Things To Do in Hanoi, Vietnam

My bf and I had the chance to visit Hanoi, the Capital of Vietnam for a week in September/October and we were amazed by the hustle and bustle of life in the Old Quarter. It is a vibrant area filled with many homes, businesses, streets vendors, motorbikes, and locals mixed with tourists.  It reminds me a bit of SF Chinatown but instead of seeing large crowds of people walking around you, there would be huge crowds of people driving around in motorbikes. Most streets in the Old Quarter does not have street lights and you would just have to take a leap of faith and cross the road with confidence against the motorbikes riders.  Thankfully, the locals driving on the motorbikes would just weave around you even though it feels like they would hit you when crossing. Eventually I started getting a hang of crossing the street even though it was stressful everytime the road was busy.

One of the nice perks of traveling to Vietnam is getting to try all the inexpensive food and drinks you want! We got to eat all the delicious beef pho, banh mi sandwiches, banh xeo (Vietnamese crepes), bun cha (grilled Vietnamese pork), bo ne (Vietnamese sizzling steak and eggs), Vietnamese coffee/egg coffee, etc etc and everything was pretty much under $5 dollars. Its unbelievable compared to the prices of those same dishes you would pay out in the Bay Area.  However,  I don't think the food safety laws in Vietnam is on the same level as in the States or is there even any laws on food safety?, so in the back of my mind I do question the cleanliness of the food prep, but luckily we didn't catch any stomach bug eating in Vietnam. We even went to a few sushi restaurants where the sashimi/sushi rolls was delicious and all at a super great price!

If you are looking to travel to Hanoi, Here are the list of activities we enjoyed in Hanoi below. Also, prices of tours are super reasonable! 

Must Do Activities in Hanoi

• Enjoy self care and get a Mani/Pedicure or Get a Massage. The prices at Vietnam for nails and massages are really affordable. I went to Nail Kitchen on my last day of the trip and got this super cute Halloween ghost nails for about under $15 dollars. The nail tech did a wonderful job! I showed her a pic for inspiration and she was able to recreate the nail design.

• Take a Cooking Class. We booked a cooking class through Viator and had such a wonderful experience making beef pho, fried spring rolls, egg coffee, bun cha, and papaya salad. Our instructor spoke English and we were put into a small group of 8 (all different tourists). Afterwards, we got to taste our cooking which turned out really yummy! Also, she gave us a recipe book to keep so we can remake these dishes at home. This cooking class was a fun way to learn about the traditional dishes and the ingredients used in the dishes.

• Visit Ninh Binh. Most people have heard about Halong Bay when visiting Vietnam but we decided to opt out of Halong Bay and chose Ninh Binh instead. Ninh Binh is an area with tall limestone mountains and amazing caves. Some call it the Halong Bay of the land. We booked a tour through Viator where we got to bike around the province, view the mountains from a boat ride, and hiked up 300 steps to the top of Hang Mua Peak for amazing views. Unfortunately, we had horrible weather this day and tackled everything in the pouring rain and wind but it definitely made for a memorable experience.

• Visit a Cat Cafe. We went to Meo Haus Cat Cafe which have two floors of super adorable rescue cats to play with. Admission was about under $4 dollars and came with drink of choice. The drinks were also very yummy. It was a great spot to take a relaxing break and chill with kitties.

• Visit the Weekend Night Market - We explored the night market during the first night we arrived at Hanoi. It was packed but fun walking through and checking out the different stalls. Bring Vietnamese Cash! There are alot of knock off designer brands like Crocs, Prada, LV bags, and also cute souvenir items like crochet keychains, magnets, trinkets, etc.