15 Things to Do in Hanoi (Beyond the Old Quarter)
15 things to do in Hanoi beyond the Old Quarter: the Temple of Literature, Tran Quoc Pagoda, Long Bien Bridge, Train Street, craft villages and day trips, with closing days and tips.
By AmGo Travel4 min read
Most visitors spend their first evening in Hanoi's Old Quarter, and rightly so. But the city has a thousand years of history spread well beyond those 36 streets: pagodas on West Lake, Vietnam's first university, a riverside bridge built at the turn of the 20th century and craft villages just outside town. This list comes from the AmGo Travel team, whose office is at 61 Hang Ga in the Old Quarter, and it follows the places our guides take travellers every day.
History and temples
1. Temple of Literature. Founded in 1070 to honour Confucius, it later became the Imperial Academy, Vietnam's first university. Walk through the courtyards of old trees and ponds to the stone steles carved with the names of doctoral laureates, each set on the back of a stone turtle.
2. Tran Quoc Pagoda. Hanoi's oldest pagoda, with roots going back some 1,500 years, sits on a small peninsula in West Lake. Its slender red stupa above the water is one of the most-loved views in the city, so come early in the morning or near sunset.
3. Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Ba Dinh Square. Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence here in 1945. The mausoleum is closed on Mondays and Fridays and for annual maintenance from mid-June to mid-August, but you can still walk around the square. Cover your shoulders and knees.
4. One Pillar Pagoda. A few minutes' walk from the mausoleum, this small pagoda dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy stands on a single pillar and is one of the most unusual in Vietnam. Behind it are the stilt house and gardens where Ho Chi Minh lived and worked from 1954 to 1969.
5. Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. The best place to understand Vietnam's 54 ethnic groups, with crafts and clothing inside and full-size traditional houses in the garden. It is closed on Mondays. If you plan to go trekking in Sapa or Ha Giang later, visit this first.
6. Hoa Lo Prison. Built by the French colonial government in the late 19th century to hold Vietnamese political prisoners, and later known to captured American pilots as the "Hanoi Hilton". The remaining section is now a museum, and it is a sobering, worthwhile hour.
The AmGo Travel full-day city tour covers numbers 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 with hotel pick-up, so you do not have to work out the order or the opening days yourself.
The city by motorbike or bicycle
7. Long Bien Bridge. Built between 1899 and 1902 and 1.68 km long, it was one of the longest bridges in Asia at the time. Today it carries trains, motorbikes and pedestrians across the Red River, and the view from it explains the city better than any map.
8. Banana Island. Below the bridge, the island in the Red River has banana plantations, vegetable farms and a floating village: a rural side of Hanoi most visitors never see.
9. Quang An flower market. This wholesale flower market near West Lake is busiest from 21:00 to 6:00, when traders arrive with flowers for the whole city, but it is colourful by day too.
10. B52 Lake. In a small lake in Ngoc Ha, the wreck of a B-52 bomber shot down on 27 December 1972 still rises from the water, in the middle of an ordinary neighbourhood.
11. Train Street. Cafés line a narrow street beside the railway tracks, and the trains pass within arm's length. Follow your guide's lead or the café staff when a train is due.
12. St Joseph's Cathedral and the Opera House. The cathedral, begun in 1886, is Hanoi's oldest church. The Opera House is the city's best-known piece of French architecture.
On the AmGo Travel motorbike tour you ride on the back with a careful driver (one guest per motorbike, by Vietnamese law). The bicycle version suits active travellers who are comfortable in city traffic. Group tours start at 7:30 or 13:30, and the 18:00 evening tour, by motorbike only, swaps Banana Island for the overnight Long Bien wholesale market.
Shows and crafts
13. Water puppets and a cyclo ride. Water puppetry, performed on a pool of water with a live traditional band, is a northern Vietnamese art. A slow cyclo ride through the Old Quarter is the easiest way to see the streets without crossing them. Both can be added to an AmGo Travel city tour.
14. Craft villages outside Hanoi. In Ha Thai, lacquer has been made since the 17th century and you try the basic steps yourself. In Chuong village you paint your own conical hat and take it home. In Quang Phu Cau, bundles of red incense dry in the yards, one of the most photographed scenes near Hanoi.
Beyond the city
15. A day trip. Hanoi is the base for the best day trips in the north. Ninh Binh is about two hours away (see our Trang An vs Tam Coc guide), and Ha Long Bay works as a long day too (see Ha Long Bay day trip from Hanoi).
Practical tips
- Plan around closing days. The mausoleum closes on Mondays and Fridays and the Museum of Ethnology on Mondays. On a Monday, the AmGo Travel city tours visit the Vietnamese Women's Museum instead.
- Dress for temples. Shoulders and knees covered at the mausoleum, pagodas and temples.
- Cross the street slowly and steadily. Motorbikes will flow around you if you keep a predictable pace.
- Get a SIM card on day one. See our guide to money exchange and SIM cards in Hanoi.
For more ideas, see the Hanoi destination page. To book any of these tours, or to ask which one suits your days in the city, contact AmGo Travel at amgotravel.com or on WhatsApp, or drop in at our office at 61 Hang Ga.
