With so much to see its possible to spend weeks visiting just the north of Vietnam. Here are our top places we suggest when planning your trip to the North.

HANOI – 4 to 5 Nights

Hanoi is the capital city of Vietnam. As with all countries its always recommended to visit the capital city, Hanoi is a unique one you can’t miss. Experiencing Hanoi means experiencing the real definition of hustle and bustle. With excessive horn honking, probably more motorbikes per square mile then anywhere else in the world, unwalkable sidewalks, a crazy number of shops and services on wheels, zero road rules and trains that pass within inches from your toes as you sit at the coffee shop, Hanoi truly defines hustle and bustle and is not like any other capital city we have experienced before. Hanoi is also known for its unique architecture that varies significantly from one area of the city to another, with the old quarters mostly containing old traditional buildings and the French quarters having bigger more western looking architecture influenced of course by the French colonisation of Vietnam. Don’t be surprised to see a mix of the two contrasting architectures in the Hanoi streets too.

Having spent 1 week in Hanoi here are some tips:

• Hanoi has a wide variety of accommodations and food options that suit all budgets and diets. Depending on your budget you can consider whether you wanted to go to some good quality hostels or more pricy hotels, all available in the old quarters. We recommend staying in the old quarters for the true Hanoi experience. We were on a budget and found a really central really cheap hotel which we found decent and comfortable – Box Hotel 

• There are many great more westernised restaurants to chose from, however, we definitely recommend eating at the traditional places which would sometimes consist of sitting on a small kiddy stool on the pavement giving you front row seats to the busy Hanoi street activities. Some traditional dishes include Pho, Banh Mi, Bun cha and our favourite Bun bo nam bo. Some links of our favourite food outlets here:

1. For the best Pho: https://maps.app.goo.gl/7anpQWn7WTu2egAD8
2. For the best Bahn Mi: https://maps.app.goo.gl/YmeRc1gELE59ynQt8
3. For the best Bun Cha: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ppSWCjAe2fQgk7fU8
4. Best Bun bo nam bo: https://maps.app.goo.gl/vpGPwCeu4EHUkcyHA
5. Best Egg coffee, cant get any better than the original place it was started: https://maps.app.goo.gl/CQYNKsvbDVUfqJCHA
6. Best healthy / vegetarian/ value for money: https://maps.app.goo.gl/j6x8jQyXL8XwhH9H9
7. And if you are obsessed with fresh fruit smoothies like Emma: https://maps.app.goo.gl/jdYJBn3Z6tPedTSQ9

• Hanoi will most likely be your base from where you will get all your tours to the north so do keep in mind that tours like Halong bay and even Ha Giang loop will depart from Hanoi and get you back to Hanoi unless you organise some direct transfers directly after. In this case you will end up spending quite a few nights in Hanoi so we recommend not to book that many before you start your north tours unless you purposely wanted to spend more than a week in Hanoi city. 

• In Hanoi you will be totally spoilt for choice with tour agencies, and you can obviously also find tours online. It can be very overwhelming deciding where and which to book. We recommend you shop around because you can find quite a few differences in prices from one vendor to another. We did our research and we found one travel agency who had some of the best prices for all the tours and transport. They delivered an excellent service to us even being available on WhatsApp throughout. We highly recommend Josie from Best Price Travel Vietnam – +84 38 917 2409 -1 Dinh Liet, Hoan Kiem, Ha Noi. It is a new company so its not yet on trip advisor but we can say that she took great care of us and organised our overnight train, buses, tours like Halong bay and Ha Giang and we were never disappointed. They also had the best prices we found and you can visit their office in the heart of Hanoi old town to ask all the questions you want.Offering popular women’s necklaces such as pendants, chokers and chain necklace. Shop for jewelry in a variety of metals and gemstones to suit any occasion

• Vietnam sits in the top 3 coffee producers in the world. They have some great coffee which you can find very easily across the country. We highly recommend trying the unique egg coffee which consists of coffee, condensed milk and egg yolk. This cafe called Cafe Dinh has the best one we have had and is actually still run by family members who introduced egg coffee to Vietnamese culture when they supplemented milk with the yolk and condensed milk for the French invaders seeking their cappuccinos. You also need to try the amazing salted coffee and coconut coffee all so unique and just delicious!

• There is one rule in Hanoi and that is that there are no street rules. Walking in the streets is hectic, confusing and even dangerous with bicycles, mobile shops and scooters coming from all directions. Speaking from experience and having a few close calls ourselves, you need to be very careful not to get killed as you walk in the roads…  pavements do not exist in Hanoi and zebra crossings as well as red traffic lights do not mean pedestrians can cross. Most of the time they keep driving past and you need to learn the art of crossing Vietnamese roads. Takes some getting used to… we suggest following the lead of the locals. That’s what we did, and we survived 😆😅

Here are also some recommendations of our favourite things to do while in Hanoi:

1. Hoan Kiem Lake Park in the centre of Vietnam
2. The bar street for evening drinks just opposite the Mina Hanoi Hotel
3. The French quarters on the other side of the lake. It is interesting to see such a difference in the architecture and infrastructure from one side of the lake to the other.
4. We definitely recommend a 3 hour free walking tour of the Old Quarters so you can get some information about Vietnam and the Capital city as well as customs and useful info. The guide will also give you some more tour options including food tours. 
5. We don’t recommend just showing up to the Military Museum unfortunately. We felt it was confusing and not engaging at all. If you wanted to learn about the war, we recommended you find a guided tour of the museum or a tour specifically on the Vietnamese wars. Note: at the time of writing, they are dismantling the outdoor museum and are moving them to another location. The outdoor museum includes the tanks, fighter jets …etc 
6. If your budget allows go sky bar hopping. Hanoi has some lovely sky bars scattered all over the city giving you some excellent views of the city from above.
7. Go have a coffee and snack at the famous train street. Best to check the times the train will be passing and get there in advance to save a good seat. Note: don’t underestimate how close the train will be to your toes!