in mind that things change quickly in Hanoi, so something suggested below may no longer be there.

 

Resources Before You Go

  • Get your visa before arrival. It is very easy. You can print out the form from the Vietnam Embassy web site and then fill it out and FedEx the necessary materials to them. Include a prepaid FedEx slip for them to send it back to you (that way you will always be able to go on-line and track where your passport and visa are) within a week.
  • I have a strong preference for Rough Guides Vietnam guide (currently in its 6th edition; 2009) over Lonely Planet. Another neat little guide for HCMC and Hanoi is from an Asian company and is called Luxe City Guides based in Hong Kong. Their guides are short and to the point and very well researched. They come out with a new edition every 6 months so their suggestions are very current and focus on what is trendy. This guide is not for those watching their wallet. National Geographic Traveler also came out with a Vietnam guidebook in Oct. 2006, now in its second edition (2010).
  • For general travel information on Vietnam go to Vietnam Adventures, also good is the Indochine Regional Travel Guide, which includes Vietnam.
  • If you need a travel agent, I have used Exotissimo Travel Services in Hanoi for several years for travel in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia and they are wonderful; fantastic services and great prices. Buffalo Tours is also good for soft adventure travel, but I think overpriced. I also used EAisa Travel once and they organized a terrific 4-day kayaking trip in Halong Bay for a group of us.
  • Travelers checks are a hassle. Banks charge about 4% to cash them and hotels give you a bad exchange rate. Credit cards are widely accepted in most shops and restaurants and ATMs are plentiful in cities.
  • The New York Times travel section is enamored with Vietnam, and come up with a new Vietnam based article at least every 6 months or so. You can find all their articles on their web site. Some good articles include: Past Lingers in Changing Vietnam(8/28/2005), Going to Ho Chi Minh City (4/24/2005), In Hanoi, Traffic and History Hum (3/7/2004), At Ease in Vietnam, Asias New Culinary Star (8/27/2003), Looking Up an Old Love on the Streets of Vietnam (8/13/2003), On Hanoi Menus, Spring Rolls and Profiteroles (4/28/2002), Hanoi, Dining Evolution (2/5/2006), Hanoi: Hanoi Hilton Opera (2/26/2006), Boomtown, Vietnam (11/19/2006), The Awakening of Hanoi (2/17/06), and 36 Hours in Ho Chi Minh City (12/21/08).
  • Other travel articles: Good Afternoon Vietnam in Conde Nast Traveler April 2005; Return to Da Lat in Smithsonian Magazine August 2005; Silk Robes and Cell Phones in Smithsonian Magazine January 2002; Vietnam Now in Smithsonian Magazine January 1996; Good Morning, Vietnam in USA Today (12/19/2004), 48 Hours in Hanoi, the Best of a City in 2 Days in National Geographic Traveler, The Best of Vietnam from Travel and Leisure Feb. 2003, The Flip Side of Vietnam in Travel and Leisure July 1998.
  • If you would like to do some reading before you arrive or during the long flight, try: Andrew X Pham- Catfish and mandala: A two-wheeled voyage through the landscape and memory of Vietnam, Duong Van Mai Elliott- The sacred willow: Four generations in the life of a Vietnamese family; Robert Templer- Shadows and wind: A view of modern Vietnam; Dana Sachs- A house on dream street: Memoir of an American woman in Vietnam; Graham Greene- The quiet American; Thu Huong Duong-Paradise of the blind: A novel.

 

When You Arrive

  • Pick up a copy of The Guide, a monthly publication with event listings. Most upscale hotels will provide a copy in the room. Mainly covers HCMC and Hanoi.
  • Make an appointment for a massage at Qi Salon and Spa (27 Ly Thuong Kiet; 824-4703), located close to the city center. There is nothing like 20 min. in the steam room and an hour massage to get you feeling relaxed after that long plane flight. Hanoi Spa (41 Tran Quoc Toan; 943-9789) is another central city option, and near West Lake, very close to the Sheraton, is Zen Spa.
  • Crossing the street can be daunting. Just walk in and keep a steady pace and the traffic will move around you. DO NOT suddenly dart for it. Keep a steady pace.
  • Hanoi is consistently ranked among the safest cities in Asia. Use common sense and you wont have any problem.

 

Places To Stay

  • I recommend not staying in West Lake (Tay Ho) but rather right in the heart of Hanoi, otherwise you will spend too much time in a taxi and see the ever increasing traffic problems.  I always recommend hotels close to the heart of Hanoi, Hoan Kiem Lake.  Waking up early and walking around the lake (see below) is a great way to start the day.
  • If money is not a concern, go for the Sofitel Metropole Hanoi as your first choice (wonderful historic hotel with a fantastic location). Another good choice for the over $100 a night range is the Hilton Hanoi Opera (see review from New York Times above). At about $75 a night, is the wonderful boutique Zephyr Hotel just steps from Hoan Kiem Lake. At about $65 a night, the DeSyloia is charming and has a very good restaurant. At about $45 a night the Church Hotel is a great value. This is a very clean, comfortable hotel, high speed internet access in your room, and a great location on the very fashionable “Church St”. Although they are very nice hotels, I would avoid the Dawoo, Sheraton, and Sofitel West Lake hotels due to their out of the city location.

