You love the cultural heritage, love the ancient beauty, passionate about discovering delicious food and learning about a diverse and rich culture. You decide to choose Hanoi, Vietnam as the stopover for the next vacation.
Making an Hanoi 4 days itinerary is definitely a pain in the neck. Today we will create your perfect itinerary - so you can make the most out of your time with an itinerary 4 days in Hanoi.
Within Hanoi, you only need 2 days to discover the city. The other two days you can spend discover the suburb of Hanoi where also have a lot of things to do and see for Hanoi day trip.
Day 1: Hanoi City Tour – Old Quarter, French Quarter, Water Puppet Show
Any Hanoi City Tour would take you the most highlighted Hanoi attractions. We suggest you to book a full day Hanoi city tour with a water puppet show included in the evening.
Morning
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| Photo by falco |
1. Visit Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Museum
Ho Chi Minh is the most influential and beloved politician in Vietnam history. Come to Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Museum to not only learn more about Ho Chi Minh and the affection Vietnamese people have shown him but also appreciate the beautiful architecture of the complex.
Location: 25 Hung Vuong Street, Ba Dinh, Hanoi
Opening days: Tue, Wed, Thu, Sat, Sun
Opening hours: morning from 8:00AM – 12:00, afternoon from 14:00 to 16:30
Admission: 40,000VND
Dress code: avoid wearing shorts, mini-skirts, sleeveless shirts, tank tops and the like
2. Take a look at one Pillar Pagoda
One-pillar pagoda is the centerpiece of Vietnamese traditional architecture style. The work is absolutely singular and very iconic, related closely with history and legends at the same time. You shouldn’t miss visiting this place.
You can visit the pagoda when visit Ho Chi Minh complex.
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| Photo by 9636137 |
3. Enjoy the view of West Lake and Tran Quoc Pagoda
West Lake is the largest lake in Hanoi, offering not only spectacular sunset views but also a lot beautiful religious monuments. Tran Quoc, built 1500 years ago, has a significance role in the religious and spiritual life of Hanoian people.
Location: Thanh Nien Street
Admission: free entrance
Opening hours: 11:00 – 11:30 & 13:00 – 16:00 (Mon – Sat); 7:00 – 16:00 (Sun and holidays)
Afternoon
4. Walk around Hoan Kiem Lake and Ngoc Son Temple
Hoan Kiem Lake or Sword Lake and Ngoc Son Temple together is the most well-known attraction in Hanoi. One reason for that is the close location of the complex to Hanoi Old Quarter. The lake is such a change of landscape after a long hour on the busy roads of Hanoi.
Ngoc Son temple and The Huc Bridge create a solemn sight on the middle of the green lake. The red bridge is exceptionally beautiful at night.
Ngoc Son temple’s admission: 20,000VND for foreigners
Opening hours: daily, 7:30 – 17:00
Dress code: no miniskirts or shorts
5. Discover Hanoi Old Quarter
Hanoi Old Quarter is the heart of the capital city, also the city’s biggest travel hub. This is the place everything happens. Originally, Old Quarter was the trading center of the whole country, with at least 36 crafts guilds assembled.
To this day, Old Quarter still retains its traditional traits in some corner, yet developed into a vibrant, modern and exciting hub with a lot of things to do and enjoy.
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| Photo by Gryffindor |
6. If you have time, enjoy a water puppet show
Water puppet is one of the oldest folklore art form in Vietnamese culture. It’s well reserved and promoted so you can easily watch. Artisans stand in the waist-deep water using bamboo sticks to control the water puppetry movements. The performances often tell folklore stories and mythical legends of Vietnamese people. If you’re going with kids, you children would love it so much. This is also the top activities in Hanoi on rainy days.
Day 2: Explore Hanoi
What else we should visit today?
Morning
1. Visit St.Joseph Cathedral
If you’re interested in French architecture then you must visit St.Joseph Cathedral.
To continue our itinerary, go to Nha Chung Street. St.Joseph Cathedral is located at No 40 of Nha Chung Street, next to Hang Trong garden. You should visit the cathedral in morning since it’s usually closed by noon.
