Hanoi with Kids: A Family Day That Actually Works

Hanoi with children is entirely doable, but not on an adult itinerary. The traffic is relentless, the middle of the day is hot, and the city gets going absurdly early. Build the day around a real afternoon break and a puppet show, and it works beautifully.

The quick facts

• Base yourself near Hoan Kiem Lake so most of this is walkable or a short ride
• Crossing the road here is a skill: walk slowly and predictably, and hold hands the whole time
• Weekend evenings, the streets around Hoan Kiem Lake close to traffic entirely, which is the easiest time of all with children
• Water puppet performances are short and sell out; book ahead

7:30 am, breakfast noodles

Start with pho at a proper street kitchen. It is mild, it is brothy, and children who claim to dislike everything usually eat it. Sit at the plastic tables, let them add the herbs themselves, and order a Vietnamese iced coffee for whoever is driving the day.

9:00 am, Temple of Literature

Vietnam s first university, founded in the eleventh century, is a sequence of walled courtyards, ponds and gateways. It is shaded, it is calm, and there is a lot of open ground to walk off. The stone stelae carried on turtle backs are the detail children remember.

10:30 am, Museum of Ethnology

This is the best museum in Hanoi for families, largely because most of it is outside. The garden holds full-scale traditional houses from around the country, including stilt houses you climb into, and there are usually water puppet demonstrations at the outdoor pool. Give it a good ninety minutes.

12:30 pm, lunch and a hard stop

Bun cha, grilled pork with noodles and herbs assembled at the table, is a good family lunch because everyone builds their own bowl. Banh mi is the reliable fallback. Then go back to the hotel and stop moving until at least three. This is not a wasted afternoon, it is the reason the evening works.

4:00 pm, the lake

Walk out to Hoan Kiem Lake as the heat drops. Cross the red bridge to Ngoc Son Temple on its island, watch the turtle stories being retold, and buy ice cream on the way round. There is space to run here, which by mid-afternoon everyone needs.

5:30 pm, water puppets

The traditional water puppet theatre by the lake is the fixed point of the day: about an hour of puppets skimming across a flooded stage, with live music and dragons and enough spectacle to hold small attention spans. Book the tickets in the morning at the latest.

7:00 pm, dinner and home

Eat early by Hanoi standards, near the lake, then walk back. If it is a Friday, Saturday or Sunday evening, the pedestrianised streets will be full of games, music and other children, and getting anyone back to bed will take longer than planned.

Tip: Skip the Old Quarter railway lane with young children. Access has been restricted repeatedly by the authorities for safety reasons, and it is a live railway, not an attraction.