Old Quarter Hanoi - A Complete Travel Guide
Hanoi’s Old Quarter is the beating heart of the Vietnamese capital. Nestled between the ancient Imperial Citadel and the banks of the Hoan Kiem Lake, this historic neighbourhood is a labyrinth of narrow streets, picturesque temples and buzzing markets. Full of great restaurants, lively bars and lots of things to see and do, the Old Quarter of Hanoi is where travellers and backpackers will spend the majority of their stay.
Read on for our complete guide on how to fill your time in Hanoi’s historic Old Quarter.
In this Hanoi Old Quarter travel guide:
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The streets of the Old Quarter are filled with food, some of it even comes to you!
What is the Old Quarter of Hanoi and where can you find it on a map?
The Old Quarter of Hanoi is a district set in the heart of the Vietnamese capital. The Old Quarter is ringed by the railway tracks and ancient Imperial Citadel to the west, the banks of the Hoan Kiem Lake to the south and the banks of the mighty Red River to the east.
You can find the Old Quarter here:
A Brief History of the Old Quarter
The area has been a centre of commerce since the 11th century when Emperor Ly Thai To moved the capital of Dai Viet to Hanoi. As the city grew and grew, crafters and guilds set up shop and the streets of the Old Quarter became a thriving hub of merchants selling their wares. During the colonial period under French rule, western architecture was introduced to the streets with St Joseph’s Cathedral being the most famous addition to the area.
Today the Old Quarter is a maze of tiny streets and alleyways full of thin shophouses, street food vendors, motorbikes and people. It’s a complete assault on the senses with colourful flowers and lanterns hanging from every doorway, huge cauldrons of pho wafting their herby stock through the air and constant honks of scooters as drivers weave their way in and around the busy streets.
How to get to Hanoi’s Old Quarter
For most travellers, Hanoi will either be the beginning or end point of their Vietnamese adventure. Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport has frequent flights to the whole of Asia as well as to the UK, Europe, Australia, the Middle East and the USA.
The airport is located around 32 km away from the Old Quarter of Hanoi and will take just under an hour to get to. From the airport there are two main options on how to get to the city:
Hanoi Airport to the Old Quarter - By bus
Taking one of Hanoi’s public buses to the Old Quarter will by far be the cheapest option for backpackers and travellers. There are two main bus routes serving Hanoi’s Old Quarter:
Bus 86 runs every 45 minutes from 7am until 10pm and costs 45,000 VND per ticket. The route for bus 86 takes you from the airport, through the Old Quarter and finishes at Hanoi’s Railway Station.
Bus 17 runs every 15 minutes from 5.10am until 10pm and costs just 9000 VND per ticket. Bus 17 runs from the airport to Long Bien bus station located just north of the Old Quarter.
During rush hour, the buses can get very busy with locals and journey times to and from the airport can vary depending on traffic.
Colourful flowers can be found on sale everywhere in Hanoi's Old Quarter!
Hanoi Airport to the Old Quarter - By taxi
Taking a taxi will be more pricey, but will obviously be the quicker and more luxe-y of options.
You can arrange a taxi in advance when you arrive or book a taxi at the arrivals terminal.
We arrived from Mumbai, India and after an overnight flight with a pre-dawn arrival. As we had arrived before the local buses had started running, we splashed cash and arranged a taxi transfer. This would let us enjoy a bowl of early morning pho with the locals as soon as we arrived in the Old Quarter. You can book an airport taxi transfer with Kiwi Taxis here.
In Vietnam anything can be transported by bike!
Getting to Hanoi from elsewhere in Vietnam
If you’re already travelling within Vietnam, getting to Hanoi is super easy with almost every town and city offering bus or train links to the capital. We’d recommend booking your train and bus tickets in advance with 12Go.
Getting to Hanoi by bus
If you’re travelling from the north down to Hanoi you’ll almost certainly arrive at Ben Xe My Dinh Bus Station (located here) to the west of the Old Quarter.
