4 days in Hanoi & Ninh Binh, Vietnam
Because it was a short 4-day trip, we decided to skip Sapa since it’s a 6-hour or so bus ride one way. This is a little bit more on the slower side of traveling with plenty of time for cafe hopping + shopping.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
When to go
Hanoi is located at the northern part of Vietnam and does experience winter-like weather. The best time to go is between October to April. For reference, we went early March where the weather did dip a little cooler.
Old Quarter
We stayed and toured just the Old Quarter area of Hanoi. While I usually state the hotel we stay in, quite frankly, and as stated in my vlog, I cannot recommend the hotel we booked. However, there are plenty of options available in Old Quarter, just be aware of fake reviews on Google!
Transport - How to get to Old Quarter, and around the area
We usually book airport transfers ahead to avoid having to line up for a taxi. For this trip, we booked private airport transfers to and from our hotel via Klook.
To get around the area, we either walked because it’s pretty walkable, or if we went a bit further out, we used Grab - a ride share app that’s popular around South East Asia.
Coming from the Philippines, we were shocked to see that the rates (in general) were half the price if we were back home.
Don’t forget to have your data roaming ready! You can also get e-sims via Klook.
Sightseeing in and nearby Old Quarter
St. Joseph’s Cathedral
Hoan Kiem Lake
Cross the red bridge to Ngoc Son Temple - you can see 2 preserved giant softshell turtles
If you’re there on a weekend, the road around the lake is car free
Train Street - this felt really unsafe in hindsight xD it seems to be a thing too where you ‘buy’ your entrance to the tracks by purchasing something to eat or drink at one of the cafes. Best to arrive early and finish your drink because, well, hygiene purposes really. The train is huge and dusty. That’s all xD There is a train schedule so you know what time to go. Note that these are more of guide times, best to go maybe at least 20 minutes earlier to be sure. And listen to the locals when they tell you to move out of the way because the train will not stop and accidents have happened.
Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre
Temple of Literature & National University
Tran Quoc Pagoda
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
Hoa Lo Prison
Tours to check out: Private Half Day tour with Train Street
Pottery Class (tourist friendly!)
When I say tourist friendly, I don’t just mean English instructions, but also being able to receive your pottery piece in a couple of days!
The pottery studio in Cebu had closed a few months before this trip, and as I was researching, found Authentic Bat Trang - Ceramic shop, a ceramic shop where you can throw on the wheel and get your piece in a couple of days. So yes, I booked the 4 of us an afternoon session through their website on our first day. Alternatively, you can book here.
Located conveniently in Old Quarter, it was a 3-4 hour session where we learned that pottery has a 700+ years history in Vietnam, particularly in the Bat Trang Pottery Village just outside of Hanoi.
With the short time, the class skips clay preparation and how to center the clay (sorry if there’s a proper term, I clearly have no pottery experience haha!). The instructor does the centering for you, and teaches you how to shape on the wheel. It was more of a get-a-feel-of-pottery in a short period of time. With the fee, you can attempt as much as you want and take home 1 piece for free, and for extra pieces, it was $5 extra/pc.
After going through a lot of clay, you choose between a few glaze options for them to glaze your piece/s with. And they’ll contact you through Whatsapp once the pieces are ready for pickup. We were expecting ours in 2-3 days later but we got it less than 48 hours after. We were also very surprised at how much the pieces shrank - yes we were informed, but reality was still surprising haha.
I did avail of an extra piece, however, it did not survive the kiln firing (cracked), so they offered store credit and had me choose a small piece in their shop. I got a coffee cup.
Overall, a nice introduction to pottery as a tourist!
Where we ate
SAVORY FOOD
Bếp Việt - a random pick and our first meal of the trip, and the best of the Viet restaurants we went to. The owner/manager is also very friendly!
Banh Mi Mama - street food banh mi, super cheap can’t really complain xD (less than $2 / P80?!)
