10 Things You Must See And Do In Hanoi
It is very difficult to summarize the things you can do and see in Hanoi. A city as exciting as it is chaotic. There are essential tourist visits, there are gastronomic experiences that you must try, there are purchases that you must do and places where you have to get lost. So we will try to give you a guide to enjoy the capital of Vietnam.
As we have said, Hanoi is a chaotic city. It is overcrowded and has insane traffic. But having said that, it must also be said that it is a fascinating city, and the Vietnamese are friendly and smiling people.
Therefore, we advise you to encourage yourself to discover the city for yourself. Of course, prepare a little plan. Here are our recommendations :
1. Hoan Kiem Lake
This lake is the nerve center of Hanoi. It is a small green space in the middle of the madness of the surrounding streets. And as part of it, you can visit a beautiful pagoda, where we will observe all the rituals that Buddhists follow. From donating food to burning money.
2. The Old Quarter of Hanoi
When we tell you to prepare a little visit plan to Hanoi, in the case of its Old Quarter, in reality the only possible plan is to say, let’s visit it! From there its labyrinths of streets will absorb you.
3. More shopping at Dong Xuan Market
Leaving the Old Quarter you will arrive at another of the commercial epicenters of Hanoi: the Dong Xuan market. It is a multi-story building where the huge amount of merchandise (of all kinds), barely leaves corridors to circulate. It is the paradise of the copies!
4. The French Quarter
On one side of Hoan Kiem Lake is the Old Town. And on the other, the French Colonial Quarter of Hanoi. Do not forget that Indochina was a colony of France. And during that period many monumental buildings were erected. Among them, the Opera or several of the most elegant hotels in the city.
5. Presidential Palace
And if we talk about monumental architecture in this area of the city, we must mention the Presidential Palace, which before that was a royal residence. Its yellow facade is unmistakable.
Curiously, there is a garden next to it. The place where Ho Chi Minh decided to build a wooden house to live, thus despising the great palace.
6. Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
If in life the great leader of Vietnam lived in a humble house, for posterity a mausoleum was raised that today is the most revered place in the country. His mummy is exposed there and, if you want to visit it, you have to follow strict rules, which include the impossibility of taking photos.
7. War Museum
Naming Ho Chi Minh immediately comes to mind the Vietnam War. Well, to know more about it, one of the places we can visit in Hanoi is the War Museum.
Here you will find all kinds of memories of that conflict, which ended up defeating the all-powerful Americans by the Vietnamese, albeit at the cost of thousands and thousands of victims.
8. Museum of Vietnamese Women
It is not the only museum that we recommend when visiting Hanoi. Also include the Museum of Vietnamese Women. It is most revealing about this society, where women are the fundamental pillar from any point of view: economic, family, cultural … A well-deserved tribute to the women of this country.
9. One Pillar Pagoda
There are many pagodas that are worth a visit in Hanoi, but we would like to recommend the one known as the One Pillar pagoda. Its architecture is typical of this type of temple, but the most attractive thing about it is its location, next to a small lake neighboring the aforementioned Presidential Palace.
10. Temple of Literature
We end this quick tour of Hanoi by visiting the Temple of Literature. A place that was the original university of the city, built exclusively for the richest back in the 11th century.
However, today all the schoolchildren and students of Hanoi arrive here, where they present their graduates and celebrate it. Therefore, this site is not only a monumental visit, it is also an ideal place to see the vitality and the enormous future that awaits this Southeast Asian country.
