After Hong Kong we flew into Hanoi, and thus began our big Northern Vietnam adventure! We had never been to Vietnam before, and neither of us spoke Vietnamese, but we found the country very navigable and everyone was super nice. Since we visited so many different places, I wanted to separate my Northern Vietnam travel guide by destination. Just so you know the overview, and because many people asked for my itinerary, this is the route we took:
Day 1: arrive in Hanoi and spent the night
Day 2 / 3: Ha Long Bay cruise and then drive to Ninh Binh and explore Trang An
Day 4: Explore Ninh Binh further (Tam Coc, Hang Mua Cave, Bich Dong Pagoda, Bird Sanctuary), head back to Hanoi and take the night train to Sapa
Day 5 – 7: enjoy Sapa! then head back to Hanoi
Day 8 / 9: Hanoi
As you can see from the google map above, northern Vietnam is LARGE and not that easy to get around. In fact, each destination is about 1-3 hours driving distance away from each other. Sapa is the furthest, which was a 5.5 hour drive from Hanoi. We used Hanoi as our home base, leaving our large suitcases here and using a small duffel for most of our Vietnam trip until we made it back to Hanoi for the final few days. I highly recommend this, as many cars, trains, and buses are small and do not have ample space for your large suitcases. For private transfers from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay, from Ha Long Bay to Ninh Binh and back to Hanoi, and from Sapa back to Hanoi, we opted to go with a private transport company. This saves a ton of time (if your driver is good). We used Hanoi Transport Service for a good number of transfers; they were prompt to respond on Whatsapp and overall did the job well, but the driver got lost several times on our trip to Ninh Binh, setting us back by over an hour.
Today we’ll talk about Hanoi for starters, and we’ll move our way down the list!
Hanoi
Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, and the country’s second largest city (second to Ho Chi Minh City), combines French colonial charm with the hustle and bustle of a big city. We found that we could easily get lost in the streets of Old Quarter, wandering from souvenir shop to small art gallery to cafe. We enjoyed walking around Hoan Kiem Lake and then buying knick knacks, souvenirs, and fresh coffee beans on the side streets. The cafe culture here is alive and well; even during the weekday we saw tons of Vietnamese people enjoying their coffee in the middle of the day, mixed in with the tourists. But watch out when you cross the street; we realized that four way intersections commonly don’t have traffic lights and it’s a total free for all. I was hanging on to my husband’s hand for dear life whenever we ventured across streets because cars and motorbikes were whizzing by right next to me.
We stayed in multiple places – an AirBNB the first night and then the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel the last two nights after we came back from our travels around Northern Vietnam. Two very different places with very different atmospheres. Our Airbnb was on the outskirts of the Old Quarter. It was charming, super affordable (~$40 USD for a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom!) and clean, but the area around it wasn’t exactly the best to walk around in. There were barely any sidewalks so you had to walk on the streets with the cars and motorbikes, and it was pretty hard to get around at night. The Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel is an upscale luxury hotel smack in the middle of Old Quarter, walking distance from Hoan Kiem lake and close to all the shopping. It’s definitely pricier but has fantastic restaurants and bars (Italian, French, and Vietnamese cuisines, just to name a few) and a lovely pool and spa area.
[/caption]What I loved about Hanoi most was the food. I loved it so much I convinced M to do a street food tour! We booked ours through Airbnb, though a Google search revealed that people are fanatic about this street food tour with foodie blogger Mark Lowerson. We couldn’t book with him since we decided the day of, but people seem to love his personalized food tours. Full disclaimer: I did get a mild case of food poisoning the day after my street food tour, so eat at your own risk. Our street food tour guide also warned us to wipe each utensil and plate thoroughly prior to using, since they may not be totally clean >_< Another disclaimer: I did see a few cockroaches in the eateries during the street food tour so if that’s not your thing, then maybe try the more established, less “hole in the wall” type restaurants. Since I love the food so much I have to devote a whole section to it:
Vietnamese Food
🇻🇳 PHO. I’ve always been a huge fan of pho back home but this is pho on a whole ‘nother level. Heaps of beef or chicken with thick or thin noodles in a piping hot broth. I always add in limes, bean sprouts, basil, and chilis. I loved that all the restaurants and hotels served pho for breakfast routinely, so I had at least one bowl of pho everyday to start my day!
🇻🇳 Fresh spring rolls (though deep fried ones are a guilty pleasure). I like the fresh rice noodle wrappers they use in Vietnam versus the chewier ones we eat in the states.
🇻🇳 Herb crusted cha ca grilled fish on rice noodles (didn’t get a chance to try the deep fried version this time)
🇻🇳 Fried chicken vermicelli noodles in a fish/soy sauce; I could not figure out the Vietnamese name but it was delicious.
🇻🇳 Banh Cuon: thin flat sheets of noodles wrapped around ground pork and mushrooms, dipped in a tasty fish sauce. We ate this at Banh Cuon Gia Truyen the first night in Hanoi and I was still thinking about it ever since.
🇻🇳 Bun cha: my new favorite noodles. Dip the rice noodles into the fish sauce with chili, lime, fresh garlic, and papaya slices, and eat with pork patties. Like a Vietnamese version of tsukemen. I ate this almost daily! This is also the dish that Obama ate with Anthony Bourdain at Bun Cha Huong Lien, which I sadly did not get a chance to visit. I ate it at Bun Cha Ta near the Sofitel hotel instead, which was DELICIOUS. The waitress was also very friendly and told us all about the history of the dish and how to eat it.
🇻🇳 Egg coffee: raw egg yolk whipped and mixed with sugar and other secret ingredients on top of a strong Vietnamese brew. This concoction is so creamy and thick it’s a custard. And check out that skillful latte art! We had iced egg coffee at Cafe Giang and hot egg coffee with beautiful latte art at Cafe Dinh. I have to say that I prefer the iced version since the ice melts and dilutes the thick custard taste a bit; however, I was also warned not to have iced drinks since the tap water used to make the ice might be contaminated. I drank the iced egg coffee anyways. Who knows if that’s the one that gave me food poisoning?!
Sammy says
Hi Joyce,
I love to read your blog because of all the useful topics regarding skin care but this post about the trip was also a good read, thank you! 🙂