City: Hanoi
Top Things to do in Hanoi
Countries
What to do and see in Hanoi, Vietnam: The Best Budget-friendly Things to do
The charming Vietnamese capital has aged well, preserving the Old Quarter, monuments and colonial architecture, while making room for modern developments alongside. Hanoi may have shrugged off several former names, including Thang Long, or "ascending dragon," but it hasn't forgotten its past, as sites such as Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum and Hoa Lo Prison attest. Lakes, parks, shady boulevards and more than 600 temples and pagodas add to the appeal of this city, which is easily explored by taxi.
Restaurants in Hanoi
1. Vietnam Luxury Golf Tours
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 175 reviews
Reviewed By 4Swedishgolfers
A highly appreciated golfing holiday in Vietnam starting in Saigon area with Tourguide Mr Lam who really took care of us during our visit. We played 3 courses Vietnam Golfcourse, Twin Dove and Harmonie. Then travelled to Da Nang and Hoi An where our new Tourguide Ms Linh took care of us and she really had good knowledge in the Vietnam history. Here we played 4 courses BRG Da Nang, Montgomerie Links, Vinpearl and Ba Na Hills. Very good choise. After that we took us to Hanoi and were met with our Tourguide Mr Long. Here we played Kings Island and Legend Hill. We also had a nightcruise on Halong Bay which were a fantastic trip. All this had been organised by Ms Julia Pham who did a very good job with all the planning. We were 4 people doing this trip and we can really recommend Luxuary Golf Tours for organising this.
2. Fine Arts Museum (Bao Tang My Thuat)
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,093 reviews
This museum was opened in 1966. Though in need of updating, some interesting artifacts are on display in its three floors organized chronologically.
Reviewed By TravelinGypsey
Perfect museum! Especially perfect on a hot day and if you want to do something relaxing, knowledgeable, fun and see some beautiful art. The first building has three floors available to view and the second building has four floors but there isn’t something on each floor. The basement area of the second building has pottery which is beautiful, then the top floor has authentic, tribal clothing and artifacts (it is a bit warmer in this building and on the top level but it’s worth seeing!) The first building is next to the ticket area (there is a gift shop inside) which is past the little coffee stand; this building has beautiful collections of paintings across different eras, oil paintings, statues and just amazing things. Spend time just relaxing and walking through- it’s a perfect activity and museum for anyone; solo, family or friends! Follow @travelingypsey on Instagram & GoogleMaps!
3. Lake of the Restored Sword (Hoan Kiem Lake)
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 13,508 reviews
A rare breed of turtle enjoys this popular lake almost as much as countless locals and tourists. Hoan Kiem Lake is a dynamic daily tableau, from morning walks amid locals doing exercises on the shore, to young couples water-gazing on park benches, to the multiple shopping and sight-seeing opportunities in the vicinity. Centrally located in the city, Hoan Kiem Lake serves as a massive home base, and provides endless people-watching and recreational opportunities on the edge of the Old Quarter.
Reviewed By travelwithanda - Slovenia, null
If you only have a day or two to spend in Hanoi, I recommend you to walk around the Hoan Kiem lake. This way you will be able to see it all: the hustle and bustle of the Old Quarter with milions of crazy motorcycles, beautiful and well maintained parks and gardens, temples and monuments, local people and tourists, old and new buildings... it is really hard to describe it, you need to live it. The walk around the lake takes about 30 minutes, but add at least 30 for photo stops. I can't wait to go back.
4. Temple of Literature & National University
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 10,990 reviews
Reviewed By Eviltreelady
Beautiful historic site, walk through series of courtyards to arrive at temple shrine ,then a centre with plenty of interest and information.Definitely worth a visit. Craftlink near by with beautiful homemade crafts.
5. Vietnam Museum of Ethnology
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 6,576 reviews
Vietnam Museum of Ethnology is a unit under Vietnam Academy of Scocial Sciences. Vietnam Museum of Ethnology is both a research centre and a public museum exhibiting the ethnic groups of Vietnam. The mission of the Museum is scientific research, collection, documentation, conservation, exhibition and preserving the cultural and historic patrimony of the nation's different ethnic groups. The museum also serves to guide research, conservation, and technology that are specific to the work of an ethnographic museum.
Reviewed By srablair - Lytham St Anne's, United Kingdom
We visited here as part of our highlights of Indochina tour. This is a great museum with brilliant outdoor exhibits showing examples of the houses used by each of the ethnic groups that came together to form modern Vietnam. We spent a good few hours here as the indoor exhibits are also excellent with translations in English. There is also a good cafe in the grounds serving hot meals as well as tea coffee cakes etc. This was a good visit and would recomend it to anyone wanting to know more about the people of Vietnam and their origins.
