Hanoi
Hanoi is the capital and second-most populous centrally-governed city of Vietnam.
It covers an area of 3,358.6 km2 (1,296.8 mi2), and as of 2025 has a population of 8,807,523. Hanoi had the second-highest gross regional domestic product of all Vietnamese provinces and centrally-governed cities at US$48 billion in 2023, behind Ho Chi Minh City. It hosts 78 foreign embassies, the headquarters of the Vietnam People's Army (VPA), its Vietnam National University system, and other governmental organizations. Hanoi had 18.7 million domestic and international visitors in 2022. It hosts the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Hoàn Kiếm Lake, West Lake, and Ba Vì National Park near the outskirts of the municipality. Hanoi's urban area has architectural styles, including pre-colonial Vietnamese architecture, French colonial architecture, brutalist apartments and disorganized alleys and tube houses stemming from the city's growth in the 20th century.
Worth seeing
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Things to do
Flavors of Hanoi, 25 Hang Be, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi, 09:00-21:00. A local foodie experiences provider, they offer personal street food tours to help visitors explore Hanoi’s Old Quarter and French Quarter through their taste buds. August Movie Theater (Rap Thang 8) (On Hang Bai St, 5 min away from Trang Tien Plaza and the commercial area, such as Pho Hue, Hai Ba Trung and Trang Tien St).
Where to eat
Hanoi's most famous (and prevalent) dish is phở soup: "phở gà" (chicken noodle soup), "phở bò" (beef noodle soup), or "phở chay" (tofu noodle soup). Another local specialty is bún chả, grilled fatty pork over a plate of white rice noodles and herbs with dipping sauce. There are hundreds of street restaurants in small kiosks on the sidewalk, with plastic tables and chairs on the pavement.
Getting around Hanoi the local way
- Get inBy shuttle bus – (It is not clear if these are still running as of June 2022.) Hourly between the airport and the Tickets at the airport are sold in the building in front of which the minibuses park, or you can give the fare directly to the driver.
- Go nextThe Sapa mountain region close to the Chinese border, home to ethnic minorities, gorgeous mountain scenery, and trekking paths connecting many tiny mountain villages, is the second-most popular trip.
- Go next320 km northwest from the capital, Sapa is accessible by direct private bus services from Hanoi, which now only takes 5h30 thanks to excellent new highways; or by 8-hour train journey from Hanoi Station to Lao Cai, then onward by minibus or hired motorbike.
- Go nextTam Coc/Hoa Lu in Ninh Binh Province, is a day trip is combining heritage tourism and natural landscape tourism.
From Wikivoyage: Hanoi, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.
Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Richard Mortel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (CC BY 2.0), Wikimedia Commons.
