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 Hanoi, Vietnam travel tales
Our customers share their travelling experiences in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Read about first hand stories on travel tips and guides, events, entertainment,shopping, food, business and transportation.
Also, you might want to read our
Central Vietnam city guide,
Halong Bay city guide,
Hanoi city guide,
Ho Chi Minh city guide,
Phan Thiet city guide,
and Hoi An city guide.
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| D Mayer |
22 March 2004 |
Stayed at Lucky Hotel - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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Don't miss taking a tour of Halong bay. One, two and three day trips are available from many locations in Hanoi. We booked through our hotel for the 1 day trip and found that sufficient to get a good overview of the bay.
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| K Subramanian |
12 March 2004 |
Stayed at Green Park Hotel - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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Everything for a tourist in Hanoi is Lake-centred. You can spend a few good days riding the cyclo around the city, walking round the tranquil Hoan Kiem Lake, shuffling thro the myriad street markets, and not fail to be impressed by the quiet charm and peace of this place and especially its beautiful people. The motorbike traffic is unstoppable and, if you follow traffic light traditions, you would end up waiting at the light from morn to evening. Just pull up your socks, place your heart firmly in your mouth, do not look too much at the oncoming traffic and cross slowly. They slow down and let you pass, or wind their way around you, and you manage to stay alive and get to the other side as well. Ocassionally you might see a few of them bumping into each other but there is no argument, no chaos, they just get up, dust themselves off and proceed. A busy city that retains its peace and tranquility.
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| S Lewis |
12 March 2004 |
Stayed at Sunway Hotel Hanoi - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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In Hanoi we can recommend the Emperor restaurant for good but relatively expensive food and the Hoa Sua restaurant which trains street children for jobs in catering-it serves excellent Vietnamese and French food.
We used Buffalo Tours for a trek in the Mai Chau area, Cuc Phuong National Park and Halong Bay. Halong Bay was amazing, even in the mist!
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| L Innes-small |
08 March 2004 |
Stayed at Lucky Hotel - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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Vietnam is a wonderful place to visit. Feb/March was a great time to go weather wise if you dont like it too hot and humid. Saigon - First destination and favourite place (once we got over the shock of the volume of traffic and mastered the art of crossing the road). Vibrant city and lovely people, friendly and genuinely interested in talking to you. Delta Adventure Tours for trips, very reasonable and well organised with great guides. Do not forgot to tip them as they are on a low wage (we were the only people who tipped).
Excellent trip to the Chu Chi tunnels. Only did day trip to Mekon Delta but would recommend going for 2 days. Most interesting sites for me in Saigon were the Presidential Palace (take one of the free tours)and of course the War Remnants Museum. Food was very good. Great vegetarian restaurant in back packer area - Bohdi Tree. Very disappointed with rooftop garden at the Rex hotel. The cocktails were expensive and I was not offered any change from the money I handed over. Biggest disappointment of whole trip.
Hoi An - A bit disappointing. 2-3 days is enough time to spend hereif you are not getting clothes made (we were there for 4 days). Fed up with hassle from shop keepers and cyclos. Also trip to beach a nightmare as accosted by a constant stream of peddlers. The food is amazing here, lots of sea food. Try the wontons at Ms. Lys cafeteria. Tour to the Cham Ruins worthwhile, as is Old Quarter walking tour. We were invited into one of the lovely old French colonial houses by the owner for a private tour. One of the highlights of the holiday.
Hue - Excellent. Only spent 2 days here but wish I had stayed longer. DMZ day trip very interesting but long day. Citadel very worthwhile to visit. Food is fantastic. Every restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet is great. Best memory of Hue was sitting having a drink on a floating restaurant at the river watching the sun go down.
Hanoi - Was ok, but didn’t like it as much as Saigon, even though a lot of people on this website seem to prefer it. Found the people in Hanoi more reserved. Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum worth seeing and the Temple of Literature. Trip to Halong Bay spoiled as the weather was bad, but good for exploring the caves. A day trip is enough. Water puppet theatre is great - pay a bit more to get front row seats and book early.
