The Old Quarter takes a morning. The rest of the north takes a week.
What a bowl of bun cha and a guide costs on Ta Hien. Whether the bay is worth an overnight or a very long day. Which Ninh Binh boat rows Trang An and which rows Tam Coc. Reviews of every tour that leaves Hanoi.
Five bookings a Hanoi week hangs off.
The city, the bay, the karsts inland, the tracks at dinner and two days in the mountains.
01The city, in a jeepHanoi Jeep Tour: Food, Culture and Fun by Vietnam Army JeepSoviet-era army jeeps through the Old Quarter and out along the Red River dyke.
02The day on the bayHa Long Bay Day Cruise – Swimming, Meal, KayakingOut at dawn, on the water by lunch, kayaking under the karsts by two, back for dinner.
03The karsts inlandFull-Day Ninh Binh Highlights Tour from HanoiHoa Lu, a rowing boat through Trang An and the five hundred steps up Mua Cave.
04Dinner on the tracksGuided Food Tour with Train Street VisitBun cha and a beer on a plastic stool, with the Lao Cai train at arm’s length.
05Two days up northSapa 2 Days 1 Night From Hanoi – Overnight in Ta Van VillageThe night run to Lao Cai, a homestay in Ta Van, and a walk down through the terraces.
Everything in the north is a Hanoi departure. This is how far each one is.
Hanoi
Ninh Binh
Mai Chau
Cat Ba
Sapa
Ha Giang
Cao BangDay boat, overnight cabin or a kayak: three ways to take Ha Long.
Six hours on the water buys the caves and one swim stop. A night on board buys the bay after the day boats have gone home, which is the whole point of it. The kayak is the part people describe afterwards.
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · Ha Long Bay Day Cruise – Swimming, Meal, Kayaking
The long day outBack in Hanoi by nine. Caves, a buffet, one swim stop.
A night on boardThe bay empties after four. You wake up in it.
Under your own armThrough the low arches into the hidden lagoons.
The balcony cabinFewer guests, a private terrace, dinner that earns it.
Every one of the 423 boat days →
What Hanoi visitors actually book.
Every review on the site →A jeep through the Old Quarter, a boat under the karsts, a cooking class that starts at the market. These carry more travellers than anything else leaving the city.
1
Hanoi Jeep Tour: Food, Culture and Fun by Vietnam Army Jeep
Ride a vintage army jeep through Hanoi’s alleys, landmarks, Train Street, Long Bien Bridge, and a satisfying local meal.
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
Hanoi first, then pick the direction you go.
The Old Quarter and the lake it wraps around, a bay of limestone islands two and a half hours east, the dry-land version of it an hour and a half south, terraced valleys up on the Chinese border, and an island holding the quiet half of the karsts.
Hanoi eats on plastic stools, and it starts at seven.
Bun cha over charcoal, banh cuon steamed to order, egg coffee whipped in a shophouse up a staircase you would never have found. Book the market walk before the heat and the class that finishes as lunch.
What a day out of Hanoi actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by what it costs. A good number of the best days in the north come in under the price of a taxi home from the airport.
Street-food walks, water puppet seats, cooking classes and the Ninh Binh day trip.
Full days and the first night afloat: bay cruises, jeep tours, two days up in Sapa.
Balcony cabins on the good boats, private guides, and the multi-day runs to Ha Giang.
Hanoi: get lost in the Old Quarter on purpose.
Everything in Hanoi →
Thirty-six streets, each named for the trade that used to own it, wrapped around a lake with a temple on an island in it. Walk it in the morning, ride it after dark, and eat every two hours in between.
The thirty-six streets, slowly
Hang Bac for silver, Hang Ma for paper lanterns, Ta Hien for beer on a stool at knee height. A guide is the difference between a nice walk and knowing what you are looking at.
Riding pillion after dark
You sit on the back and somebody who has been doing this since they were fifteen threads through the traffic. Six stops, six dishes, and the Long Bien bridge on the way home.
