Vietnam Travel Guide: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hue, Da Nang & Hoi An

HANOI

What to See

Hanoi's sights cluster into a handful of walkable districts. Here's how to think about them.

1. Ba Dinh Square Area This is the political and historical heart of the city. It includes Ba Dinh Square, the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Ho Chi Minh's Stilt House, the Presidential Palace, the Vietnamese National Assembly building, and the One Pillar Pagoda. The Mausoleum faces the National Assembly across the square, while the Stilt House, Presidential Palace, and One Pillar Pagoda surround it.

Practical notes: The Presidential Palace and National Assembly can only be viewed from the outside. The Mausoleum keeps limited opening hours (it closes in the afternoon, and the square itself breaks at midday—you enter through a separate gate after a quick security check). The One Pillar Pagoda is small; budget 10–20 minutes.

2. West Lake (Ho Tay) Area Home to West Lake, Tran Quoc Pagoda, and the Quan Thanh Temple (a Taoist temple). These sit near each other along the lakeshore, roughly a 15-minute walk from Ba Dinh Square, with the temple and pagoda under a kilometer apart.

3. Historic Sites The Temple of Literature (Van Mieu) is the standout—a large, well-preserved Confucian complex and arguably the best window into Chinese cultural and Confucian influence in Vietnam. The Imperial Citadel of Thang Long is a UNESCO World Heritage Site; the Hanoi Flag Tower is part of it and visible from the street.

4. Hoan Kiem Lake Area Includes Hoan Kiem Lake, the Ngoc Son Temple (connected to shore by a bright red bridge), and the Turtle Tower out in the middle of the lake. This is the social center of the Old Quarter.

5. French Colonial Architecture St. Joseph's Cathedral and the Hanoi Opera House are both holdovers from the French colonial era and worth a look.

6. Train Street A French-era railway runs through narrow alleys lined with shops and cafés, with trains passing inches away just a few scheduled times per day. If you want to catch a train going by, check the timetable in advance—otherwise you may wait a long time.

7. Lotte Observation Deck Take the elevator to the 65th floor of the Lotte tower for a panoramic city view. There are glass-floor sections for the vertigo-inducing look straight down.

8. The Relaxed Districts The West Lake shoreline is dotted with stylish cafés. The stretch from the west side of Hoan Kiem Lake toward the Opera House—the old French-built quarter—has beautiful old buildings, five-star hotels, and luxury boutiques, and is noticeably quieter and calmer than the Old Quarter.

Where to Stay

Most guides recommend the Old Quarter, ideally near Hoan Kiem Lake. That works, but if you plan to use rideshare everywhere, you don't strictly need to be in the Old Quarter—its streets are extremely narrow. A spot slightly outside the Old Quarter, in the West Lake area or near the Opera House, can be a more comfortable base.

Arriving at Hanoi Airport

Noi Bai International Airport is small and efficient; baggage claim moves fast. It's about 30 km (roughly 19 miles) from the city center. Each pillar at the arrivals curb is numbered, which makes it easy to give a precise pickup point to a rideshare driver or prearranged car. Follow the "Arrival Immigration" signs; if you hold a separate-sheet visa (visa loose-leaf), you may skip certain lines.

A Walk Through Hanoi

Hanoi rewards wandering. The city's tall, narrow houses in bright colors are a signature sight. A typical day might run from the One Pillar Pagoda—a small but beloved temple built on a single stone pillar, designed to resemble a lotus rising from the water—through Ba Dinh Square, where Ho Chi Minh read Vietnam's Declaration of Independence in 1945.

From there it's a short ride to the Temple of Literature, founded in 1070, with Vietnam's first national university (the Imperial Academy) established beside it in 1076. The layout will feel familiar to anyone who has seen a Chinese Confucian temple—oriented north-to-south, five courtyards deep—but with local touches: rectangular lotus ponds instead of crescent-shaped ones, and the Khue Van Pavilion, whose round windows and square base embody the "round heaven, square earth" philosophy. The pavilion is famous enough to appear on Vietnam's 100,000-dong banknote. The central courtyard holds 82 stone steles, each carried by a stone turtle, recording the names of doctoral graduates in Chinese characters. The main hall, Dai Thanh, enshrines Confucius alongside his disciples.

A loop through the colonial core—around the Opera House, modeled on the Palais Garnier in Paris—and along tree-lined Trang Tien street shows off the city's French side: coordinated yellow façades, green and black shutters, and five-star hotels next to luxury shops. The contrast between this polished district and the bustling, lived-in Old Quarter is striking, and it makes the country's wealth gap very visible.

