Hanoi, and every trip out of it.
An overnight on Ha Long Bay, the limestone rivers of Ninh Binh, the rice terraces above Sapa, and a street-food night in the Old Quarter. The ones worth the long haul, with prices and a way to reserve a berth.
Sleep on the bay, eat on the kerb.
A junk moored overnight under Ha Long’s limestone towers, a sampan rowed through the flooded caves at Trang An, and an Old Quarter food walk that ends on a plastic stool with the best pho of the trip. Hanoi’s most dependable bookings, rated below.
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Sleep out among the karsts.
Two thousand limestone islands standing straight up out of jade water, a cabin with a balcony over the bay, a kayak at dawn before the day boats reach the cave. Ha Long is the trip most people build the week around, and the boat you choose decides all of it, from the route to whether the cabin has a window. Below are the cruises worth the ride out from Hanoi.
Which trip out of Hanoi is yours?
Almost everyone gives up a night or two of the city for somewhere bigger; the only question is where. Three ways to spend it, from a cabin on the bay to a homestay in the hills, timings and prices attached, so the call is quick.
A night on the water
Ha Long Bay
from $41 · 7,415 reviews
The famous one, and it earns the fame: a boat out through the towers, a cabin over the bay, kayaks and a cave before the crowds catch up. One or two nights aboard, about four hours each way. The trip to book first, and to book early.
See the Ha Long cruises →
There and back in a day
Ninh Binh
from $79 · 7,761 reviews
The same limestone on dry land and two hours closer to the city. A rowed sampan through the flooded caves of Trang An or Tam Coc, the five-hundred-step climb up Mua Cave for the whole valley at once, an old capital at Hoa Lu. No overnight, which is why it fits a short week.
See the Ninh Binh day trips →
North to the mountains
Sapa
from $59 · 2,669 reviews
The long way north and the coolest air of the trip: rice terraces stacked up the valleys, a walk between Hmong and Dao villages, a night in a homestay or a hill-town hotel. Two nights, with a sleeper train or a mountain road at each end. For travellers with the days to spare.
See the Sapa treks →
The Old Quarter is better after dark.
Plastic stools spread across the pavement, a glass of bia hoi for less than a coffee, and somewhere close a train is about to squeeze between the cafes on Train Street. Evening is when Hanoi finally slows down and eats. Go once with someone who knows which alley to turn down.
Hanoi is a city you eat standing up.
Pho before eight, a bun cha lunch off a charcoal grill, egg coffee thick as custard on a rooftop above the traffic. The Old Quarter keeps its best kitchens down alleys you would walk straight past. These are the food walks and classes worth arriving hungry for.
Ninh Binh, one river bend at a time.
Two hours south the rice paddies fill with limestone towers, and the way to see them is low and slow. A rower eases a sampan through flooded caves, then you climb the steps of Mua Cave for the whole valley at once. The dry-land Ha Long, and an easy day back to the city by dinner.
A thousand years, thirty-six streets.
A lake with a temple marooned on an island in the middle of it, thirty-six guild streets that still sell what they were named for, water puppets on a stage flooded to the knee. Old Hanoi keeps rituals older than most of its neighbours, and a good guide is the difference between passing through it and reading it.
Pick your Hanoi, and where you leave it for.
This is a city with big days out attached. Ha Long for a night on the bay. Ninh Binh for the rivers and caves. Sapa for the terraces. The Old Quarter for everything in between.
Know how you want to spend the day?
Twelve kinds of trip out of Hanoi, bay to hills. Choose your week and the tours are set.
The best of the north is a morning away.
Bays full of limestone, rivers you row straight through caves, terraced hills and an old stone capital, all reachable from one base in Hanoi. Some you do in a day; some are worth the night.
Three days that hold the north.
You can’t see all of the north in three days; you can absolutely spend them well. This is the run we’d hand a friend landing at Noi Bai tomorrow: the city, a river day, then the night on the water.
Day 1
Settle into the Old Quarter
Egg coffee and a slow lap of Hoan Kiem Lake, the thirty-six streets on foot, a bowl of pho you will think about later, and water puppets once it gets dark. No alarm, no rush.
Plan day one →
Day 2
A river day at Ninh Binh
Two hours south for the dry-land karsts: a sampan easing through the caves of Trang An, the climb up Mua Cave for the whole valley, the old capital at Hoa Lu, back in the city by dinner.
Plan day two →
Day 3
A night on Ha Long Bay
The morning pickup, aboard by lunch, a kayak and a cave in the afternoon, then dinner as the boat anchors among the towers. The one night worth booking before anything else.
Plan day three →
Newest from the north.
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