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Planning a trip to Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi? We’ve got you covered!
Hanoi is a fascinating but often overwhelming city. When we first visited, having a pre-planned itinerary really helped us to make sense of all the chaos and get the best out of the city!
And since Hanoi connects much of northern Vietnam, we’ve been back many times since. So now, after at least five different visits, we’re going to share our perfect Hanoi itinerary with you. We’ve included our favorite cultural highlights, activities, and eats, so all you need to do is follow along and enjoy. Let’s go!
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Our personal FAVORITE thing we did was this epic jeep adventure through Hanoi. For four hours, we cruised past landmarks like Train Street, the French Quarter, and Tran Quoc Pagoda, with tasty local snacks and drinks along the way!
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Itinerary Overview
We’ve designed this itinerary to show you the very best of Hanoi! It’s a massive city, but the charming Old Quarter is very walkable. The best way to get between other areas is to use Grab, which is Southeast Asia’s equivalent of Uber. You can use the app to order a car or ride on the back of a motorbike, which is faster and more fun but can also be slightly terrifying in Hanoi’s crazy traffic!
Day 1: Start with breakfast in the Old Quarter before exploring Hanoi’s historic streets, cafes, and markets. In the afternoon, hop into a restored Soviet-era jeep for a city tour, then wind down with a traditional water puppet show and a hearty bowl of bun cha for dinner.
Day 2: Choose between a countryside bike ride or a hands-on coffee workshop in the morning, then visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex. In the evening, join a cooking class to master Vietnamese favorites before grabbing a drink along Hanoi’s famous Train Street.
Day 3: Spend the day cruising through Halong Bay and soaking in the scenery, then return to Hanoi for a late dinner of yummy duck dishes in the Old Quarter.
Day 1
Breakfast – Bancông Cafe & Restaurant
Good morning, Vietnam! We recommend kicking off your first morning in Hanoi with a hearty breakfast at Bancông Cafe & Restaurant. It’s a cute, old-school spot in a charming yellow building adorned with flowers, so eating here can also make for a good photo opportunity!
If you’re up for it, we suggest opting for a local breakfast choice such as pho, which is a common way to start the day in Vietnam! However, we know that’s not for everyone, and they also offer Western-style breakfasts here.
We also highly recommend ordering egg coffee here. This is a super-thick and sweet coffee made with egg and condensed milk, which can be served either hot or cold. You can find egg coffee in other parts of Vietnam, but it’s most common here in Hanoi, where it was invented, so this is the best place to indulge.
Morning – Explore the Old Quarter
Hanoi’s Old Quarter is a beautiful mix of history, culture, and daily life, so it’s the perfect place to kick off your trip. Honestly, we’ve found that the best way to get acquainted with the Old Quarter is to simply walk around with no real agenda. Still, there are a few highlights you won’t want to miss:
- Hoan Kiem Lake – To be honest, you can’t really miss this peaceful lake because it sits right in the middle of the city! It’s home to Ngoc Son Temple, which you can reach via a bright red bridge. We also recommend just taking a walk around the shore because it’s always buzzing with locals and full of vendors selling snacks, toys, and even goldfish.
- St. Joseph’s Cathedral – Built by the French in the late 1800s, this cathedral is a striking example of Gothic architecture. It feels a bit like a mini Notre Dame in the middle of Hanoi!
- Bach Ma Temple – This is one of the oldest temples in the city, dating back nearly a thousand years. It’s small but beautiful, offering a fascinating glimpse into Hanoi’s spiritual side.
- Dong Xuan Market – This is a three-story indoor market that sells everything from souvenirs to food. It can feel a little hectic, but it offers an authentic slice of local life in Hanoi, and some real bargains if you’re prepared to haggle!
- Try egg coffee at a café – We touched on egg coffee earlier, but it’s too good to limit yourself to just one while you’re here! Hanoi is full of cozy little cafes, and egg coffee isn’t hard to find, but Café Giang is famous for it, or The Note Cafe has a very cute concept.