End the day at Hoan Kiem Lake at the heart of the city. The Ngoc Son Temple sits on a small island reached by the red Huc Bridge; its entrance plays on the "four treasures of the study" theme (brush tower, ink-stone, paper, ink). The Turtle Tower, built in 1884, blends European and traditional Vietnamese styles. Around the lake you'll find the pale-yellow Central Post Office and other elegant colonial-era government buildings.

Food Notes

Hanoi's restaurant scene splits between polished cafés and Western-style spots aimed largely at foreign visitors, and the simple, cheap local eateries where ordinary Hanoians actually eat. Both are worth experiencing. One thing to watch: many restaurants add small charges to the bill for things you might assume are free—the pre-meal water, hand towels, and so on. The amounts are tiny (a dollar or two), but the surprise is real.

HO CHI MINH CITY (SAIGON)

What to See

1. District 1 (City Center) The core tourist zone where most major sights are concentrated:

• Independence Palace (Reunification Palace) — You can go inside. It served as the presidential palace of the former South Vietnamese government and carries real historical weight.
• City Hall, Ho Chi Minh statue, and the Saigon Opera House — City Hall is an ornate French colonial building (exterior viewing only) with a Ho Chi Minh statue on the plaza out front. The Opera House is a short walk away in the same colonial style.
• Notre-Dame Cathedral, Central Post Office, and Book Street — The cathedral and post office sit just across the street from each other; Book Street, a short lane of bookshops and creative goods, is a few hundred meters away and skippable if you're tight on time.
• Bitexco Financial Tower — Has an observation deck, but the view isn't as expansive as Landmark 81's. If you're going to Landmark 81, skip this one.

2. District 3 ("Pink Church") Lots of French colonial architecture. The landmark here is the Tan Dinh Church, nicknamed the "Pink Church" for its pink exterior.

3. District 5 (Cho Lon / Chinatown) The traditional Chinese community dating to the 18th century, full of still-active assembly halls and temples. More below.

4. Binh Thanh District (Landmark 81) Vietnam's tallest building, with a high-floor observation deck overlooking the whole city.

5. Thu Duc City (former Districts 2 & Thu Duc) On the east side of the Saigon River—a more relaxed area of upscale housing and shopping malls popular with expats. The Xuan Thuy area in particular has a cluster of excellent boutique restaurants.

District 5 / Cho Lon in Detail

Cho Lon is Ho Chi Minh City's traditional Chinese quarter, home to several assembly halls built by immigrant communities from different regions of China beginning in the 18th century. These halls double as temples, each honoring different deities, and combine fine craftsmanship with regional cultural character. They sit close together and are easy to string together on foot—you don't need to see all of them. The main ones include the Nghia An (Teochew), Tue Thanh (Cantonese), Quynh Phu (Hainanese), On Lang (Hokkien/Fujian), Phuoc An (honoring Guan Yu, Guanyin, and others), Ha Chuong (Zhangzhou), and Nhi Phu (Quanzhou/Zhangzhou) assembly halls. St. Francis Xavier Church, built during the colonial era for Cho Lon's Catholic Chinese community, is an East-meets-West building worth a look.

Where to Stay

Staying in District 1 within walking distance of Independence Palace keeps you close to most sights. Note that Ho Chi Minh City is tropical—even in "winter" it's hot—so a hotel near the sights lets you retreat for a midday break during the hottest hours. Hotel breakfasts here tend toward simple, Western-leaning spreads.

Airport to City Center

Tan Son Nhat International Airport is about 8 km (5 miles) from downtown. For rideshare pickup, follow the signs forward past the Highlands Coffee, keep going straight even when it feels like you've gone too far, and ignore drivers soliciting fares along the way. Find your zone number on the nearest pillar, then set that as your pickup point in the app.

HUE

Hue was the capital of the Nguyen Dynasty, Vietnam's last imperial dynasty, and it has the country's densest concentration of historic sites. As of January 2025 it was upgraded to a centrally-governed municipality.

What to See

1. Hue Imperial City A UNESCO World Heritage Site—effectively Vietnam's answer to Beijing's Forbidden City, and the largest surviving complex of ancient architecture in the country.

2. An Dinh Palace A French-style palace outside the citadel that served as a residence for the last Nguyen emperor and his family.

3. Thien Mu Pagoda A pagoda built during the Nguyen era, facing the Perfume River.

4. The Royal Tombs A scattered group of seven imperial mausoleums (Gia Long, Minh Mang, Thieu Tri, Tu Duc, Kien Phuc, Dong Khanh, and Khai Dinh), modeled on Ming and Qing imperial tombs in China. They're well outside the city center, so renting a car or private driver is the practical way to visit.

The Imperial City in Detail

Construction began in 1804 under Gia Long, the dynasty's founding emperor. The complex follows the layout of Beijing's Forbidden City—a rigorous rectangular plan ringed by a second moat and wall—but because it faces the Perfume River, it doesn't sit on a strict north-south axis.

