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Hanoi... anyone been...
- Thread starter TheDuke
- Start date
Stumpy Tim
Well-known member
I love Vietnam... prefer HoChiMinh though. Either way, there's loads to do... if you can, go to Halong Bay too.
Bevendean Hillbilly
New member
Martin Sheen.
On a boat.
Up river.
On a boat.
Up river.
Here it is:
Thngs to see: Mausoleum (if you want to see a dead person, this is the place to go), Ethnology museum, War museum, History museum, Revolutionary museum, Hoa Lo prison, Temple of Literature.
The best of the museums is probably the Ethnology. Especially good if you're heading up to Sapa or another area with minority groups. The prison's also interesting- it's where John McCain was held after his plane was shot down.
Other things to do-
Thang Loi swimming pool (Yen Phu street)- there are a lot of outdoor swimming pools but this one's the best. It's in a hotel overlooking West Lake (Tay Ho). Costs 80,000 vnd for the day. Big bottles of Tiger for 22,000.
Bat Trang villlage (AKA pottery village)- a bus ride away. If you want a teapot, this is the place to go.
Van Phuc Village - The place to buy silk. (ask your hotel how to get there).
Get up early (like 6am) and walk around the old quarter. This is great time to take photos as there's so much activity. People exercising, eating, playing badminton. butchering whole cows!
If you want some exercise, cycle round West Lake. It's about a 20km circuit from the old quarter. There are lots of Bia Hois (Ridiculously cheap, fresh beer and good food) around the lake including 2 on boats.
Street food: Pho (pronounced fuh). You'll see this everywhere, it's eaten for breakfast lunch and dinner. Pho Bo is noodle soup with beef, Pho Ga with chicken. Pho Xao is fried noodles rather than soup. There's a good pho bo place (Pho 10) on Ly Quoc Su (north of the Cathedral).
Bun Cha: BBQ pork, noodles and herbs. Usually only available at lunchtime (11am till 2pm). Most Bun Cha places also sell Nem (fried spring rolls).
Bun Bo Nam Bo (Southern style beef noodles)- less common than pho and bun cha but very good. There's a decent place on Ly Quoc Su.
Banh My - Vietnamese sandwich/baguette. Banh My Trung (pronounced more like Choong) is egg, Banh My Pate is pate, Sot Vang is a pot of beef in wine sauce to dip your baguette in.
BBQ place- there's a great place on Hang Bong, it doesn't have a name but I highly recommend it. It's only open in the evenings. Basically, they have loads of things on skewers- meat, veg, seafood. You pick your skewers and they BBQ it. It's on the right if you walk along Hang Bong from Hoan Kiem lake.
Chicken Street- Awesome BBQ chicken (a whole street of it) on Ly Van Phuc. Go there!
Food street (Tong Duy Tan st)- actually 2 streets, a good place to go to try a variety of dishes 24 hours a day. There's a great place called Bun Bo Hue. Street food prices but a more upmarket setting. They specialise in Bun Bo Hue- beef noodle soup Hue style ( with optional blood and pig's trotter). The Bun Thit Nuong is good- Noodles with grilled meat. The Nem Lui (finely diced prawn moulded around sugar cane and grilled) is also good.
Also a couple of western places on Food st. Puku - a cafe/bar. Southgate- more upmarket.
Vietnamese Restaurants:
Highway 4 and Quan An Ngon - we went to both these places with Guy.
New Day (Ma May st)- Good and cheap. The ribs are amazing. They also do decent cocktails.
I could talk about food alll day but I think I'll stop there, if you want to know more let me know! There are good Italian, French, Indian, Japanese, Argentinian etc places if you're interested.
Drinking:
Bia Hoi (fresh beer)- There are Bia Hois everywhere. Bia Hoi corner is the most popular for tourists. There are a few good ones on Ven Ho overlooking West Lake.
A lot of places close early (11pm). If you want to stay out late head to Ta Hien street. There's a few late night bars here- Mao's is good, and if it's very late try Tet or Cheeky Quarter.
A bit further away but worth the trek is Ete. Good food, good music, nice staff. It's at 95 Giang Van Minh.
Commune - Nice terrace, good food. Great hangover breakfast including a Bloody Mary. On Ven Ho street.
Hanoi Rock City (HRC) (To Ngoc Van st)- Live music and DJs. You'll need a taxi to get there.
Cama ATK (Mai Hac De st) - Small place, good music, International DJs. (for HRC and CAMA check online or in Word (see below) to find out what's going on.
Phuc Tan - Dirty, terrible music, but I've had some amazing nights there!
