HanoiTravel Guide

The areas and addresses our writers put first

• Ryan Le

  Around Hoan Kiem Lake

  The blocks ringing the lake soften the Old Quarter's intensity while keeping everything walkable — the water at dawn, the night market on weekends, the theater district.

  Hanoi Stays for Every Budget: The Areas That Make SenseCheck prices
• Ryan Le

  Ba Dinh

  The government quarter around the mausoleum complex is leafy, orderly, and quietest at night.

  Hanoi Stays for Every Budget: The Areas That Make SenseCheck prices

• The Old Quarter

  Hanoi

  The Old Quarter is dense with guesthouses and small boutique hotels, many family-run, most offering remarkable comfort for the price.

  Hanoi Stays for Every Budget: The Areas That Make SenseCheck prices

• The French Quarter

  Hanoi

  Southeast of the lake, wide boulevards, the Opera House, and villa facades set Hanoi's most elegant scene.

  Hanoi Stays for Every Budget: The Areas That Make SenseCheck prices

• Tay Ho (West Lake)

  Hanoi

  North of the center, Hanoi's largest lake is ringed by expat cafés, lakeside restaurants, and hotels with actual views and actual quiet.

  Hanoi Stays for Every Budget: The Areas That Make SenseCheck prices

Tables worth crossing the city for

• Pho Gia Truyen

  Hanoi

  Start at Pho Gia Truyen on Bat Dan Street, one of the city's most revered beef pho shops.

  Hanoi street food guide: pho, banh mi and the Old QuarterSee on the map

• Pho Thin

  Hanoi

  For a heretical second bowl, cross town to Pho Thin on Lo Duc Street, where the beef is flash-fried in garlic before it meets the broth — a richer, smokier style that Hanoians argue about endlessly.

  Hanoi street food guide: pho, banh mi and the Old QuarterSee on the map

• Banh Mi 25

  Hanoi

  Banh Mi 25, on Hang Ca Street in the Old Quarter, has become the traveller's benchmark for good reason: crisp baguettes, house pâté, grilled pork and pickles, assembled to order.

  Hanoi street food guide: pho, banh mi and the Old QuarterSee on the map

• Bun Cha Huong Lien

  Hanoi

  Bun Cha Huong Lien on Le Van Huu Street is the famous one: this is where Anthony Bourdain and Barack Obama shared a table in 2016, and the 'Combo Obama' (bun cha, a fried seafood roll and a Hanoi beer) is still on the…

  Hanoi street food guide: pho, banh mi and the Old QuarterSee on the map

• Cha Ca La Vong

  Hanoi

  Cha Ca La Vong, on the street that came to be named after the dish (Cha Ca Street), has served essentially one item for over a century: la vong fish, marinated with turmeric and galangal, finished at your table in a s…

  Hanoi street food guide: pho, banh mi and the Old QuarterSee on the map

• Cafe Giang

  Hanoi

  End at Cafe Giang, tucked down an alley off Nguyen Huu Huan Street, where Nguyen Van Giang invented ca phe trung — egg coffee — in 1946 when milk was scarce.

  Hanoi street food guide: pho, banh mi and the Old QuarterSee on the map

The things that justify the trip

• Filipe Freitas

  Hoan Kiem Lake at first light

  Before the traffic wakes, the lake at the city's heart belongs to its elders: tai chi circles, badminton games, joggers looping the shore, ballroom dancers with a portable speaker.

  The Quiet Corners of Hanoi That Locals LoveSee on the map
• Hạnh Kiều

  Long Bien Bridge at dusk

  The rusted French colonial-era rail bridge across the Red River is a working antique: trains rattle down its spine while motorbikes and pedestrians take the flanking lanes.

  The Quiet Corners of Hanoi That Locals LoveSee on the map

• West Lake's slow shoreline

  Hanoi

  Hanoi's largest lake, Ho Tay, is where the city exhales.

  The Quiet Corners of Hanoi That Locals LoveSee on the map

• The Temple of Literature's inner courtyards

  Hanoi

  Vietnam's first national university, founded in 1070, gets busloads — but they cluster at the front.

  The Quiet Corners of Hanoi That Locals LoveSee on the map