Lunch – Bánh Mì ơi
This afternoon’s tour starts at 12:30 pm, so grab a quick lunch before you head off. Luckily, the humble bánh mì makes the perfect lunch on the go! There are numerous stands around the Old Quarter, but we particularly loved Bánh Mì ơi, which offers traditional bánh mì, as well as vegetarian and vegan options. But wherever you go, just remember the general rule of thumb in Vietnam, which is the more unassuming the place is, the better the food is!
Afternoon – See Hanoi’s top sights in a restored army jeep
I won’t lie to you, I was very overwhelmed the first time I went to Hanoi! I know a lot of travelers feel this way, which is why I highly recommend a sightseeing tour to get better acquainted with the Vietnamese capital, and this epic jeep adventure is the best of the bunch!
Book the tour for 12:30 pm. You can either choose hotel pickup if you’d like to head back to base and freshen up before the tour begins, or you can go straight to the meeting point, which is an 8-minute walk from the bánh mì place.
The tour lasts for 4 hours, and trust me, you will have a blast within that time! Cruising around Hanoi in an open-air restored army jeep is such a cool way to experience the city. You’ll get to visit old and new areas of Hanoi while learning about Vietnamese culture and history.
We got to see the famous “train street”, which we’ll revisit more in depth tomorrow, as well as a ton of landmarks. We passed through the French Quarter, saw the Presidential Palace, and snapped photos of the scenic Tran Quoc pagoda. I also really enjoyed cruising around the West Lake area, a high-end residential area that’s much calmer than the chaotic city center.
Best of all, you’ll get several local drinks and snacks along the way, including fruit sodas, rice paper rolls, and coffee (of course!). This tour is like an urban safari filled with food, fun, and so much variety—no wonder it boasts a whopping 13,000+ five-star reviews!
Book this top-rated jeep tour here and enjoy free cancellation!
Evening – See a water puppet show
The Thang Long Water Puppet Show is actually a famous tradition in Hanoi! It has been running for over 50 years, and it’s definitely one of those quirky experiences that sounds a bit odd at first, but is absolutely worth it.
To provide some context, water puppetry is a traditional Vietnamese art form that dates back hundreds of years. The shows were originally performed in flooded rice paddies around the Red River Delta, but today they’re held in theatres. Thang Long Theatre, with its prime position on the edge of Hoan Kiem Lake, is the most famous place to catch a show!
And I promise you, water puppetry is actually very impressive. It’s so cool to watch the brightly painted wooden puppets glide across the water as they tell folk tales, sing, and even dance.
The performance lasts for about 50 minutes. You can buy tickets at the door, but we don’t recommend it, as the line can be long and they often sell out before everyone gets in. The best thing to do is email the theatre in advance to reserve tickets. Usually, there are a few shows per day between 3:30 and 9:15 pm, but I recommend getting the 6:30 pm slot if you can, so that you have plenty of time to grab dinner afterwards.
Dinner – Bun Cha Ta Hanoi
Bun cha is my favorite Vietnamese meal, and it’s a northern dish that’s believed to have originated right here in Hanoi! It consists of rice noodles, grilled pork, and a sweet and sour dipping broth, and it usually comes with pickled vegetables. It’s so yummy!
There are lots of great places to grab bun cha in Hanoi, but I recommend Bun Cha Ta Hanoi—and so does the Michelin Guide! It’s a 6-minute walk from the water puppet show, and it’s open until 10 pm, so you should have plenty of time to grab dinner here after the performance.
If you want to continue exploring Hanoi, you can head to Ta Hien Beer Street, aka “Pub Street.” It’s chaotic but atmospheric, so pull up a plastic stool and enjoy the madness! Lots of places here offer bia hoi, which is a light, watery beer served by the glass. It’s very cheap and not very strong, so if you only have one or two, then you won’t wake up with a hangover tomorrow!
Related Read: Continuing your travels through Vietnam? See our 3-day Ho Chi Minh City itinerary for our favorite activities, restaurants, markets, and more!