Check out Hanoi's Community-Produced Local Reviews and Answers Guide | TNH Hanoi Vietnam for lots more Hanoi info. Also pick up a copy of Word magazine- it's a free expat mag. It's got a handy events calendar in it so you can find out what's going on whilst your here. You can get it a Puku and many other places.
Any questions let me know.
Thngs to see: Mausoleum (if you want to see a dead person, this is the place to go), Ethnology museum, War museum, History museum, Revolutionary museum, Hoa Lo prison, Temple of Literature.
The best of the museums is probably the Ethnology. Especially good if you're heading up to Sapa or another area with minority groups. The prison's also interesting- it's where John McCain was held after his plane was shot down.
Other things to do-
Thang Loi swimming pool (Yen Phu street)- there are a lot of outdoor swimming pools but this one's the best. It's in a hotel overlooking West Lake (Tay Ho). Costs 80,000 vnd for the day. Big bottles of Tiger for 22,000.
Bat Trang villlage (AKA pottery village)- a bus ride away. If you want a teapot, this is the place to go.
Van Phuc Village - The place to buy silk. (ask your hotel how to get there).
Get up early (like 6am) and walk around the old quarter. This is great time to take photos as there's so much activity. People exercising, eating, playing badminton. butchering whole cows!
If you want some exercise, cycle round West Lake. It's about a 20km circuit from the old quarter. There are lots of Bia Hois (Ridiculously cheap, fresh beer and good food) around the lake including 2 on boats.
Street food: Pho (pronounced fuh). You'll see this everywhere, it's eaten for breakfast lunch and dinner. Pho Bo is noodle soup with beef, Pho Ga with chicken. Pho Xao is fried noodles rather than soup. There's a good pho bo place (Pho 10) on Ly Quoc Su (north of the Cathedral).
Bun Cha: BBQ pork, noodles and herbs. Usually only available at lunchtime (11am till 2pm). Most Bun Cha places also sell Nem (fried spring rolls).
Bun Bo Nam Bo (Southern style beef noodles)- less common than pho and bun cha but very good. There's a decent place on Ly Quoc Su.
Banh My - Vietnamese sandwich/baguette. Banh My Trung (pronounced more like Choong) is egg, Banh My Pate is pate, Sot Vang is a pot of beef in wine sauce to dip your baguette in.
BBQ place- there's a great place on Hang Bong, it doesn't have a name but I highly recommend it. It's only open in the evenings. Basically, they have loads of things on skewers- meat, veg, seafood. You pick your skewers and they BBQ it. It's on the right if you walk along Hang Bong from Hoan Kiem lake.
Chicken Street- Awesome BBQ chicken (a whole street of it) on Ly Van Phuc. Go there!
Food street (Tong Duy Tan st)- actually 2 streets, a good place to go to try a variety of dishes 24 hours a day. There's a great place called Bun Bo Hue. Street food prices but a more upmarket setting. They specialise in Bun Bo Hue- beef noodle soup Hue style ( with optional blood and pig's trotter). The Bun Thit Nuong is good- Noodles with grilled meat. The Nem Lui (finely diced prawn moulded around sugar cane and grilled) is also good.
Also a couple of western places on Food st. Puku - a cafe/bar. Southgate- more upmarket.
Vietnamese Restaurants:
Highway 4 and Quan An Ngon - we went to both these places with Guy.
New Day (Ma May st)- Good and cheap. The ribs are amazing. They also do decent cocktails.
I could talk about food alll day but I think I'll stop there, if you want to know more let me know! There are good Italian, French, Indian, Japanese, Argentinian etc places if you're interested.
Drinking:
Bia Hoi (fresh beer)- There are Bia Hois everywhere. Bia Hoi corner is the most popular for tourists. There are a few good ones on Ven Ho overlooking West Lake.
A lot of places close early (11pm). If you want to stay out late head to Ta Hien street. There's a few late night bars here- Mao's is good, and if it's very late try Tet or Cheeky Quarter.
A bit further away but worth the trek is Ete. Good food, good music, nice staff. It's at 95 Giang Van Minh.
Commune - Nice terrace, good food. Great hangover breakfast including a Bloody Mary. On Ven Ho street.
Hanoi Rock City (HRC) (To Ngoc Van st)- Live music and DJs. You'll need a taxi to get there.
Cama ATK (Mai Hac De st) - Small place, good music, International DJs. (for HRC and CAMA check online or in Word (see below) to find out what's going on.
Phuc Tan - Dirty, terrible music, but I've had some amazing nights there!
Check out Hanoi's Community-Produced Local Reviews and Answers Guide | TNH Hanoi Vietnam for lots more Hanoi info. Also pick up a copy of Word magazine- it's a free expat mag. It's got a handy events calendar in it so you can find out what's going on whilst your here. You can get it a Puku and many other places.