Being one of the oldest historical relic of Hanoi—still—St.Joseph Cathedral has the ancient beauty of Hanoi. St. Joseph Catheral has been existed for more than 3 centuries, witness all the change of Hanoi.
The cathedral was designed according to Gothic style (Renaissance) —resembles Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral with high and curvy arch.
Though having an ancient and mysterious on the outside—once you step into the cathedral, you will be surprised by the magnificent and glorious look inside the cathedral.
Now it’s time to grab some food.
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| Photo by Yun Huang Yong |
2. Eat local food: Cha ca (fish meatball)
There are many Cha ca restaurant in Hanoi, mostly from the Old Quarter. One of the best and most popular cha ca restaurant is Cha Ca La Vong at No 14 Cha Ca street.
Cha ca is the traditional food that everyone living in Hanoi Old Quarter knows about. Cha ca in Hanoi is different from cha ca in other places. Cha ca Hanoi is made by filtering the best flesh of the fish, then deep fry to make it crispy.
After that, you can eat cha ca with basil, cumin and other spices. It can be served with special shrimp sauce or fish sauce with peanuts on top.
Afternoon
3. Visit Museum of Fine art
Go to No 66 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street. The museum opens from 8:30 am—5:00 pm. The ticket price is 10.000 VND (US$0.4)
Then Museum of Fine Art is a must-see place for people who are into the art on the itinerary to explore Hanoi. Vietnam Museum of Fine Art was built in the 30s of 20th century as a place for daughters of French officers to live in.
Now it is the place to save the cultural and artistic value of Vietnam. Here in the museum, you can see the statues from the 16th century, exhibits from the 17th century and painting from the 20th century.
Every single exhibits is cherished and arranged beautifully to help the audience taste the best of artistic value.
The best thing you can see national treasure like the statue of Buddha with 327cm of height, paintings from famous painters like To Ngoc Van, Nguyen Sang.
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| Photo by chuongnguyen1989 |
4. Visit Temple of Literature
Which is the first university in Vietnam? If you want to the cultural signature of Vietnam then you have to go to Temple of Literature.
Go to 58 Quoc Tu Giam Street. The ticket price will be 30.000 VND (US$ 1.3).
The opening time is:
7:30 – 18:00 from Monday to Friday
8:00 – 21:00 from Saturday to Sunday.
For dress code, no shorts and miniskirts.
Temple of Literature in Hanoi is not only a historical place representing the long progress of Vietnamese culture. It made a big contribution on both Confucian civilization in Vietnam and human culture in the world also.
5. Eat Local Food: Banh My (vietnamese sandwich)
For the best banh my, you should try Banh My Ngon at no 49 Thanh Street. The price is 25.000 VND (US$ 1.1)/piece.
Banh My (Vietnamese sandwich) is considered as one of the most delicious sandwiches in the world. Banh my is delicious and diverse combination of pork, pate and veggies, stuffed into a crunchy baguette.
Other combination of banh my can have head cheese, pork sausage, cucumber and vegetables.
At Night
6. Eat street food at Hang Buom
Walking through the Old Quarter and enjoy the street food has now become the habits of Hanoi people on the weekend. Go through the night market, there are many kinds of traditional food like shells meat ball, sticky rice with grilled bird, grilled meat ball, grilled meat, che,….
Che and juice are the best choice for walking and enjoying at the same time. You would have plenty of time on 4 days itinerary in Hanoi, so take your time to feel the atmosphere here.
Day 3: Beyond Hanoi
Morning
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| Photo by Richard Mortel |
1. Visit Trang An – Bai Dinh complex
Since you get plenty of time with the 4 days itinerary, why don’t we go further? If you want to see the wonder of Vietnam then you have to see Trang An complex.
You should also arrive early at 5 or 6 in the morning to have more time to spend here—since Ninh Binh is 85 km from Hanoi it would take 2-3 hours to get there.
Once you get to Ninh Binh, you can use taxi or xe om to get to Trang An.
When you get there it’s time to…
With the natural beauty mixed with cultural and historical beauty, Trang an was listed as important heritage of Vietnam and recognized an world heritage by UNESCO in 2014.
The whole place is a beauty of glorious mountains and lengthy rivers connecting with caves—bringing the extraordinary beauty of the scenery.
