Tours out of Ho Chi Minh City and across Vietnam
Northern Vietnam
Hanoi at walking pace, one night in the middle
One night in the capital, planned so the two best hours of the Old Quarter — just after dawn and just after dark — both fall inside it.
Overview
A city trip built around two walks
Hanoi is not a city you tick off from a minibus. The Old Quarter is a knot of narrow streets that still carry the names of the trades that once filled them, and the only sensible way through it is on foot with somebody who knows which doorway leads to a courtyard temple and which one leads to a family’s kitchen. This trip gives you a guide for two days and a car only for the stretches where walking would waste the morning.
We are a Saigon agency, and we say so. In Hanoi we work with a partner operator we have used for years: their guides, their drivers, our plan and our phone line. The guides we ask for are the ones who grew up inside the Old Quarter and can tell you which of the pho shops their grandmother would still eat at.
- Length
- 2 days, 1 night
- On foot
- About 8 km a day, flat
- Pace
- Unhurried, with a long lunch
- Best months
- October to December, March to April
- Starts
- Your Hanoi hotel or Noi Bai airport
- Run by
- Our Hanoi partner operator
Nights
Where you sleep
Day by day
The two days, hour by hour
Day 1
The Old Quarter, the first university and a night of eating
We meet you at your hotel at 09:00, or at the airport if you land that morning — Noi Bai is about 45 minutes from the centre. The first walk takes the guild streets in a loose circle: the street of tin boxes, the street of votive paper, a communal house that the traffic flows straight past, and the last few tube houses you can still step inside to see how deep and narrow they run.
Lunch is bun cha at a place that serves nothing else. In the afternoon the car takes you to the Temple of Literature, which is calm in a way the rest of the city is not, and then back to the hotel by 15:30 for a rest, because the evening is long.
At 18:00 the guide collects you again for a street-food walk of five or six stops: a bowl of something noodle-based, grilled skewers on a pavement, a sweet soup, and egg coffee to finish. Expect to be back by 21:30 and to need no dinner.
Day 2
The lake at dawn, the mausoleum quarter and a museum
The optional start is 06:00 at Hoan Kiem lake, when half the neighbourhood is out doing tai chi, badminton and ballroom dancing on the pavement. It lasts an hour, and it is the single thing people remember most. Breakfast back at the hotel afterwards.
At 09:00 the car takes you to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum area: Ba Dinh square, the stilt house and the One Pillar Pagoda. The mausoleum itself keeps short morning hours, closes on some weekdays and shuts for maintenance for a period most years; we check your date and tell you before you arrive rather than on the pavement outside.
After lunch we finish with the Vietnamese Women’s Museum, which explains more about the country in ninety minutes than anything else in the city, then drop you at your hotel, a train, or the airport at around 15:30.
Price
Price
| Travellers | Tier 1 — simple | Tier 2 — comfortable | Tier 3 — the good ones |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 travelling | from 235 | from 295 | from 445 |
| 4 travelling | from 195 | from 240 | from 365 |
| 6 travelling | from 175 | from 215 | from 330 |
The table above assumes a simple, clean hotel. What moves it most is the hotel tier, then whether you add airport transfers at both ends and whether you keep the guide for the evening walk or go out on your own. Tet, the lunar new year in January or February, costs more and closes much of the Old Quarter for several days, which we will point out if your dates touch it.
Included
What is included
What the price includes
- One night in a Tier 1 hotel with breakfast (upgrade in the table)
- English-speaking local guide for both days and the evening food walk
- Private car and driver for the transfers within the city
- Lunch on both days and the street-food stops on the first evening
- Entrance fees to the Temple of Literature, the mausoleum grounds and the museum
- Bottled water and our 24/7 phone line
What it does not include
- International and domestic flights
- Airport transfers unless added to your quote
- Visas, travel insurance, drinks beyond water, and tips
- A water puppet show, which we can book for the second evening
Practical
Practical notes
- The pavements in the Old Quarter are used for parking and cooking. You walk in the road a lot, slowly, and the traffic is better at avoiding you than it looks.
- Cover shoulders and knees for the mausoleum grounds; bags and cameras may need checking in.
- From December to February, bring a real warm layer. Temperatures of 13 to 18 degrees feel colder in the damp, and rooms rarely have much heating.
- Summer, from May to September, is hot and humid, with the heaviest rain in July and August. We start earlier and rest longer at midday.
Not for everyone
Who this does not suit
This is not for anyone who wants to see Hanoi from behind glass. It is two days of walking in heat or damp, in noise, among motorbikes, and if you cannot manage six to eight kilometres a day on uneven pavement we would rather build you a slower version with more time in the car. It also does not suit travellers after scenery: Hanoi is a base, and the landscapes are two to six hours away. If you have only four days in the north, one night here and the rest in Ninh Binh or on the bay is usually the better split.
Common questions
Questions travellers ask most
Is one night enough for Hanoi?
For the core of the city, yes, if both walks happen. A second night adds the museums, a day trip or simply a slower morning.
Can we skip the mausoleum?
Easily. We usually replace it with a longer walk through the French Quarter or a morning at the Museum of Ethnology, which is excellent and a short drive out.
Is the street food safe?
The stops are places our guides eat at themselves, busy enough that nothing sits around. Anyone with allergies should tell us in advance so the guide can order.
Can this be joined to the bay or Ninh Binh?
Yes, and it usually is. The six-day northern trip on this site puts these two days in front of Ninh Binh and a night on the water.
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