How to survive the Hanoi streets and fun things to do

You will know that you have landed in Vietnam when the Hanoi streets welcome you with all that honking…

Leaving the airport: Hanoi airport is very small and therefore it’s easy to meet somebody at the exit. There are several ATMs and a restaurant. The cheapest option to get to the city center would probably be #17 bus but since it might take quite long, we opted for a minibus taxi. Look out for the guys in the yellow shirts because they will drop you off at your hotel for $2-$3.
If you have a visa upon arrival, don’t forget to get the visa at the counter in the back of the arrival hall before you get in line to go through customs.

Not get hit by a scooter: If you wait to cross the street until a car stops, you will wait forever. The general rule seems to be to just move across slowly and always step to your next free spot. The streets are very chaotic and scooters and cars come from all sides into every direction. I saw two pedestrians being bumped into by a scooter because the driver was on the phone, so even if you are just walking along the streets, always throw a glance backwards, what might hit you from behind. I really started to appreciate the street laws of Switzerland.

Eat street food: Everything we ate was simply delicious! So if you have just arrived and you are worried about your stomach, don’t make that hold you back from getting the real taste of Vietnam. You will have your best meals on tiny plastic chairs, just only choose places to sit down, where already many Asian people are eating.
Same goes for the drinks. The coffee/ice coffee is very tasty and it would be a shame to miss the fruit juices and various milk teas.

Visit Ho Chi Minh park: If you want to see Ho Chi Minh’s palace or his mausoleum, get up early because last entry will be at 10.15am and they are very strict about that.
The museum is open longer or otherwise it’s also nice to stroll around the area and take pictures of the buildings and the guards. Our taxi from the old quarter to there cost 50k VND. On the way back we walked. It took us about 30min and we passed by several nice embassy houses.

Have a massage: You find 60min massages from $10 onwards, so after a long flight or shaky bus ride what could be better than a relaxing massage in a good smelling room with an agreeable temperature?
We went to Midori Spa and were happy with our Swedish and Vietnamese massage for about 250k VND. We also received a lot of free tea, which I find goes well with a massage.

Go to the night market: The night market happens on Fri/Sat/Sun and you will find many souvenirs like elephant pants, phone utensils, jewelry and more. Here again, people told us that the market will be until midnight, which means that everybody starts packing up at 11.15pm.

I liked Hanoi for all the different places you can eat or have a coffee but I recommend to just get out of the city and go enjoy Vietnam’s nature.

We stayed at the Golden Charm Hotel which is at a very good location in the old quarter and the receptionists are friendly and helped us to book very memorable tours. Read more about some adventures we had on a scooter tour and riding bicycles in beautiful Mai Chau (click here).