 

Places To Eat

  • Vietnam has terrific food and the restaurant scene has changed tremendously in the past decade. There are great dining options from less than $1 to U.S. prices (See New York Times articles on dining in Hanoi).
  • If you are visiting the Temple of Literature, plan to have lunch across the street at KOTO (Know One Teach One, 61 Van Mieu), a wonderful little place that takes in street children and provides them job training and education. Lunch is about $4 and includes Western and Asian offerings. Their savory crepe filled with seafood and veggies in my favorite.
  • Another good cause to spend your money on for either lunch or dinner is Hoa Sua. They take children from highly disadvantaged backgrounds and teach them English and French and train them for jobs in the restaurant and hotel tourist trade. Both Vietnamese and French food is available. I like the snapper steamed in banana leaves, and for dessert the profiteroles (pastry filled with vanilla ice cream and covered with chocolate sauce) are outstanding. Your waiter/waitress is a student, they are very eager but depending on what point in their training they are in, not always good. Please be kind and patient and repeat things slowly.
  • Pho Ga (32 Le Van Huu)- Famous for very good Hanoi pho (chicken noodle soup), a bowl costs $0.43 and is a filling breakfast or lunch. There are air conditioned rooms upstairs.
  • Tandoor (24 Hang Be) has good Indian food and their sister vegetarian restaurant Dakshin (94 Hang Trong) are both very good. Excellent mango lassis. At Tandoor I like their shrimp vindaloo and at Dakshin their dosas, especially the masala dosa.
  • For upscale eating that combines terrific food with beautiful settings go to Emperor (185 Le Thanh Tong), or Wild Rice (6 Ngo Thi Nham), or Wild Lotus (55A Nguyen Du) —good food and great settings in old French villas. For the Emperor, if the weather is not too cold or hot ask for a table on the second floor patio overlooking the courtyard. At Wild Lotus I highly recommend starting with the peanut encrusted shrimp with green mango salad or the tuna rolls with wasabi sauce. The steamed Nha Trang sea bass is outstanding and for dessert try the Vietnamese sticky rice with Thai custard and vanilla ice cream. Another good choice is Nam Phuong (19 Phan Chu Trinh). Restaurant Bobby Chin (1 Ba Trieu) right across the street from Hoan Kiem lake is also good (more fusion Asian than Asian) but does not have the atmosphere or Emperor or Wild Lotus. My favorite used to be the Emperor, but now its Wild Lotus. All these restaurants have been written up in the New York Times travel section, and therefore are very popular with tour groups. Make a reservation to avoid disappointment.
  • Cafe Moca (16 Nha Tho) has good inexpensive food and a more extensive coffee list than Starbucks. Across the street the Paris Deli is very good and has a nice balcony on the second floor with outdoor tables that makes a very pleasant place to have a chocolate eclair and a lemon juice in nice weather, especially if you have been shopping on the street below.  Schools let out around 4:30 and this little street will be filled with parents on motorbikes to pick up their kids.  The Paris Deli balcony gives a great view of the scene below.
  • Little Hanoi (21 Hang Gai) is a good place for breakfast (excellent French toast) and sandwiches.

 

Shopping

  • The fashionable place to shop in Hanoi is Nha Tho street (Church Street in English). This little street has some really nice shops, including Mosaique (housewares), Song (resort wear), Co (for tailoring), Marie Linh (high end womens fashions mainly in linen) and LaCasa (housewares). The other major shopping street is Hang Gai in the old quarter. On Hang Gai, I frequent Duc Loi (76 & 93 Hang Gai) because they have always given me great service and good prices. They have quick turn around when you want things made and its of high quality. For childrens clothes, and bed and table linens, Tan My is very nice (linens are upstairs).
  • CoCoon (30 Nha Chung)- clothes for both men and women, great designs that feature very bold colors. One of my favorites and right around the corner from Nha Tho St (when facing St. Josephs cathedral, turn left). Also on Nha Chung a few doors down from CoCoon is Oriental House. For gifts to take home (silk scarves, bags, ethnic minority products) the Wonder Shop (11 Nha Chung) is good.
  • Khai Silk (several branches including one on Hang Gai- for both men and women, high end silks, designs are more conservative than CoCoon.
  • Vietnamese House (92 Hang Bac)- absolutely beautiful stone carved boxes and vases that are not like anything else you will see around Hanoi.  Great workmanship.
  • Nguyen Bao Nguyen (47 Hang Ngang)- Mr. Nguyen is a lovely gentleman who does death portraits in pencil. He has branched out to other subjects now and does amazing work. He did death portraits during the war as well, and right outside his studio is a crawl space under the sidewalk for hiding when the bombing started.
  • Craftlink (43 Van Mieu)- great place to spend your money on things to bring back. This is a not-for-profit organization that provides new markets for traditional craftspeople. All the profits are channeled back to villages. Right across from the Temple of Literature and a few doors down from KOTO.