Pho 10 Ly Quoc Su - freshly made pho - tbh, found it bland but serving portion with meat was good
Pizza 4Ps- I know, I know. I can hear the “you’re in Vietnam and eating Italian??” and to that I say: yes, and we went twice! xD They have multiple locations around Hanoi, and reservations is a MUST. They have several locations within Hanoi, so be sure to select the correct one and reserve as soon as you can because seats during usual dining times go fast!
Note: Tbh, I don’t know if we just chose the wrong places or trusted hyped places and Google reviews too much but we were a bit disappointed with our choices for Viet food :(
COFFEE & PASTRY
The Running Man - great Western style brunch place with a variety of savory and sweet dishes + coffee / non-coffee options
Cong Ca Phe - went for their Coconut Coffee. It wasn’t my favorite, but not bad and refreshing.
Loading T Cafe - tried their egg coffee and wow, very strong
Blackbird Coffee - a milder version of egg coffee / eggspresso
Artemis Pastry - interesting patisserie style cakes with tropical flavors
Souvenir Shops
I make it a point to find small shops that feature local artists to purchase souvenirs or gifts from. The art is just so much better than the typical mass produced souvenirs. Here are a few shops we visited:
Ninh Binh Day Trip
We had a lengthy discussion about which day trip to go for: Halong Bay or Ninh Binh. Halong Bay is after all a UNESCO world heritage site however, based on our friends’ feedback and I quote, “similar to Palawan’s rock formations”, we chose to skip it.
We booked the Ninh Binh Day Trip from Hanoi tour via Klook. They have several tour options/combos available. We chose the Hoa Lu - Trang An - Mua Cave option. It was a small group of around 10 people.
Normally, the route is Hoa Lu Ancient City - Trang An River - Mua Cave Hike, but our guide asked if we were open to do the hike first because it might be less crowded in the morning, and we all agreed.
Mua Cave + Dragon
For the hike, you’re given around 50 minutes to go up and back down. If you’re fit, it is doable. Since we were not, our tour group may have had to wait a bit sorry xD We also missed out on the lotus pond in the same area, but good thing it was off-season so there wasn’t much to look at. I think they could definitely allow for a longer time for this part of the tour.
The hike is stair steps, not an incline. You do have to be a bit more careful at some parts especially towards the top, where the steps were a bit high and narrow. There is a rest spot/view deck just before the last climb towards the dragon statue a the peak. Getting to the dragon statue at the top is also tricky and traffic definitely builds up with narrow two-way paths and especially if wanting to take photos, so you’ll have to watch where you step and hold on to.
Hoa Lu Ancient City
After the hike, we had lunch (included in the tour) at a restaurant. Then comes part of the tour where you can ride bikes to head off to the Ancient City (Hoa Lu). Two of us could ride a bike, but I had pulled my quad the day before (yes, hiking down was a pain, going up, not so much) and knew I couldn’t cycle, and 2 couldn’t ride at all, so we rode the shuttle to the temples like passenger princesses. It was about a 10 minutes ride to the temples from the restaurant.
You get to see the vast area of the old capital with temples/tombs of the former ruling family. A bit solemn with the history of war for independence from former Chinese rule, and fratricide and politics behind it.
Trang An River Tour
Lastly, it was time to head to the river tour. The location was rather systematic. You line up and your guide guides you to an available boat. You wear your life vests and sit along for the ride through several caves with stalacmites, some had sparkling crystals which was cool. I think we went through at least 4 caves and yes, in certain spots, you definitely need to duck. It wasn’t all a boat ride of course. You get to dock at a temple in the middle of all the rock formations along the river to pay your respects at the temple, stretch your legs and use the restrooms before heading back to the starting point. Overall, this was actually really nice and calming and a nice way to relax after the hike. Although, it might be a different story if the weather is warmer.
What’s amazing is the strength the paddlers have to paddle for hours. Just to note that they do not do the feet paddling here, that would be in another river: Tam Coc.
Hope that helps! Thanks for reading!
