The Old Quarter fills the evenings. Ha Long and Ninh Binh fill the days.
Which Ha Long cruise anchors somewhere quiet. Whether Trang An or Tam Coc is the better boat. What a street-food walk costs, and where the egg coffee came from. Reviews of every tour you can book out of Hanoi.
The four bookings a first week in Hanoi is built on.
What each one costs, how long it takes, and why it goes in the diary before anything else.
01The night on the bayAmanda Cruise – Ha Long, Lan Ha Bay – All Inclusive 2D1N & 3D2NTwo days and a night out of Ha Long with a cabin, a kayak and dinner on deck. Book the boat before the rest of the week.
02The day southNinh Binh Full-Day Tour from Hanoi to Hoa Lu, Tam Coc & Mua Cave Via Boat & BikeHoa Lu, a rowing boat through the Tam Coc caves, then five hundred steps up Mua Cave. Back in Hanoi for dinner.
03The first eveningGuided Food Tour with Train Street VisitBun cha, banh mi and a stop on Train Street, walked slowly with somebody who eats there every week.
04The hour that costs leastWater Puppet Show TicketsPuppets on water at the Thang Long theatre, an art the Red River delta worked out in its flooded paddies.
Ha Long Bay is one decision: back by dark, or a cabin on the water.
Four hours east of the Old Quarter, then two thousand limestone islands. A day boat gets you swimming, a cave and lunch and home for a late dinner. An overnight buys you the bay at six in the morning, before the day fleet has left the pier.
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · Ha Long Bay Day Cruise – Swimming, Meal, Kayaking
Day tripsOut and back in a day, with a swim stop and lunch aboard.
Overnight cruisesA cabin, sunset from the top deck, the bay quiet at breakfast.
Kayak daysPaddling into the lagoons and cave mouths the big hulls cannot reach.
The five-star boatsBigger boats, a jacuzzi on deck, a much shorter passenger list.
All 143 trips on Ha Long Bay →
Ninh Binh does in one day what Ha Long takes two to do.
Two hours south the same limestone rises straight out of the rice. A woman rows you through the Trang An caves with her feet, the old capital sits at Hoa Lu, and the dragon at the top of Mua Cave is five hundred steps up a staircase with no shade on it.
- 1Full-Day Ninh Binh Highlights Tour from Hanoifrom $79
- 2Ninh Binh Full-Day Tour from Hanoi to Hoa Lu, Tam Coc & Mua Cave Via Boat & Bikefrom $33
- 3Ninh Binh, Bai Dinh/Hoa Lu, Trang An, & Mua Cave Tourfrom $46
Thirty-six streets in the Old Quarter, and every one of them sells something.
Where a Hanoi day actually goes: a bowl of bun cha on a knee-high stool, egg coffee up somebody’s staircase, the train through the lane at seven, puppets on the water after dark.
Hanoi’s most popular days out.
Every Hanoi tour we have reviewed →The trips more travellers take than anything else leaving this city, and what earns each one the slot.
1
Hanoi Jeep Tour: Food, Culture and Fun by Vietnam Army Jeep
Ride through Hanoi in a Soviet-era army jeep with an English-speaking guide and driver. The four-hour route combines backstreets, Ba Dinh Square, Train Street, Long Bien Bridge, street food, coffee, and local history. Guides such as Finn, Louis, Tuna, and Danny are known for lively storytelling.
From · $55
Read our review →
2
Full-Day Ninh Binh Highlights Tour from Hanoi
from $79
3
Ha Long Bay Day Cruise – Swimming, Meal, Kayaking
from $41
4
Water Puppet Show Tickets
from $7
5
Hanoi Motorbike Tour: Food, Culture and Fun by Vintage Motorbike
from $55
6
Guided Food Tour with Train Street Visit
from $19
7
Hanoi Cooking Class: Culture, Local Market & Meaning CSR Impact
from $39
8
5 Traditional Dishes Hanoi Cooking Class with Market Trip
from $35
What a day out of Hanoi actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. Hanoi sits at the cheap end of Vietnam, and plenty of its best days cost less than the ride in from the airport.