If you’re arriving from the south of Hanoi, your bus will come into the southern bus station of Ben Xe Giap Bat bus station (located here).
For both the bus stations listed above you will need to arrange a taxi to take you into the Old Quarter. We’d recommend using the Grab app, see more about this later.
Many of the smaller mini-bus operators will drop you off in the Old Quarter itself where the companies have their booking offices. Just check your tickets to see where you’ll be dropped off.
Getting to Hanoi by train
Hanoi Railway Station is located here, southwest of the Old Quarter. It’s an easy 30 minute (2km) walk to get to the Old Quarter, or if you’d prefer, a 10 minute taxi drive.
There is colour everywhere you look in the Old Quarter!
What to do in Hanoi’s Old Quarter
Visit some of Hanoi’s most notable craft streets - exploring the Old Quarter by foot
Hanoi’s Old Quarter is a beautiful maze of thin shophouses rising up from narrow streets, criss-crossing like small wires on a circuit board. There’s a reason behind the tall, thin shop fronts, as in the 16th to 18th century, the buildings were taxed on their width and as a result, narrow, tall buildings were constructed.
The Old Quarter has been an area of commerce and craftsmanship since the 11th century, when merchants and craft makers followed Emperor Ly Thai To to the new Imperial capital. As Hanoi grew and grew, more and more artisans moved to the city bringing with them their crafts. This created new craft neighbourhoods and guilds to specialise and protect their professions. Each street or neighbourhood was named Hang (meaning shop or merchant) followed by what they sold e.g. Hang Duong (sugar shop).
Today as you walk through the Old Quarter, you can still see remnants of these historic streets with whole streets full to the brim with shops all selling the same products.
Some of our favourite streets to explore were Hang Ma (street of paper offerings) which was full to the brim with paper lanterns of every colour, temple offerings and decorations. Another of our favourite streets were the more industrious; with Hang Tre (street of bamboo) which sold bamboo poles in every height and Hang Thiec (street of tin) which was full of metal goods from watering cans to woks. We’d recommend just getting lost in the web of streets. We spent days wandering the maze and loved seeing all the different wares for sale.
If you’re travelling with children, Luong Van Can street will be a popular stop as wherever you look, the street is filled with cuddly teddy bears and plastic toys!
Some more of our photos taken on the busy streets of Hanoi’s Old Quarter
Hoan Kiem Lake
Dominating the southern edge of Hanoi’s Old Quarter is Hoan Kiem Lake. Surrounded by trees and flower beds, the 1.1 mile loop walk is great for a bit of escapism from the busy streets.
It’s a great circular walk that can be completed in either direction. We particularly love stopping on the shores of the western bank and looking up at the horizon where glass fronted offices rise up behind the stone pagoda that sits in the middle of the lake. It’s a perfect example of Hanoi’s historic past blending with modernity of the changing city.
We’d recommend walking the loop twice, once early in the morning and then again when the sun goes down. In the day, the lake is popular with elderly Vietnamese ladies dancing and doing exercise classes, whereas in the night, the lake lights up and the route is full of families and children.
Just off the northern shore is Ngoc San Temple, a beautiful Vietnamese / Chinese style temple set on an island in the middle of the lake. The temple is accessed via an ornate red wooden bridge and the temple complex is full of intricate carvings, incense and shrines. We’ve written all about visiting this temple in our Hanoi temple guide which you can read here.
For those backpackers who need a bit of western comfort from the ‘golden arches’, McDonalds can be found to the south of the lake… we may or may not have treated ourselves to a burger there!
Visit Hanoi’s famous ‘Train Street’
If you type Hanoi into Tik Tok or Instagram, one of the most popular search results will be Hanoi’s ‘Train Street’. Listed as one of the “top things to do” in the city, there are literally thousands of posts showing travellers posing on or sitting next to the narrow railway tracks. In fact, we just typed “Hanoi” in ourselves on Instagram, and out of the 12 top results, 8 were showing images or videos of ‘Train Street’.