Day 2
Hanoi has a lot to offer, so we’re giving you two options for today. If you’re an active traveler, then you can get out of the city and explore the northern Vietnamese countryside on a bicycle tour. There’s lots of lush scenery, and it makes a nice change of pace from Hanoi’s frenetic energy!
However, Vietnam is also famous for its coffee, and if you prefer some cultural immersion today, you can head to a coffee workshop instead. And if you’re staying in the Old Quarter (which we recommend, just FYI), then both tours offer hotel pickup and drop-off for extra ease.
Morning Option 1: City and countryside bicycle tour
If you need a little breather from Hanoi’s organized chaos, then we recommend booking this countryside bicycle tour for your second morning in Hanoi! It’s a fun half-day spent cycling around and enjoying breathtaking views of the Red River and rice fields. It makes such a nice change of pace!
If you’re staying in the Old Quarter, you can request hotel pickup. If not, head to the Opera House to check in just before 8 am. The tour lasts for 4.5 hours and it includes lunch, which is a nice bonus!
We loved this tour because we made some really interesting stops, such as the Long Bien Bridge, which is the oldest bridge in Hanoi, and the Co Loa Ancient Citadel, where we learned how Vietnam used to defend itself against foreign invaders.
The highlight of the day for me was visiting Hoi Phu village, which is known for creating beautiful broomsticks out of broom grass. The locals here were so friendly and inviting, too! Then, we stopped for a buffet lunch on the way back to the city, which was a great way to try a ton of different Vietnamese dishes.
This is a nice, leisurely ride, but do be aware that you will be travelling pretty far on two wheels. As long as you have a bit of cycling experience, you’ll have a great time!
Read 290+ glowing reviews and book this scenic cycling tour here!
Morning option 2: Coffee workshop
If cycling is not your thing, then no worries, because this 3-hour coffee workshop is another fantastic way to spend your second morning in Hanoi. Vietnam is actually the second largest coffee producer in the world, and the coffee here is unbelievably good, so where better to learn about it?
We recommend booking the workshop that starts at 9 am, with hotel pickup available from the Old Quarter. During the class, you will learn all about Vietnamese coffee from some of Hanoi’s top coffee experts. They explained the entire coffee process from growing the beans to how to brew the perfect cup. In fact, we even learned how to tell the difference between authentic and counterfeit coffee (I’m not going to tell you, you have to attend the workshop to find out!).
Next, we made five different types of Vietnamese coffee, including the famous Vietnamese egg coffee and my personal favorite, coconut coffee! We even made Vietnamese jam and wine coffee, which I had never heard of before. It had such a unique and fruity flavor!
This workshop has over 2,500 5-star reviews, making it the best thing to do in Hanoi for any coffee lover. The caffeine rush will definitely fuel the rest of today’s sightseeing very nicely.
Book this coffee workshop here, before it sells out!
Afternoon – Ho Chi Minh Museum or Temple of Literature
Both morning tours will drop you back at your hotel. We just grabbed a quick bowl of pho for lunch near where we were staying, then we headed over to the Ho Chi Minh Complex. This is where Vietnam’s legendary revolutionary leader, Ho Chi Minh, is buried, and the area is packed with historic sites. It’s possible to see Uncle Ho’s body in the mausoleum if you visit in the morning, but we’ll be too late for this today.
Still, there’s plenty to see here. You can visit the Ho Chi Minh Museum and learn about Ho Chi Minh’s life—I must say, it’s well worth the 40,000 VND ($2 USD) entry fee. The museum reopens after lunch at 2 pm, so it’s the ideal time to go. Just note that it’s closed on Fridays and Mondays for maintenance, and often shuts down during October and November—something Google Maps doesn’t tell you!
If it happens to be closed, we suggest calling a Grab instead and heading to the Temple of Literature, which is just an 8-minute ride away. It’s dedicated to Confucius, and it’s even featured on the 10,000 dong note, so it’s well worth seeing!