Street-food walks, puppet tickets, the Ninh Binh day trip and most Ha Long day boats.
Overnight cabins on the bay, the Sapa sleeper run, private jeeps and full-day rides into the countryside.
Five-star cruises, multi-day loops into the far north and a private car with a guide in it.
Three things that only happen in Hanoi.
Street food and old quarters turn up all over Asia. Puppets on water, an egg in the coffee and a train through somebody’s front room do not.
Water Puppetry
Farmers in the Red River delta worked out that a flooded paddy makes a stage. The puppeteers stand waist-deep behind a bamboo screen and drive the lacquered figures across the water on rods, so dragons swim and fishermen fall in. The Thang Long theatre by Hoan Kiem has run the same repertoire for decades with a live band along the side, and a sitting lasts about fifty minutes.
- 1Water Puppet Show Tickets★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 7,029 reviews
- 2Water Puppet Show Ticket with Hotel Delivery Add-On★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,554 reviews
- 3Thang Long Water Puppet Show Ticket – Skip The Line★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 836 reviews
Egg Coffee
Milk was scarce in 1946, so a barman whipped egg yolk with sugar and condensed milk and poured it over black coffee instead. His family still serve it at Cafe Giang, up an alley off Nguyen Huu Huan, and most of the city has copied it since. It comes in a small glass standing in a bowl of hot water, and it is nearer a dessert than a breakfast.
- 1Hanoi Coffee Experience: 6 Brews, 9 Recipes & 3 Liquor Tastings★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,945 reviews
- 2Hanoi Coffee Workshop: Taste Salt, Coconut and Egg Coffee★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,286 reviews
- 3Salt Coffee Workshop Awake Your Senses With 6 Brews★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 792 reviews
Train Street
The line north to Lao Cai runs down a residential lane in the old French quarter with about a metre either side of the rails. Twice a day the cafes fold their stools in, a whistle goes up the street and the train passes close enough to touch. Access opens and closes with the police, so a guide who knows which end is running that week is the difference between seeing it and standing behind a barrier.
- 1Guided Food Tour with Train Street Visit★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 6,239 reviews
- 2Street Food Tour with Train Street & Hidden Alleyways★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,831 reviews
- 3Guided Street Food Tour with Train Street Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 2,479 reviews
Hanoi’s grey stretch, and where the day goes instead.
February to April the city sits under mua phun, a drizzle too fine for an umbrella and too constant to walk off. Summer swaps it for heat and afternoon storms that close the bay to overnight boats. Both have the same answer: get under a roof and cook, brew or watch something.
Two more nights out of Hanoi buys you the mountains.
This city is the trailhead for the whole north. The sleeper reaches Sapa’s rice terraces by breakfast, the Ha Giang loop takes three days on the back of somebody’s bike, and Mai Chau and Pu Luong are close enough for a weekend in a stilt house.
Every trip north out of Hanoi →
By place — the city and its belt
By kind of day — boat, bowl, bike or stage
Hanoi, Ninh Binh, the bay, then the sleeper north.
Ha GiangThe newest Hanoi tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Ban Gioc Waterfall – God Eyes Mountain 1 Day By Car
Read our review →
Vietnam Tea Tasting – Giang Egg Coffee & Train Street Visit
Read our review →
3-Day – Ninh Binh – Lan Ha Bay 5-Star Cruise & Balcony
Read our review →
3-Day Ninh Binh Bungalow & Ha Long Bay 5 Star Cruise
Read our review →
3-Day Discover the most stunning Cat Ba Island – Lan Ha Bay
Read our review →
3-Day: Ha Long–Lan Ha Bay & Ninh Binh 5 Stars Cruise
Read our review →
2D1N Halong Bay 6-Star Cruise: Fine Dining, Cave & Kayaking
Read our review →
