The Old Quarter's streets are named after what was sold on them. Hàng Bạc is silver, Hàng Gai is silk, Hàng Mã is paper goods, Hàng Thiếc is tin. The guilds organised themselves street by street from the fifteenth century, craftsmen from the same village clustering together, and many of the streets still sell roughly what the name says.
The layout that produced is 36 short streets in a wedge north of Hoan Kiem lake, with tube houses — narrow frontages taxed by width, running back thirty or forty metres — and almost no straight lines. It is the densest and most confusing part of the city and it is the reason to come.
Crossing the road
Hanoi has several million motorbikes and traffic that does not stop for pedestrians in the way traffic elsewhere does.
The technique, which every visitor is told and few believe: step off the kerb and walk at a steady, predictable pace without stopping. The bikes flow around you. Hesitating, running or stepping back is what causes problems, because the riders have already calculated where you will be.
It takes about a day to trust and it works.
The districts
Hoan Kiem holds the lake, the Old Quarter and the French Quarter with its wide boulevards, the Opera House and the colonial buildings. Almost everything is here.
West Lake, north, is a much larger lake with the expatriate quarter around it, quieter and greener, twenty minutes from the centre.
Ba Dinh, west, has the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, the One Pillar Pagoda and the Temple of Literature.
Hanoi is also the base for Ha Long Bay, three hours east, and Ninh Binh, two hours south, which has the same limestone karst in rice fields and is often the better day.
The eleven below are grouped by district.
The French Quarter
South of the lake, with the boulevards and the Opera House.
Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi occupies a 1901 colonial building that is the historic hotel of Indochina, with a bomb shelter under the courtyard rediscovered in 2011, a pool in the garden and a guest list running through the twentieth century.
Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi
French Quarter · 5★ · $$$$
A 1901 landmark with a rediscovered bomb shelter beneath it
Check availabilityCapella Hanoi sits beside the Opera House in a building of considerable theatrical excess, designed around the idea of an opera house that never existed, with a spa and a very good restaurant. It is the most extravagant interior in Vietnam.
Capella Hanoi
By the Opera House · 5★ · $$$$
An interior built around an opera house that never existed
Check availabilityHotel de l'Opera Hanoi - MGallery occupies a position opposite the Opera House with a rooftop, a pool and rooms overlooking the square.
Hotel de l'Opera Hanoi - MGallery
Opera House square · 5★ · $$$
Rooftop and pool overlooking the square
Check availabilityPeridot Grand Luxury Boutique Hotel sits in the French Quarter with a rooftop pool, a spa and the most contemporary rooms in the centre.
Peridot Grand Luxury Boutique Hotel
French Quarter · 5★ · $$$
Rooftop pool with the newest rooms in the centre
Check availabilityHoan Kiem and the Old Quarter
The lake and the 36 streets.
Apricot Hotel occupies a building beside the lake with a rooftop pool, a Vietnamese art collection through the public rooms and a short walk into the Old Quarter.
Apricot Hotel
Hoan Kiem lake · 5★ · $$$
A Vietnamese art collection and a rooftop over the lake
Check availabilityThe Oriental Jade Hotel sits at the edge of the Old Quarter with a rooftop pool over the lake and contemporary rooms.
The Oriental Jade Hotel
Old Quarter edge · 4★ · $$
Rooftop pool looking across to the lake
Check availabilityLa Siesta Premium Hang Be occupies a narrow building inside the Old Quarter itself with a small room count, a rooftop and the guild streets outside the door.
La Siesta Premium Hang Be
Inside the Old Quarter · 4★ · $$
A narrow tube building with the guild streets outside
Check availabilityMeliá Hanoi sits near the lake with a spa, a pool and the best value at this standard in the centre.
Meliá Hanoi
Near Hoan Kiem · 5★ · $$
Spa and pool at the best central rate at this standard
Check availabilityWest Lake
North, quieter and greener.
InterContinental Hanoi Westlake by IHG occupies a position on stilts over West Lake with pavilions reached by walkways, a pool and a level of quiet the Old Quarter cannot offer.
InterContinental Hanoi Westlake by IHG
West Lake · 5★ · $$$
Pavilions on stilts over the water
Check availabilityPan Pacific Hanoi sits on the lake with a large pool, a spa and full family facilities.
Pan Pacific Hanoi
West Lake · 5★ · $$$
Large pool and spa with full family facilities
Check availabilitySolaria Hotel occupies a tower between the two lakes with a rooftop pool and reliable rooms at a lower rate.
Solaria Hotel
Between the lakes · 4★ · $$
Rooftop pool and reliable rooms at a lower rate
Check availabilityWhat we have left off
The small hotels and guest houses across the Old Quarter are excluded, and Hanoi has a great many of them at very low prices in genuine tube houses. They are guest houses rather than hotels.
What to do
Walk the Old Quarter without a plan for a morning, then come back for the specific streets: Hàng Thiếc for the tinsmiths still working, Hàng Mã for paper offerings, and the night market at weekends when the streets close to traffic.
Eat on plastic stools. Phở for breakfast, bún chả for lunch, bánh mì from a cart, and egg coffee, which is a Hanoi invention using whipped yolk and condensed milk.
See the Temple of Literature, Vietnam's first university founded in 1070, and the Vietnamese Women's Museum, which is far better than the more famous ones.
Watch a water puppet show, which is a Red River delta tradition of puppets worked from behind a screen in a waist-deep pool.
Go to Ninh Binh rather than Ha Long if you have one day. Same limestone, rice fields instead of sea, rowing boats worked by foot, and a fraction of the boats.
Practical notes
Noi Bai airport is about 45 minutes from the centre. Hanoi is the northern hub for the whole country, with the reunification railway running south.
October to April is the dry season, with a genuine cool period from December to February when it can drop below 15 degrees and feel colder because buildings are not heated. May to September is hot, humid and wet.
Hanoi's air quality is poor for much of the winter. Check readings if that matters to you.
Explore 4 & 5 Star Hanoi Hotels
Questions people actually ask
How do you cross the road?
Walk at a steady predictable pace and do not stop. The bikes flow around you. It works.
Old Quarter or West Lake?
Old Quarter for the streets, the food and the noise. West Lake for space and quiet, twenty minutes out.
Ha Long Bay or Ninh Binh?
Ninh Binh for a day trip, most of the time. Same karst, fewer boats, and no overnight required.
How many nights?
Three. Two for the city and one for Ninh Binh.