For those whose socials’ have not yet spoiled ‘Train Street’; the famous street is quite simply a railway track that runs through the middle of a building lined thoroughfare. Over the years, the street's popularity has grown and more and more businesses have opened up. Today, the street is a lantern covered railway track lined with restaurants, cafes and bars all offering you the chance to sit down with an ice cold beer whilst watching as a train passes by within a foot of you.
We’re going to be completely honest here, we really don’t understand the hype around ‘Train Street’. It’s become one of the things that’s recommended as a ‘must do’ but honestly, it felt completely fake to us. We have visited the street twice now, and during our most recent visit, we felt as though what was once there has now been lost.
Social media can be such a powerful tool, it can show you places you’ve never heard of and bring to light unknown treats, however sometimes it goes far too far. The algorithm can get too over-saturated, with the same posts again and again. As a result, places can succumb to over tourism, with thousands of visitors trying to get the same photo and video content as everyone else.
As you reach the crossroads with ‘Train Street’ you’ll find barriers and guards at either entrance to ‘Train Street’. Due to some recent incidents on the line, authorities are trying to shut the street down, with access supposedly by ‘invitation only’ from one of the restaurant owners lining the street. We were lucky when we visited this time as the guard didn’t seem to be too bothered about stopping anyone and we just walked on by.
As we wandered down the street, it felt a bit like a tacky theme park, with bartenders and restaurant owners desperately shouting at us for our custom. Even though it was the middle of the afternoon and no trains were due down the lines until later that evening, the tracks were overrun with other travellers.
There are only a few trains that travel down the tracks each day, with around 4 trains running in the evening.
If you’re planning to visit ‘Train Street’ and want to watch a train go past on the tracks, check the times before heading out.
Train times are not definite as delays and cancellations can occur.
We’re going to sound like those preachy boomers by saying ‘back in our day’, but when we visited Hanoi back in 2016, ‘Train Street’ did feel like a “real" place. There were no barriers, no tourists and any cafes were just small hole-in-the-wall joints full of locals. Today, with the brightly coloured lanterns, neon lights and crowds, it really felt as though the street had lost all its authenticity. We really hate to use the word ‘authenticity’ but the street felt a world away from what we saw all those years ago.
'Train Street' in 2016 looked a little different than it does today!
With all the negativity out the way, we’re not going to say don’t visit ‘Train Street’. We’d be hypocrites if we said not too as we did walk down the tracks ourselves. There is something fun about walking down railway tracks, it sparks that inner child as you skip from one sleeper to the next. But if you’re looking for a real Hanoi experience, head to a local market, eat with the locals and sip a beer in a local bia hoi joint. There’s so much more on offer than the bland, copy-paste, Western offerings of ‘Train Street’.
Street Murals
Painted on the railway arches stretching all along Phung Hung Street, are huge street art murals depicting scenes of local Hanoi life. In one painting, a young Vietnamese girl can be seen walking into a school, whilst in another, a lady wearing the iconic conical hat carries two baskets full of flowers on either shoulder. Temples, markets and the Red River are all represented in these colourful pieces of street art.
One of our favourite pieces we spotted was an archway split in two. One half of the archway was an architectural line drawing of a doorway and window, whilst the other half was a fully painted door and window. Another favourite was a black and white temple. The bridge and path looked so realistic it felt as though we could step right into the painting.
Some of our favourite street art murals in Hanoi!
Most of the murals have been painted straight onto the railway arch, but there are a few that seem to have been made up of recycled tiles and other materials to create huge mosaics and collages.
It can be quite tricky to get photos of the street art pieces as the pavement is also a motorbike park, so you’ll have to spend a lot of time weaving your way through parked bikes to get that “perfect shot”.
The street murals have been created in partnership with Korea, to help make an art district within the Old Quarter.