You enter through gates like Quang Duc, crossing the wall into the palace zone. The Ngo Mon (Meridian Gate) fronts a plaza with a flag tower (first built in 1809; the current flagpole is a 1948 reinforced-concrete reconstruction). The ticket office sits beside the gate—the outer citadel is free to wander, but entering the palace requires a ticket.

The centerpiece is Thai Hoa Palace (the Palace of Supreme Harmony), begun in 1804. Inside, the decoration is genuinely lavish—if anything, more ornate than the equivalent hall in Beijing—supported by 80 thick ironwood columns lacquered red and gilded. A detail worth understanding: Korea, as a strict tributary state, followed restrained regulations, but Vietnam did not. The Nguyen emperors called themselves "king" to China but "emperor" at home, using imperial titles, seals, and five-clawed golden dragons. The bright yellow glazed tiles and dragon motifs you see here—reserved for imperial power in the Chinese tradition—reveal that ambition. The roof tiles are inlaid with colored porcelain and imperial poetry written in Chinese characters (though not drawn from the Chinese classics).

Beyond Thai Hoa, much of the original complex was destroyed in the fighting of 1968 and afterward, leaving open foundations where great halls once stood. The ornate Baroque-style Kien Trung Palace, last home of the final Nguyen emperors, was destroyed in 1947 and reconstructed in 2023. To the west sit the World Temple (The Mieu), honoring the dynasty's emperors, and its forecourt holding nine great bronze urns—each decorated with Vietnam's landscapes as a symbol of imperial power and territory.

Thien Mu Pagoda

About 5 km from the Imperial City, on a hill above the north bank of the Perfume River. The seven-story Phuoc Duyen Tower—octagonal, brick, 21 meters tall, built in 1844—is one of Hue's defining symbols. Behind it sits the main Buddhist hall, with halls to Ksitigarbha and Guanyin behind that. According to legend, an old woman appeared here and foretold that a wise ruler would build a temple to bring the country prosperity; the lord who governed Hue heard this and ordered the temple built in 1601.

An Dinh Palace

Originally the residence of the prince who became Emperor Khai Dinh, who renamed it An Dinh Palace after taking the throne in 1916. The main building, the Khai Tuong Lau ("auspicious beginning"), is a bright yellow-and-white structure blending Vietnamese and French elements, with three floors and 22 rooms hung with paintings of the royal tombs and the Imperial City. Between it and the main gate stands the Trung Lap Pavilion, decorated with twelve dragons and housing a life-sized bronze statue of Emperor Khai Dinh.

Where to Stay

A spot on the south bank of the Perfume River, near the Imperial City, is convenient. The best riverview rooms here look directly out over the water—worth booking if the weather cooperates. Local breakfasts tend to be a strong mix of Western options and Vietnamese specialties.

DA NANG

Da Nang is a beach city, so the draw is the relaxed resort atmosphere rather than a checklist of sights. You can simply find a stretch of sand and unwind. The main sights are close enough to walk between—the Cham Museum, APEC Park, and the Dragon Bridge are all near one another.

What to See

1. Da Nang Cathedral — Known for its pink façade, so it gets the inevitable "Pink Cathedral" nickname.
2. Museum of Cham Sculpture — Stone and terracotta works from the historically important, Indian-influenced Champa kingdom across its different eras.
3. APEC Park — Built for the APEC summit, on the bank of the Han River.
4. Dragon Bridge — Spans the Han River in the shape of a dragon; there's a fire-and-water show at set times on Friday and Saturday nights, each lasting about 15 minutes.

My Khe Beach

A long, walkable coastline lined with high-rise hotels and resorts. The orange "Danang Beach" letter sign is a popular photo spot, set against the blue of the sky and sea. Visibility here can be hazy and the area is prone to blowing sand, so the famous hillside Lady Buddha statue isn't always clear from the beach.

Where to Stay

Da Nang's hotel scene is mature and geared toward foreign visitors, so location matters less than elsewhere—most spots are fine. Look for places where you cross the street and you're on the sand, and where the room rate includes perks like afternoon tea. Many hotels here have rooftop pools and terraces.

HOI AN

Hoi An was Vietnam's earliest Chinatown, and its ancient town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It preserves buildings from the 15th through 19th centuries, blending Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese influences. The town is laid out on a grid—three streets running across, several running lengthwise—so you can start anywhere and wander freely; the two main streets and the road nearest the Thu Bon River are the most rewarding.

What to See

1. Chinese Assembly Halls The Teochew, Hainanese, Guan Cong Temple, Fujian, Chinese (Trung Hoa), and Cantonese halls all sit along the same street. Hoi An's five assembly halls correspond to five immigrant origins: Fujian, Trung Hoa, Teochew, Hainan, and Canton. Beyond serving as hometown associations, they functioned as centers for socializing, trade, and religious gatherings—ceremonies, ancestor veneration, and worship of various deities.

