1 destination · 10 things to do

Vietnam

Hanoi is Vietnam’s thousand-year-old capital, a city of lakes, temples and tree-lined boulevards where scooters pour through the streets and the smell of charcoal-grilled pork and simmering pho drifts out of every alley. At its heart lies Hoan Kiem Lake, ringed by the narrow lanes of the Old Quarter, where each street once belonged to a single trade and tiny plastic stools still spill onto the pavement at every corner. To the south runs the French Quarter, with its opera house and grand colonial hotels; to the west, the solemn Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum on Ba Dinh Square and the Temple of Literature, Vietnam’s first university, founded almost a thousand years ago. Hanoi is also the gateway to the north’s great landscapes: the limestone islands of Ha Long Bay, the rice fields and river caves of Ninh Binh, and the stilt-house villages of Mai Chau are all within a day’s reach. November is one of the best months to come, with dry, mild weather after the summer heat. This guide shows which day trips and tours are worth booking, how to see the mausoleum and the Hoa Lo Prison, where to eat your way through the Old Quarter, and where to stay, from the legendary Metropole to an Old Quarter hostel.