Any questions let me know.
Last edited:
Oh yeah, and don't expect fun in the sun in late February. It'll most likely be cold and grey!
re. Halong Bay. The scenery's stunning but organised trips there are more often than not disappointing. Prices vary massively. I'd recommend going for one of the cheapest ones then you won't feel so bad when things inevitably go wrong.
if you fancy watching a football game, you might be able to catch Hanoi T&T at the Hang Day stadium: http://uk.soccerway.com/teams/vietnam/t--t-ha-noi/ The games are generally quite entertaining and it costs £1.50 to get in. The standards not bad- a mix of decent Vietnamese players and multinational journeymen.
re. Halong Bay. The scenery's stunning but organised trips there are more often than not disappointing. Prices vary massively. I'd recommend going for one of the cheapest ones then you won't feel so bad when things inevitably go wrong.
if you fancy watching a football game, you might be able to catch Hanoi T&T at the Hang Day stadium: http://uk.soccerway.com/teams/vietnam/t--t-ha-noi/ The games are generally quite entertaining and it costs £1.50 to get in. The standards not bad- a mix of decent Vietnamese players and multinational journeymen.
User removed 4
New member
What about brassing ?
I wouldn't know about that kind of thing, Bushy.
CPFC G
New member
- Dec 24, 2011
- 1,067
Maison centrale is worth a couple of hours of your time- Hanoi Hilton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stayed in this little place, Very good for the money and right in the mix. http://www.booking.com/hotel/vn/meracus.html?aid=304142&label=postbooking_confemail
Preferred Hanoi to HCMC.
Stayed in this little place, Very good for the money and right in the mix. http://www.booking.com/hotel/vn/meracus.html?aid=304142&label=postbooking_confemail
Preferred Hanoi to HCMC.
HastingsSeagull
Well-known member
Awesome tips. I'm going in summer. Make sure to post a report in here when you're back OP 
User removed 4
New member
I do apologise, it was totally out of character.
User removed 4
New member
Preferred Saigon myself.
The Birdman
New member
Thanks I am planning a trip to Vietnam Laos and Cambodia good tips.
Southstandfaithful
New member
The Water puppet theatre is worth a visit. Halong bay was nice but it depends on how many days/nights you have there as this will take a day out of your time (two - if you spend the night on a boat).
saafend_seagull
Well-known member
I went to these places in aug/sep for a month
- hanoi
- halong bay
- chiang mai
- bangkok
- pattuya
- angkor watt
- phnom penh
if i was ranking them, i would have ranked hanoi second worst. In a space of 2 hours, this happened:
- taxi driver TWICE tried to say I paid with 10k notes, not 100k
- guy quoted us a price for his bike, then at end charged us TEN times original price (had no choice about 8 guys ran over)
- restaurant waited 2 hours for our food (still didnt turn up, and every single local person got theirs). walked off without paying for the beers, was a joke. IT should take at most 20 mins i guess.
- halong bay is good, but you don't need more than 2 days on a boat (we did 3)
- cambodia and thailand on a different level to my short experience of vietnam
- hanoi
- halong bay
- chiang mai
- bangkok
- pattuya
- angkor watt
- phnom penh
if i was ranking them, i would have ranked hanoi second worst. In a space of 2 hours, this happened:
- taxi driver TWICE tried to say I paid with 10k notes, not 100k
- guy quoted us a price for his bike, then at end charged us TEN times original price (had no choice about 8 guys ran over)
- restaurant waited 2 hours for our food (still didnt turn up, and every single local person got theirs). walked off without paying for the beers, was a joke. IT should take at most 20 mins i guess.
- halong bay is good, but you don't need more than 2 days on a boat (we did 3)
- cambodia and thailand on a different level to my short experience of vietnam
eastlondonseagull
Well-known member
Hanoi is fantastic, though it'll be chilly in February. Halong Bay is beautiful, whatever the weather, but I'd just hire a bike and pedal about. Loads to see
- Thread starter
- #17
That's really great Bakero...thanks for all that... and of course thanks to everyone else...can't wait to get over there.
- Thread starter
- #18
Awesome tips. I'm going in summer. Make sure to post a report in here when you're back OP
Definitely will HS
Hanoi is great; lots of Parisian-style tree-lined streets (ex-French colony, of course).
Better than Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).
But better than both are Hue and Hoi An, half-way down the coast between the two cities (fly to Danang for either).
Better than Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).
But better than both are Hue and Hoi An, half-way down the coast between the two cities (fly to Danang for either).
In last 10 years, have been to Vietnam twice, and Cambodia once; Both are great countries - me and Mrs Peteinblack intend to revisit both in next few years (have just got back from a week in Buenos Aires!).