2. The Japanese Covered Bridge (Lai Vien Bridge) Originally built by Japanese settlers; the structure that survives was built by the Chinese community.

3. Other Old Houses and Family Shrines Scattered throughout the town for visitors to discover on their own.

The History Behind the Halls

The deep Chinese roots here trace to the upheaval of the late Ming and early Qing periods. After the fall of the Ming, large numbers of Chinese migrants—predominantly Fujianese merchants—settled in central Vietnam and established "Minh Huong" communities. Many continued wearing Ming-era dress and married local Vietnamese women. Some took Vietnamese citizenship; others kept their Chinese identity and were called "guest residents," producing the distinctive Sino-Vietnamese culture you see in Hoi An today.

A Few Highlights

The Guan Cong Temple, built by Minh Huong and Vietnamese residents in 1653, honors Guan Yu—revered across Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist traditions—and despite many renovations it keeps its original look. Inside, a wall relief depicts the famous tale of "Guan Yu's solo thousand-li journey," and the courtyard altar holds a statue of him on his Red Hare horse, holding the Green Dragon Crescent Blade.

The Fujian (Phuoc Kien) Assembly Hall began as a humble thatched Buddhist temple before Fujianese merchants bought and repeatedly restored it, converting it to an assembly hall in 1792. The current gate dates to a 1970s renovation. The main hall enshrines Mazu (goddess of the sea) alongside Guanyin, with large coil incense hanging from the ceiling—a type of incense extremely common in Vietnamese religious life. The interior plaques largely date to the Guangxu era of the Qing dynasty.

Side Trip: My Son Sanctuary

A UNESCO World Heritage Site about 40 km from Hoi An—a complex of Hindu temple ruins built between the 4th and 14th centuries, known for its red-brick construction and elaborate carving. Highly recommended if you like cultural and historical sites and have the time, but you'll need a car or private driver to get there.

GETTING AROUND & PRACTICAL LOGISTICS

Domestic Flights (Hanoi–Hue; Da Nang–Ho Chi Minh City)

Reviews of Vietnam's budget carriers tend to be poor, so it's worth considering Vietnam Airlines for domestic legs. That said, on-time performance is inconsistent across the board—delays happen with any carrier, so build in buffer time.

Buses (Hue–Da Nang)

You can go between Hue and Da Nang by train or bus. If you've already done a scenic train ride somewhere else, the train here isn't essential. Apps like Vexere let you book a seven-seat shared van; in practice you may end up with the vehicle to yourself.

Rideshare in Vietnam

Uber doesn't operate in Vietnam—use Grab instead. You can link a credit card so the fare is charged automatically when you get out, which sidesteps disputes over payment or price changes mid-ride. A handy Grab feature: you can send photos to your driver. After booking, snap a picture of your surroundings and send it so the driver can find you precisely.

Currency and Payment

Exchanging your home currency directly for Vietnamese dong inside Vietnam generally beats paying card-conversion fees on dong purchases. One caution: Vietnamese banknotes come in very large denominations, and it's easy to make mistakes counting them if you're not used to it. Exchanging a small amount before you go can buy peace of mind, but the rates you'll get at home are usually unfavorable.

Is Vietnam Safe?

A lot of online "warning" posts can make you anxious before the trip. In practice, a careful traveler can have a completely smooth experience. A few specific worries and how they tend to play out:

• Customs bribery / being held up: Not a given. You don't have to pay anything—stand your ground politely if pressured.
• Eating during Lunar New Year (Tet): This is real. Starting in the days before Tet, local restaurants and cafés progressively close, and you may struggle to find lunch in some cities. Hotels that serve meals are a reliable fallback, and dedicated tourist zones keep more places open. If your trip overlaps Tet, plan meals around your hotel.
• The motorbike traffic / crossing the street: Less alarming than it first seems. On main roads and at signalized intersections, motorbikes generally follow the rules; on small unsignaled lanes, the flow is messier. The trick: don't bolt in front of oncoming bikes. Because side streets connect to main roads governed by traffic lights, you can wait a moment for the big wave to pass, then cross quickly when only stragglers remain.

A Note on Timing Your Trip

Traveling during Tet means experiencing Vietnamese New Year firsthand—lion dances, the God of Wealth visiting restaurants, fireworks over the rivers, families carrying incense and offerings to temples. It's atmospheric and memorable. The trade-off is the restaurant closures above and the fact that some sights feel quieter or are partly shut. If a fully open city is your priority, avoid the Tet window; if the cultural experience appeals, embrace it and plan around the gaps.

Originally published on Travelers Today