The Thang Long water puppets
A thousand-year-old village art performed waist-deep in a pool, with a live band along one side. It runs an hour, it costs less than lunch, and the seats that are not behind a pillar go first.
Two thousand limestone islands, and one decision: day or night.
The expressway put the bay two and a half hours from the Old Quarter, which made the long day trip possible and the overnight optional. Lan Ha, the next bay south, has the same karsts and a fraction of the boats.
Sapa, Ha Giang, Ban Gioc: the mountains take longer and pay more.
Five hours northwest for terraces that fall away below a homestay porch. Six hours north for a road carved along the lip of the Nho Que gorge. Six more for a waterfall you share with China. None of it is a day trip, and that is rather the point.
Every Sapa trip →
Ninh Binh is Ha Long Bay with rice paddies where the sea should be.
The same limestone towers, ninety minutes south of the city, standing in flooded fields instead of water. A woman rows you through three river caves using her feet. Then you climb five hundred steps at Mua Cave and see the whole valley at once.
- 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
Three Hanoi habits you will not find anywhere else.
Street food and old towns exist all over Asia. A working railway through somebody’s front room, puppets performed waist-deep in water, and coffee with an egg yolk beaten into it do not.
Train Street
On the alleys off Le Duan and Tran Phu the track runs a metre from the front doors, and the cafes put stools out on the sleepers between services. When the Lao Cai train is due someone shouts, the stools come in, the shutters go across, and a locomotive passes your table close enough to touch. Then the stools go back out and the coffee arrives.
- 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
The Water Puppets
Red River farmers invented this in flooded paddies a thousand years ago, and the Thang Long theatre still performs it the same way: puppeteers standing waist-deep behind a bamboo screen, working lacquered figures across a pool on submerged poles. A live band handles the drums, the singing and the fireworks. An hour, and cheaper than lunch.
- 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 bartender at the Metropole whipped egg yolk with condensed milk instead and poured it over black coffee. His family still serves it up a corridor off Nguyen Huu Huan, in a small glass sitting in a bowl of hot water so it stays warm. It tastes like drinkable tiramisu.
- 1Hanoi Coffee Workshop: Taste Salt, Coconut and Egg Coffee★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,286 reviews
- 2Salt Coffee Workshop Awake Your Senses With 6 Brews★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 792 reviews
- 3Vietnamese Street Food Tour with Egg Coffee★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 315 reviews
Four things in the north you cannot leave until you land.
Most of Hanoi can be arranged over a beer on Ta Hien the night before. These four run on cabin counts, sleeper-bus seats and rider calendars that take no interest in when your flight gets in.
- 01Featured: All-Inclusive OVERNIGHT Halong Cruises – many optionsThe good boats carry twenty cabins and sell them weeks out. The ones with space next Tuesday usually have space for a reason.
- 02Sapa 2 Days 1 Night From Hanoi – Overnight in Ta Van VillageThe sleeper and limousine runs up to Lao Cai fill their evening slots first, and a homestay bed in Ta Van is not something you find on arrival.
- 03Ha Giang Loop 3 days Small group- From Ha NoiThe loop runs on a rider you sit behind for three days. The good ones are booked out, and doing it yourself on a foreign licence is not a plan.
- 04Water Puppet Show TicketsThang Long runs a handful of shows a day in a small theatre, and the seats that are not behind a pillar go first.
Fog in February, storms in August: the north takes days off.
Ha Long shuts whenever a storm is tracking, which is a real possibility from July to October. From December to February the whole delta sits under a grey drizzle and Sapa disappears into cloud for days. Both have the same answer: stay in the city and go indoors, upstairs or into somebody’s kitchen.
By place — the city and the belt around it
By kind of day — boat, bowl, bike or mountain
The newest reviews out of Hanoi.
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Ba Be Lake & Ban Gioc Waterfall Adventure Tour 3 Days
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2 Days Tour of Halong Bay by Hera Cruise from Hanoi
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Trekking Ban Gioc Waterfall to Hidden Village on Unique Route
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Hoa Lu Tam Coc Full Day Tour: Small Group Tour & Buffet Lunch
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