If you are coming to visit the street art murals, just be aware that If you are squeamish, the road is also home to several meat sellers barbequing a certain kind of meat that as Westerners you may, or may not want to see. To know more of what this meat may be, check out the Google reviews for the Street Murals.
St Joseph Cathedral
Rising up out of the narrow alleyways and streets of the Old Quarter is the towering square spires of St Joseph’s Cathedral. Built in 1886, the French style neo-gothic cathedral looks out of place next to its Vietnamese shophouse neighbours.
The streets are filled with scooters in Hanoi's Old Quarter!
Stumbling upon the cathedral feels very surreal. One minute you’re dodging motorbikes and plastic stools, and the next you’re standing in front of a towering cathedral on a square that looks as though you’ve been transported straight to the heart of Europe.
St Joseph’s Cathedral was designed to mirror that of Paris’s Notre Dame cathedral. There are some similarities with the square towers, but St Joseph’s Cathedral is a much smaller affair. However, there is something about the cathedral that feels intimidating. It may be the many arched windows carved into the square towers, or it may be the weathered dark grey stone that stands in stark contrast to the colourful streets.
St Joseph’s Cathedral is free to enter, but just be aware that it does close for lunch. The cathedral is open from 8am to 11am and from 2pm until 5pm everyday.
As this is a religious site there is a strict dress code to enter the cathedral. Like the temples in and around the Old Quarter, shoulders and knees need to be covered.
There are lots of restaurants and coffee shops that overlook the cathedral square. To get a really good view over the cathedral, we’d recommend heading up to one of the cafe's balconies and grabbing a seat.
Exploring one of Hanoi’s markets
Hanoi is a city full of markets. From wet markets selling live fish, frogs and chickens to tourist markets selling scarfs, elephant pants and candles.
Dong Xuan Market
If you’re in the Old Quarter we’d recommend visiting Dong Xuan Market (location). This huge, 3-storey building is home to Hanoi’s largest indoor market.
First built in 1889 by the French, the market has undergone several renovations over the years following the war and then a fire in 1994. It is now a curious mix of colonial, soviet and modern styles.
Set over 3 floors, the market is full of clothes, toiletries and electrical stalls. It’s a fascinating place to wander around and really feels like a local Vietnamese market. Outside on the streets surrounding the market there are plenty of pho and noodle joints.
Dong Xuang Market is full to the brim with market stalls!
If you’re looking for souvenirs to take home you’d probably be best shopping at the Weekend Market. Which brings us nicely on to …
Hanoi’s Weekend Night Market
Stretching the length of Hang Dao, Hang Ngang, Hang Duong and Dong Xuan streets, Hanoi’s weekend night market is full of stalls selling everything from stickers to fridge magnets, knock off North Face gear to dresses, phone cases to vintage cameras. If you want to purchase anything, just remember to haggle!
Dotted throughout the market are street food stalls selling everything from banh mi to dumplings. There is also a small food court outside of Dong Xuan market.
We’d recommend heading here and walking up and down the length of the market.
The market is open from 6pm to 11pm every Friday to Sunday.
Visit one of Hanoi’s many museums
Hanoi has a rich history from the ancient city of Ly Thong to the turbulent war time years of the Vietnam / American War.
There’s no better way to learn about its colourful past than by visiting one of its many museums. Some of our favourite museums to visit were the Vietnamese Women’s Museum, the Hao Lo Prison Relic museum and the Imperial Citadel.
For more information about which museums to visit, check out our Hanoi museum guide below:
Take a look at some of Hanoi’s temples
Nestled in between the thin shophouses, are plenty of ornate, colourful temples and shrines. Wherever you are in the Old Quarter, it won’t be long until you stumble upon a temple.
The Old Quarter houses dozens of beautiful temples including the Bach Ma Temple, the Xuan Yen Temple and Dinh Tan Khai Temple. All of which can be visited on a walk around the historic streets of the Old Quarter.