Either way, aim to explore for an hour or two before heading to this afternoon’s cooking class. The meeting point is just a 10-minute walk from the mausoleum, or a 14-minute walk from the Temple of Literature.
Evening – Learn how to cook Vietnamese food
Another thing that I LOVE about Vietnam is the food! Trust me, you will really miss it once you get back home, so tonight we’ve got a Vietnamese cooking class so that you can recreate authentic dishes from anywhere in the world.
I recommend booking this class for 3:30 or 4 pm (it will last until around 7—8:30 pm), and there’s a vegan and vegetarian class available for those who don’t eat meat. The meeting point is just a 10-minute walk from the Mausoleum or just a little further from the Temple of Literature.
The class begins with a visit to a local market to shop for ingredients. It’s so great to go with a guide because Vietnamese markets can be very overwhelming if you’re not familiar with them! Then, the fun really begins when you head back to a beautiful villa for a cooking lesson.
When we did this class, our lovely host led us through an easy-to-follow process, making traditional dishes such as BBQ pork and fried spring rolls. And of course, we got to try our delicious creations at the end—this will be dinner tonight!
There were only 10 people allowed in the class, which we really appreciated. The small group size allowed the host to help everyone as needed, and we all got to know each other quite well—the unlimited drinks definitely helped with that too!
Read THOUSANDS of 5-star reviews and book this cooking class here!
Why We Book Tours with Viator
Viator is a trusted online booking system for tours around the world! We almost always book our tours using Viator for a couple of reasons:
- Free cancellation on most tours – Most of the tours on Viator allow you to cancel and get a full refund up to 24 hours in advance. This is handy in case plans change, or if booking an outdoor activity, the weather forecast is looking grim.
- Reserve now and pay later – You can secure your spot on some of the most popular tours well in advance and not pay until closer to the day of the tour.
- Lowest price guarantee – If you happen to find the same tour at a lower price elsewhere, Viator will refund you the price difference.
- Pay in your chosen currency – Avoid costly international transaction fees by choosing to pay in your home currency.
- Peace of mind – When booking with tour operators you find in person on the street or in small booking offices, you are often promised one thing and given another. This online platform holds tour operators accountable with a written description of inclusions as well as the opportunity for customers to leave reviews.
Check out the Viator website here! Or, for more info, read our detailed review about Viator here.
Night – Grab drinks on Train Street
You’ve probably seen Hanoi’s famous Train Street on Instagram, and yes, it’s just as wild in person. Cafés and bars line the narrow tracks, and every so often a train barrels through, just inches from where you’re sitting.
Most people head here during the day, but we actually preferred visiting at night. The atmosphere is a little more relaxed, the crowds are thinner, and the whole street looks magical when it’s lit up!
Now, Train Street has come under fire in recent years because tourists have taken silly risks for photos. The section along the Old Quarter now has a lot of rules about making reservations, and cafe owners sometimes harass you to visit theirs, which is why we suggest visiting the quieter section along Le Duan. We recommend going to Hanoi 1990s Cafe because you don’t need to make a booking, and the owners were so sweet and friendly to us!
From your cooking class, it’s about a 20-minute Grab ride, or closer to 15 minutes if you hop on the back of a motorbike. Once you arrive, grab a coffee, a coconut, or a cold drink and wait for the train to rumble right by you. This is an iconic Hanoi experience that you won’t forget.
Day 3
Full day – Visit Halong Bay
For your final day in Hanoi, this full-day trip to Halong Bay is a real showstopper! This stunning bay is Vietnam’s crown jewel, so you really can’t miss it.
We love this tour because it allowed us to see Halong Bay in just one 11–13-hour day! It makes it super easy, too. You can either get picked up from your hotel in the Old Quarter between 8 and 8:30 am, or get picked up in front of the Opera House at 8:30 am.
Exploring Halong Bay on a boat is so much fun. We loved cruising around through the incredible rock formations, and we even got to visit Bo Hon Island and explore Sung Sot Cave. It was such a crazy experience walking through the cave and marveling at all the stalagmites and stalactites!