Did not think much of the food in Hanoi. Had not had a bad meal in the whole of Vietnam until arriving in Hanoi. Also left it until Hanoi to do shopping, but wish I had got stuff in Saigon or Hoi An as more choice. Transport: Getting to and from places is easy. As we were time limited, took domestic flights. very reasonable and good service $60. Would liked to have taken a train journey. Would definitely go back to South Vietnam and take a trip into Cambodia (any tour operator can arrange it). Have recommended lots of friends to go to Vietnam – can’t describe how wonderful it is!
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| H Schofield |
01 March 2004 |
Stayed at Hilton Hanoi Opera Hotel - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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Cyclos are cheap fast and definitely the best way to negotiate the city streets.
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| L Cooker |
22 February 2004 |
Stayed at De Syloia Hotel - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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Hanoi is a fantastic city. It's good just to wander around. Try to see a Water Puppet performance and take the time to head out to the Museum of Ethnology - it's well worth it.
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| E Wright |
21 February 2004 |
Stayed at Lucky Hotel - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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We took a tour to Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island. Halong Bay was very nice, caves interesting and the trip on the big wooden boat was wonderful, but Cat Ba was a bit basic and the food on the tour was terrible! Restaurants around Hanoi were all good, especially a group of restaurants in Ma May and another group in the street near the Catholic church. There were also some wonderful designer shops (homewares, gifts and clothes) around near this church. We walked mostly but also took cyclos, and taxis when it was raining. All very cheap and we enjoyed being taken in the wrong direction and being lost by our drivers a few times...all in the price and part of the adventure. The whole feeling of Hanoi is very 'safe' for an 'older' female traveller. Crossing the roads is another story though. Just have to look straight ahead and do it!
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| A Pfaff |
20 February 2004 |
Stayed at Green Park Hotel - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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We just spent two days in the area, unfortunately was the mausoleum closed on Friday (check opening times if your time is limited). We did the Halong bay tour which is a lot of driving (3-5hrs) each way, the bay is spectacular, though
visiting the old town is a must.
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| N Roy |
11 February 2004 |
Stayed at Lucky Hotel - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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Comments from other travelers that they were being ripped of by cyclo's and taxi drivers in Hanoi may be somewhat unfounded. After renting a m/cycle for a week we found that the one way system in the city is limited with regard to a-b travel, also travel around the central lake area is limited for cyclos. We never paid more than we wanted to. Food was ok. Some CDs turned out to be a bit jerky. Handspan travel rocks. Hoi-an, Halong Bay and Sapa treks are great. We made up a small conversion chart for Dong/$US/Yen that was invaluable to both of us in those tight bargaining situations or at a glance shopping. Be polite in your refusals. No, means, no thank you. Anything you have made will be of poor quality, in the end be prepared to throw it away and you won't be disappointed. Kids collecting coins for their school etc...is a scam, they resell them. On that happy note, we'll be going back again nice people and a great place and you don't need to spend a lot to enjoy yourself. Oh, stay away from the night cludb on Cat Ba Island, met a traveler who was drugged there, and we saw a guy phasered there for what seemed like trying to dance with the wrong person, then taken to the alley for.
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| S Burger |
31 January 2004 |
Stayed at De Syloia Hotel - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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Hanoi is a wonderful city. The atmosphere,the people, the food, the art galleries, the shopping, wonderful!! Going through the art galleries was like wandering through museums, the more you saw, the more you fell in love with the Vietnamese artists' work.
There were many great restaurants catering to any budget if only there were more meal times in a day! All of the coffee shops we went into were good. The Vietnamese drip coffee served at 'Au Lac'was to die for. The restaurant at the De Syloia hotel was excellent as was a restaurant called 'Nam Phuong'.
Going during Tet was not a major problem. The streets were quiet and we were able to wander all over the old quarter without any hassles and visited many art galleries. Many places were closed though, so if you want an action-packed holiday, it may be inconvenient at Tet.
The only place we did not like was a place called 'Hoa Lu', it was an old temple area. Unfortunately the hawkers and beggars make it very difficult to walk around and after a short time we gave up and left. It is a pity that they harrass you so much as it left us feeling really upset and not willing to visit what should have been a relaxing and beautiful place.
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