If you only have time to visit one temple in Hanoi, we’d especially recommend visiting the Temple of Literature. Only a short walk away from the Old Quarter, the Temple of Literature is a stunning temple set over 5 courtyards and is full of beautiful pagodas, lakes and ornate gardens.
To read more about some of the other temples of Hanoi, including the Temple of Literature check out our temple’s of Hanoi guide below:
If you are planning to visit the temples be respectful and make sure you dress appropriately.
No shorts, mini skirts or vest tops. Shoulders and knees need to be covered.
Have an egg coffee whilst cafe hopping
Wherever you end up in the Old Quarter, you’ll never be far from a cafe or coffee shop. Serving everything from your standard black to your Vietnamese bac xiu, the coffee culture in Vietnam is huge!
One coffee you must try before leaving Hanoi though is Vietnam’s famous egg coffee. This is never the easiest sell, but egg coffee is literally what it says on the tin. An egg is whisked with coffee, sugar and condensed milk and the result is a rocket fuel laden, super sweet custardy rich coffee. It’s super delicious and super addictive. It’s more of a dessert than a coffee so we’d recommend having one as pudding after a bowl of pho!
Vietnamese egg coffee looks more like a custard dessert!
Almost every TikTok video or Instagram reel will recommend you head to the Note Cafe. A very popular cafe set just off the banks of Hoan Kiem Lake. Whilst it’s fun to write a post-it note and stick it to the multi-coloured sticker filled walls. We feel the coffee was quite expensive and not as good as other cheaper local offerings. It seems to be a victim of its own fame with queues of tourists waiting outside at all times of day. If you’re after an egg coffee with an Old Quarter view, our favourite coffee shops were:
Coffee A (location) set on a busy crossroads in the heart of the Old Quarter. Once you’ve ordered, head upstairs and get a seat on their balcony overlooking the streets below. Whatever time of day, the streets were always busy with locals playing Da Cau (foot badminton), fruit sellers and cloth merchants. Coffee A’s coffee was super delicious, especially paired with a banana muffin!
The streets of the Old Quarter are always full of life!
Ca Bop (location) also set on the edge of a busy crossroads, Ca Bop Egg Coffee is a great place for a pick me up. The coffee shop is located in one of Hanoi’s very narrow shophouses and once you’ve ordered you have to climb up to the very steep stairs to reach the balcony and upstairs seats. The best seats in the house are on the small balcony that overlooks a small temple, a busy restaurant and the bamboo sellers of Hang Tre. The egg coffees here are delicious and we can highly recommend them!
Hanoi is best viewed from a balcony!
Read more about Vietnamese coffee and what coffee you should order in our Vietnamese coffee guide below:
Taking a food tour in Hanoi
Vietnamese food is renowned worldwide for its herby flavours, delicate broths and elegant contrasts. Pho and banh mi have become a favourite amongst travellers in Vietnam, but there’s so many more dishes to try!
On our travels, we feel that one of the best ways to really understand a cuisine and delve deep into the dishes is by taking a food tour with a local expert. We took an incredible pre-dawn food tour with A Chef’s Tour where we dined with the locals in the incredibly busy Long Bien Market. Read more about our munch filled morning here.
The very busy Long Bien morning market was filled with hundreds of stalls selling fresh fruit and vegetables of every variety!
If a 4am start is too early for you, there are plenty of other food tours on offer in Hanoi from morning till nightfall. Check out this tour on Get Your Guide where you can sample 7 very tasty dishes!
Have a drink with other backpackers on Hanoi’s famous ‘Beer Street’
As night falls the bars and clubs of Ta Hien or ‘Beer Street’ open their doors and the street is filled with backpackers, locals and travellers sitting on plastic stools sipping on ice cold beers.
Cheap beer, live bands, thumping clubs and street food, if you’re after a beer with other travellers, Ta Hien is an absolute must!
There are plenty of organised pub crawls in Hanoi which will take you to some of the best bars and clubs on the street. Check out this after dark tour with Get Your Guide here.