Coming here, you can not help but absorbing the pure and subtle beauty of nature with the historical value from the mountain, the river, the cave and the jungles.
2. Visit Trang An grottoes
The cruise will take about 3-4 hours and you should also bring along sunscreen and hats. The best time to start the cruise is 8AM
If you want to stand up to take some picture during the cruise, be sure to ask the guide first—since it can be dangerous for people on the boat.
It has one of the most breath-taking grottoes in the world. Trang an is famous for having many stalactites which make the atmostphere breezing inside the cave.
It would be one of a kind experience when you can sit on the boat—seeing all kinds of moss and algae under the water and sense the freshness and purity of the environment.
The journey through unique caves like Sang cave, Seo cave, Dark cave, Drunk cave will be an amazing exploration.
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| Photo by Vietnam Typical Tours |
3. Eat burned rice and goat meat
People often say that “if you come here without eating burned rice and goat meat then you’ve never been to Ninh Binh.”
Goat meat in Ninh Binh is more delicious than other provinces for 2 things: The goat is raised on the mountain, eat many kinds of leaves and herbs - making the flesh more firm. The second is the special method of cooking.
Especially the stir fry goat meat—with the crunchiness and sweetness of the meat—when you eat with other kinds of herbs like basil, cumin it would be extremely delicious.
Along with goat meat, burned rice has become the delicacy of Ninh Binh. If you come here without trying burned rice with goat meat soup then it would be a waste.
Ninh Binh burned rice is mention by many people because of its flavor and crunchiness. Burned rice from Huong Mai is considered the most delicious burned rice in Ninh Binh.
These food you hardly get in another places with the same taste.
Afternoon
4. Visit Bai Dinh Pagoda
On this 4 days itinerary, we should not miss Bai Dinh Pagoda. Bai Dinh Pagoda has the most records in Asia and Vietnam—you will be amazed with the numbers of statues and the size of the pagoda.
You should must formal clothing before coming into the pagoda. Also bring along water and snacks because the pagoda is very big.
Day 4: Back to Hanoi
Your 4 days itinerary in Hanoi has one day left. Where should we go now?
Morning
1. Visit Le Mat Snake Village
Coming to Le Mat Snake Village, you will see a lot of snakes. Le Mat village is located in Long Bien District—it’s 9.7km from Hanoi.
Now in the village there are hundreds of household raising snakes, dozens of snake restaurant and a lot of cultural events about snakes being held annually.
The snakes are brought to the village, tamed and familiarized and now become close like a pet in the household. Le Mat is considered the Snake trading center in the North, also the most popular snake village of Vietnam.
Tourists coming to Le Mat not only able to visit the snake farm but also touch the non-venomous snakes. You can also have the chance to see on your own eyes the chefs cooking a snake. The kind of snake that people enjoy the most here is Cobra.
All meals made of snakes are amazing, from snake heart, snake blood, to snake soup, snake sticky rice and stewed snakes. Many people coming to Le Mat might feel shocked at first but later on find it extremely interesting.
Afternoon
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| Photo by Hưng Giang |
2. Eat Che and Banh Troi.
Do you have a sweet tooth?
When we talk about traditional Che, nowhere can serve better Che than Che Ba Thin. Not having the various options like other che—rather sticking with the traditional recipe of Northern Vietnam—Che Ba Thin can still keep the traditional taste of Che.
Traditional che with simply recipe of green and black beans of Northern Vietnam.
3. Buy some souvenirs
Want to keep some memory of Hanoi on this special 4 days itinerary? Want to bring some gifts to friends and family?
There are a lot of things you can buy in the Old Quarter. The Old Quarter has everything for you to buy - many of which contain traditional value of Hanoi.
You can buy Non La (asian conical hat). Non la is the familiar image of Vietnamese women though being simple and subtle but also very elegant. Non La can not also be used as a head cover—it also the symbol of Vietnamese farmer. Non La can be a unique gift and souvenirs from Vietnam.
So that’s the perfect 4 days itinerary in Hanoi. There are a lot of things you can do in Hanoi with an itinerary 4 days. Now it’s time to get going. An exciting journey is right ahead.
