The whole city in a day
Hanoi's sights are spread across two areas that are three kilometres apart: the state buildings of Ba Dinh in the west, and the old merchant city around Hoan Kiem Lake. A half day gets you one of them. This route gets you both, in the order the opening hours dictate.
Highlights
- The Ho Chi Minh Complex, in the morning while the Mausoleum is open
- The Temple of Literature, Vietnam's first university
- Lunch at a local stall your guide chooses
- The 36 guild streets of the Old Quarter
- The colonial avenues of the French Quarter
- A full day with the same guide, at your pace
Morning
09:00. Your guide meets you at your hotel and takes you to the Ho Chi Minh Complex.
- Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, where the president's body lies.
- Ba Dinh Square, where independence was declared on 2 September 1945.
- His residence — the electrician's cottage he chose over the Presidential Palace, and the stilt house he moved to afterwards.
- The One Pillar Pagoda, built in 1049 under the Ly dynasty.
- The Ho Chi Minh Museum, covering his life and the wars against foreign occupation.
After Ba Dinh comes the Temple of Literature, founded in 1070 for Confucius and turned into Vietnam's first university six years later. It is among the best-preserved traditional buildings in the country: the lake of literature, the Well of Heavenly Clarity, the turtle stelae listing five centuries of graduates, and courtyards once walked only by royalty. Photogenic in a way that surprises people who came for the history.
Afternoon
Lunch is wherever your guide recommends — a stall or a small restaurant, and worth trusting them on. You pay for your own and, by convention, for theirs.
At 2:00 PM the walk restarts in the Old Quarter: the guild streets that once sold silk, tin and paper, the tube houses, the shrines wedged between shops. Then across into the French Quarter, where the streets widen, the buildings step back and the whole logic of the city changes.
The day ends around 5:00 PM, near Hoan Kiem Lake and within walking distance of most Old Quarter hotels.
What is included, and what is not
| Included | Not included |
|---|---|
| An English-speaking student guide for the whole walk | Entrance tickets to museums and sites |
| Route planning and hotel pick-up | Food, drinks and snacks along the way |
| Confirmation by email before the day | Taxis, ride-hailing or any transport |
| Your personal expenses, and your guide's share of tickets and meals |
Changes, cancellation and weather
If you cannot make the walk, tell us at least three hours before the departure time so we can let your guide know and offer the slot to someone else.
If weather or an unexpected closure affects a route after it has started, we may change the itinerary for everyone's safety. Where there is more than one sensible option, your guide will ask you before deciding.
Before you set off
- Tell us the ages of anyone in your group when you book, so the guide can set the right pace.
- Wear shoes you can walk several kilometres in, and cover shoulders and knees if pagodas or the Mausoleum are on the route.
- Photographs taken on the walk may be used in club promotion. If you would rather they were not, say so in the booking and we will not use them.
Book this walk
- Days
- 1
Sending this does not charge you. We hold the space and confirm within 24 hours.