We had a buffet lunch on board the boat, and we even got to go kayaking through the emerald waters! Later on, we stopped at Titop Island, where we had the option to relax on the sandy beach or take a short climb up to Titop Peak for stunning panoramic views of the bay. Then, the day ended watching the sunset from the top deck of the boat with a drink in hand—does it get any better than that?!
This tour is epic, but with over 2,700 5-star reviews, the word is well and truly out. It’s guaranteed to book up, so take advantage of the free cancellation policy and secure your spot in advance.
Book this top-rated Halong Bay tour here!
Dinner – Don Duck
Today was a very long day, so if you want to grab a quick dinner somewhere near your hotel and just relax, then we don’t blame you. But if you want to enjoy one last dinner out in Hanoi, then we recommend Don Duck in the Old Quarter. They do super yummy duck dishes, but my personal favorite was the braised duck galangal, although there are veggie options on the menu as well.
This is one of our favorite places to eat in Hanoi. It’s open until 11 pm, so even if you get back later than expected from the tour, you’ll still have time to grab one last delicious dinner here.
Related Read: Planning a longer stay? Check out our detailed guide to the best things to do in Hanoi here for even more great ideas to add to your trip!
Where to Stay in Hanoi, Vietnam
You’ll be spoilt for choice when it comes to accommodations in Hanoi! There are a lot of great hotels, and you don’t always have to spend a fortune to get luxury (although there are those options if that’s your vibe!).
To help you choose, I’ve picked out three excellent hotels for a luxury, mid-range, or budget stay.
Luxury – $$$
We often love staying at the JW Marriott Hotel when we travel abroad because you always know what you’re going to get – high quality! The JW Marriott hotels always offer the nicest rooms, super comfortable and clean, and friendly staff who meet all our needs. It’s just a quick tuk-tuk ride from Hanoi’s top sights, and you can enjoy the five on-property restaurants, spa, and pool.
They offer a range of room options, so prices can range from about $230 USD up to $800 USD. Check availability and book your stay on Booking.com!
Mid-range – $$
Aviary Hanoi Hotel & Travel is located right in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, so you’re close to some of the best city sights. The staff stand out here, making sure all of your needs are met, and they can help set up transportation around the city. You can get double or twin rooms, suites, or family rooms, and some come with a city view!
Prices range from $135 to $215, but if you book early, you can snag a good deal. Book this stay on Booking.com.
Budget – $
Would you believe a name like Hanoi Posh Boutique Hotel is our budget option? It is! This hotel offers excellent quality at an affordable price, with rooms ranging from $40-$90 USD per night. It’s located in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, near the markets and Long Bien Bridge, so it’s easy to get around the city. Check out all the options and book this stay on Booking.com.
For more options, check out all the hotels in Hanoi here!
Don’t Forget Travel Insurance!
If you’re looking to save money on travel insurance, we currently use and recommend SafetyWing. We’ve been using their coverage since 2018 and they’ve had our backs when we needed emergency flights and got sick overseas.
SafetyWing is one of the cheapest providers out there and covers everything from medical costs to lost luggage, travel delays, and emergency flights. A huge difference we’ve found between them and other companies is that they let you take out a policy AFTER leaving your home country. We’ve also found it handy that it’s a monthly payment rather than a lump sum, and you can get a refund for unused time.
SafetyWing has helped us out in some scary situations before and their affordable coverage has given us peace of mind. You can read our honest review of SafetyWing for all the pros and cons.
Thanks for reading!
Hanoi is such an exciting city, and we hope this three-day itinerary helps you make the most of your visit. Having a plan really made a difference for us, and after several trips back, we still think these are the best ways to experience the capital. Each time we return, we discover something new, but these highlights remain our favorites.
If you’re continuing your journey through Vietnam, make sure to check out our other Vietnam blogs here—we’ve covered so many incredible spots beyond Hanoi. Or to spark some inspiration, I’ve picked out a few of our top guides below to help with your planning!
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