 

Things to Do

  • Visit the Temple of Literature (Van Mieu).
  • Take a walk around the old quarter and Hoan Kiem Lake.
  • Visit the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology- wonderful museum and definitely a must see if you will be going to Sapa or other areas with ethnic minority groups (closed Mondays).
  • Many American tourists want to see the small lake in Hanoi that still has the American aircraft sticking out of it from the war. This is located in a residential section through a maze of narrow streets and is hard to find if you do not speak Vietnamese. If you are intent on seeing this, hire a guide.
  • If you are an early riser take a walk around Hoan Kiem or Bay Mau lakes in the morning to see how locals start their mornings. Badminton, tai chi and stretching are everywhere.
  • Water puppetry is an ancient art form and its well worth a visit to Municipal Water Puppet Theater (57B Dinh Tien Hoang) for a performance. Avoid the first three rows so you will not get wet from the stagnant water.
  • The Opera House is a beautiful building build in 1911 with performances listed in The Guide and Vietnam News (English newspaper).
  • Definitely go and see Uncle Ho (he travels to Russia in October and November for retouching).  For me, the value of this is not to see Ho Chi Minh per se, but to view the reactions and emotions of the Vietnamese around you as they see Uncle Ho.  Watching a 70 year old woman and a 16 year old boy weep at the sight of him speaks volumes as to the place he occupies in the hearts of the Vietnamese.

 

Outside Hanoi

  • Outside of Hanoi there are several craft villages that are fun to visit. The most popular is Bat Trang (pottery village). Van Phuc, about 12km southwest of Hanoi is a silk weaving village since the 18th century, you will hear the clatter of looms as soon as you approach. There are lots of shops and you pay less here than waiting for the products to make it to Hang Gai street. The small family factory will be in the back. Dong Ky is a wood carving village.
  • The most popular side trips outside Hanoi are to Sapa and Ha Long Bay. Both are well worth it. For Halong, stay overnight on the boat to get the true experience. Hoang Hai is a company that has tradition wooden junks that have been converted to luxury cabins, two beds and a bathroom (6-8 cabins per boat). Fantastic seafood is served for lunch and dinner while cruising the bay (contact Exotissimo to arrange if you are interested). If you go in nice weather, take your swim suit. When the boat drops anchor in a quiet cove for the evening, taking a swim before dinner is very refreshing. There is a new company called Emeraude that has recreated a paddle wheel ship that used to cruise the bay during French times (39 cabins). I have never gone with this company but they get good reviews.
  • If you are in Hanoi soon after Tet (Vietnamese New Year), take a day trip to the Perfume Pagoda.  After about a 3 hour drive from Hanoi you will get into a small boat and be rowed down river to the base of the mountain, with pagodas scattered throughout.  The main pagoda is at the top.  The beautiful scenery of the river, rice paddies, and limestone outcroppings is worth the trip alone.  Add to that the thousands of pilgrims that flock to the site after Tet and it is definitely a sight to behold.  Any tour company in Hanoi can arrange a trip; again, I recommend Exotissimo.
  • For the Sapa area, there is a new ecolodge that is really nice, Topas Ecolodge. The same company (Danish and Vietnamese partnership) can arrange for trekking or hiking trips in the area or visits to local markets. One of their rooms was featured in Conde Nast Travelers Room with a View.  The Victoria Hotel is an upscale option in Sapa, and they have private train cars once used on the Orient Express to get you there in style.  For more on Sapa, see the article called Village Life in Go World Travel.
  • Hoi An is also a great place to visit, about 30 min. south of DaNang, which is about a 45 min plane flight from Hanoi. This ancient town, a UNESCO cultural heritage site, is very well preserved. Stay about 5km out of town and you can get a hotel right on the beach. Both Palm Gardens Beach Resort and Victoria Hoi An are beautiful 4 star beach properties. We thought the Palm Gardens was fantastic-- large rooms with balconies (some with a great sea view), wonderful staff, and for a resort, the food and beverages were fairly priced (for ex., $1.50 for draft beer, $6 for a seafood pizza, $7 for grilled snapper). Hoi An Riverside Hotel is also nice- beautiful rooms on the 2nd floor overlooking the river are spacious, well appointed and tranquil. Rice and corn fields surround the river and sitting on the balcony and watching the river and the villagers going to and from the fields is a wonderful way to relax. A room from this hotel, overlooking the river and fields, was featured in A Room with a View section of Conde Nast Traveler. For those wanting more of a spa experience, or as they call it a wellness resort, that is feng shui designed and offers tai chi, meditation, etc. the Life Resort gets raves (I have not stayed there). A nice half-day trip from Hoi An is to visit the ancient Cham complex of My Son.
  • In DaNang, the Furuma Resort is beautiful and right on what Americans refer to as China Beach. Pay extra for a beach view (rather than garden view) room, its well worth the money. Unfortunately, the restaurant food is really overpriced and nothing great. Make the effort to walk down the beach to a local place where you will get wonderful fresh seafood and your entire meal will cost about what you would pay for a beer at Furuma. While in DaNang, the Cham Museum is well worth the visit.
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Hanoi is a great city, have fun, and email me if you have any new suggestions for me to try on my next visit.