6. Vietnamese Women's Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 5,216 reviews
Focused on the contribution of women to Vietnam's history and culture, this museum highlights their roles in Vietnam's many military conflicts as well as in commerce, including features on female street vendors, women's role in the family, and more recently, single mothers in Vietnam.
Reviewed By Sakuraplatz - Ichihara, Japan
Perfectly located, just two blocks away from Hoan Kiem Lake, this is an excellent museum to learn Vietnamese culture and history from the women's perspective through their daily family life and special occasions such as marriage, pregnancy, birth and wartime. Displays were well-organized including videos. Exhibition about traditional costumes and artifacts showed cultural diversity in Vietnam, which was all the more interesting for me because I was just returned from a trek at Sapa. Their museum shop was also great. The entrance fee was only 30,000 VND and I got a Japanese booklet, which I found very informative, at the same price. Highly recommended.
7. Thanh Chuong's Viet Palace
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 132 reviews
Vietnamese heritage preservation. Top Vietnamese cultural identical tour to the past within a few hours.
Reviewed By B9321CJbrigitteb
We have made a round trip trough Asia and saw a lot. This place is amazing and so beautiful and tasteful with a lot of art statues, historical building, bridge, beautiful trees surrounded by mountains in the mist. After the touristic old center of Hanoi this was defenately what we needed to get a better idea of Vietnam’s culture. We went to the HD Hotel nearby and then the host arranged a taxi for us (return). We went there for one hour and it was an amazing experience. Also the ride to the palace was better since it gives a better picture of Vietnam than all hose tourist destinations. Cash entrance only
8. Hanoi Ceramic Mosaic Mural
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 640 reviews
Reviewed By DavidE232 - Hanoi, Vietnam
The largest mosaic in the world entrances visitors for over 10 years along Au Co, the dyke road wall. Artists from many nations and organizations completed this majestic celebration of Hanoi's 1000 year anniversary under the leadership of artist Thu Thuy, certainly one of the finest public artists in the world.
9. Ba Vi National Park
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 78 reviews
Located in Ba Vi Mountain Range, about 60 kilometers to the west of Hanoi, Ba Vi National Park, originally a French hill station, is considered as a fascinating destination for a weekend getaway. With a total area of over 10,000 hectares, Ba Vi National Park has everything to offer, from an amazingly biodiverse area of tourist resorts, a string of mysterious French ruins to a host of intriguing mini-hikes and trekking trails.
Reviewed By toofangyi
We were taking a ride up to Sapa from Hanoi and planned to take two days, with a stop in Yen Bai overnight on the first day. Ba Vi is roughly along the way to Yen Bai and is an easy detour to see some nice mountains and scenic places. Google maps brought us to Ba Vi National Park quite easily, without any problems along the way. The whole trip is at most 2 hours out from Hanoi, going at a reasonable pace on a motorcycle. If you don't have any experience on a motorbike, perhaps you may want to think about going up this place. It has hairpins and some reasonable inclines that might throw a new rider off. That being said, the roads are perfectly paved (as compared to some i have had the misfortune of going on) and the inclines are doable even on a bike with less power (125cc). Entrance Fees were VND65,000 per person, but I can't read or speak a word of vietnamese, so if they charged me extra, i have no idea haha. You pay for the tickets at the foot of the park and then travel uphill from there. We didn't have too much time, so we rode up to the Church and the temple. Interestingly, as it was a weekend, there were many young Vietnamese people at the Church's ruins, all having a wonderful day out and bbqing/picnicking around the area. The path to the Church is steeper than anything else there, so be careful if you're new or are riding a really crappy bike. The temple is right on top of the hill, just keep going upwards and you'll reach it.
10. Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 11,646 reviews
**This place is temporarily closed** Every year many thousands of respectful citizens and tourists visit the final resting place of the country’s most notable historic figure.
Reviewed By 511iainp - Newcastle, United Kingdom
Once arriving at the mausoleum site and finding the end of the queue,we thought it was going to be a long wait. Surprisingly,we moved quite rapidly along and in no time at all were approaching the very impressive mausoleum. Everything is very orderly under the watchful eye of immaculate soldiers in white uniforms and to see how seriously they take their responsibility has to be admired. Once inside the building,there is no stopping and passing by the final resting place of Ho Chi Minh is over so quickly although no visit to Vietnam would be complete without seeing this iconic place. Outside,the grounds are quite pleasant and the One Pillar Pagoda is worth seeing . An altogether interesting place to visit when in Hanoi. Iain and Carol Patterson. Newcastle upon Tyne.
TAGS