Other things to do in Hanoi’s Old Quarter
Hanoi Opera House
Even if you’re not into opera, Hanoi’s Opera House is an impressive yellow and white domed building set just off the eastern edge of Hoan Kiem Lake. Built in 1911, the opera house still showcases music, opera and dance performances. To visit the inside of the opera house you will need to book tickets for a show.
To see what’s on, check out their website here.
For those not on a backpacker budget like us, if you’re after high-end luxury goods, think Prada and Gucci handbags, then the streets surrounding the opera house are Hanoi’s equivalent to Knightsbridge!
You can see the European influences in Hanoi's Opera House.
Watch a Water Puppet Show
Water puppetry has a long history in Hanoi. First performed in rural villages to celebrate rice harvests and other festivals, before being brought to the Imperial Court. The puppetry was an instant hit with the Royals and it wasn’t long before water puppetry theatres were established in Hanoi.
Today you can watch a Water Puppet Show at the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre located just off the northeastern banks of Hoan Kiem Lake.
Escape to nature in one of Hanoi’s green parks
Hanoi can sometimes feel very busy. The roads and narrow streets are filled to the brim with motorbikes and scooters. To escape from hecticness we’d recommend heading to one of Hanoi’s green spaces.
Our favourite park was the Thong Nhat Park. A huge park that centres out around a large lake.
Don’t miss taking a look at the VTC Tower, a red and white telecommunications tower that looks a little like a cross between the Tokyo Tower and the Eiffel Tower. You can find it to the east of the park here.
If you need a wardrobe revamp, the park is only a short walk away from the Vincom Center, a huge shopping mall with UNIQLO, Adidas, Mango, Zara and other Western branded stores.
Just north of the Old Quarter is the small Hang Dau Garden (location), a small paved park full of benches, trees and water fountains. In the centre is a large stone monument dedicated to those who fought in the Vietnam. If you’re heading to Truc Bach Island or the West Lake you’ll almost certainly pass through this park.
Hang Dau Garden is very popular with locals and you may even see some cock fighting!
If you’re after a coffee there are plenty of coffee shops rining this park.
Visit Truc Bach Island
North of Hanoi’s Old Quarter lies the small island of Truc Bach Island. Famous for its pho cuon dish (white rice noodles wrapped in a roll and filled with sauteed beef and herbs), the little island is full of small eateries, coffee shops and bars.
We spent a fortnight staying on the island, check out our guide below:
Walk around West Lake
Hanoi is dominated by a huge lake to the northwest of the Old Quarter called West Lake. Popular with expats and locals, the lake feels a world away from the busy streets of Hanoi. If you’re after doing something a little different with your time in Hanoi, why not do what we did and spend an afternoon walking around the shoreline of the lake.
Read more about West Lake and the walk we did here.
Where to eat and drink in Hanoi’s Old Quarter?
Hanoi’s Old Quarter has a plethora of restaurants, street food vendors and markets offering Vietnamese dishes and Western favourites. Whatever you fancy eating, whether you’re a foodie or a fussy eater, there will be something for you to eat in the busy streets.
We’ve written a whole article on our favourite Vietnamse dishes to try in the Old Quarter. Read more below:
Guided tours of Hanoi
If you’re short on time and want to maximise seeing as much of Hanoi as possible we’d recommend taking a guided tour. There are plenty of guided tours on offer from food and drink options to history tours, check out Get Your Guide to book a Hanoi tour.
Most tours will include pick up and drop off at your accommodation as well as transport to all the sites. Perfect if you’re short on time and want to see as many of Hanoi’s attractions as possible!
Getting around Hanoi’s Old Quarter
The easiest way to explore the Old Quarter is by foot. Just head out and get lost amongst the busy streets!
Hanoi’s motorbike-filled traffic can be very busy and overwhelming for first time travellers in Vietnam. Our advice is don’t stop in the middle of the road. Cross with confidence and don’t dither. As long as you are predictable, the motorbikes will just flow around you!
To get further afield in Hanoi the easiest way is to book a taxi. To do this we’d recommend downloading the Grab app. Grab lets you book both car and motorbike taxis and can take you anywhere in the city. To use Grab you will need a Vietnamese sim card. Check out the eSIMS available on Airalo here.
The pavements in Hanoi's Old Quarter are also used for scooter parking!
If you’re after a unique way to see the Old Quarter then why not hop on a cyclo. Available on any of the streets of the historic centre, just flag down one of these pedal powered taxis, let them know where you want to go and negotiate a price. We can’t think of anything more embarrassing than being carted around like Lord and Lady Farquaad, but we saw plenty of people loving it.
If you’re short on time and want to see as much of the Old Quarter as possible then they’re a great option. To book a cyclo tour in advance check out this tour on Get Your Guide here.
Where to stay in the Old Quarter of Hanoi
Whatever your budget and whatever your accommodation needs, there’ll be something for you.
If you’re after hostels there are plenty to choose from including the popular Mad Monkey, Hanoi Buffalo Hostel and the Old Quarter View Hostel.
To book a hostel stay, check out all of Hanoi’s hostels here.
For hotels and guesthouses, there’s everything from 5-star mega luxury to the boutique. On our first trip to Hanoi (when we weren’t on a backpacking budget) we stayed at the excellent Hotel Tirant which boasted an incredible rooftop pool and restaurant that overlooked Hoan Kiem Lake. We also had a couple of nights stay in the very comfy Hong Ngoc Dynastie Hotel & Spa located in the heart of the Old Quarter.
To book a stay in a Hanoi hotel, click here.
This time, we spent a fortnight in the Old Quarter and booked an apartment to stay in. Our flat was located right in the heart of the Old Quarter with a balcony overlooking the busy streets below. There was no better way than opening up our French doors, sitting on our own balcony and enjoying our morning coffee whilst watching the Old Quarter come alive!
Check out all the apartments on offer here.
The view from our balcony in Hanoi!
To take a look at all the accommodation on offer in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, use the map below:
All our other Hanoi travel guides
If you’re heading to Hanoi, make sure you check out all our other guides to the city below:
Where to go after Hanoi
Hanoi is extremely well connected with the rest of Vietnam.
If you’re into hiking we’d recommend heading West to the rice terraces of Sapa or if you’d prefer some vitamin sea you could head east to the island of Cat Ba and Ha Long Bay.
We left Hanoi for the mountains of northern Vietnam and ticked off a major bucket list item by riding around the jaw dropping Ha Giang Loop. Seriously, if there’s one thing we’d recommend any traveller do, it’s ride the loop. We had 4 incredible days riding on the back of a motorbike and if we could have, we’d have done it all again at the end! From Ha Giang we continued further north to Cao Bang another incredible mountain, home to the famous Ban Gioc Waterfalls that border both Vietnam and China and the amazing ‘Angel Eye’ mountain. After Cao Bang we caught a bus via Hanoi to Ninh Binh.
If you’re heading south we’d recommend heading to Ninh Binh (the inland Ha Long Bay), or continuing down to Central Vietnam to visit the ancient capital of Hue or the adventure hub of Phong Nha.
Book your tickets from Hanoi here.
Final thoughts
Hanoi’s Old Quarter is an absolute treasure trove. A chaotic tangle of narrow streets full of colour, smell and noise.
Wherever you are in the Old Quarter, the historic neighbourhood feels like an artist's collage of the past meeting modernity; with historic bamboo, silk and tin stores sitting next to the neon lights of Circle K supermarkets.
As you walk through the historic streets, there’s a frenetic, colourful energy that takes over you as you weave your way through parked motorbikes, plastic stools and makeshift market stalls. It’s a place unlike anywhere else. It’s busy, crowded and full of life, whatever the time of day, you can guarantee you’ll stumble upon something interesting on the streets of the Old Quarter. Suffice to say, we love it!
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
Obligatory 'Train Street' selfie!
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