4 Days in Hanoi

A day-by-day itinerary for Hanoi, Vietnam: real activities, restaurants and hotels with prices and booking links. Copy it and make it yours.

Hanoi, Vietnam · 4 days · 15 activities · free to copy and customize

Day 1 — Old Quarter immersion

13:00 Grab from Noi Bai (HAN) (350,000 VND). ≈350k VND by app — agree nothing, tap everything. 45 min into the maze.
14:30 Old Quarter boutique hotel, 3 nights (2,700,000 VND). ≈900k VND/night. The 36 guild streets each still lean to their trade — silk on Hang Gai, tin on Hang Thiec.
16:30 Hoan Kiem Lake loop & Ngoc Son Temple (50,000 VND). Temple 50k VND. The lake is Hanoi's living room; crossing the red Huc bridge at golden hour is the orientation ritual.
19:00 Bun cha, the Obama order (80,000 VND). ≈60–80k VND. Grilled pork patties in fish-sauce broth — order 'bún chả + nem' and you've matched the presidential meal.

08:00 Ba Dinh Square & Ho Chi Minh complex grounds. Free, outdoors. The mausoleum interior keeps unreliable hours (closed Mon/Fri and autumn maintenance) — the square, stilt house (40k) and One Pillar Pagoda carry the visit regardless.
10:00 Temple of Literature (70,000 VND). 70k VND. A thousand years of scholars; graduates in áo dài pose where the doctoral steles name their predecessors since 1442.
12:30 Pho for lunch, properly (60,000 VND). ≈50–60k VND. North-style: clear broth, wide noodles, restraint with the garnish — Hanoi considers southern pho a decorated stranger.
14:30 Hoa Lo Prison museum (50,000 VND). 50k VND. The 'Hanoi Hilton' — colonial brutality and wartime narrative in one sobering hour.
18:00 Train Street, if open (50,000 VND). A café coffee (≈50k) buys your trackside seat. Access opens and closes with police moods — treat it as a bonus, never a plan.

07:30 Ninh Binh day trip (Trang An + Mua Cave) (1,200,000 VND). ≈1.2m VND on a small-group tour, or DIY by limousine van (see our 14-day Vietnam route, which overnights there). Rowed sampans through karst caves; 500 steps up Mua for the dragon-ridge view.
19:00 Beer o'clock at Ta Hien corner (60,000 VND). Bia hoi ≈10–15k a glass, brewed that morning, gone by midnight. The plastic-stool intersection is self-explanatory.

08:30 Dong Xuan market & the flower street. Free chaos. Quang Ba flower market peaks pre-dawn, but its spillover perfumes the morning.
10:30 Egg coffee at the source (40,000 VND). ≈35–40k VND at Café Giảng, invented here in 1946 when milk was scarce and yolks were not. The Note Café alternative papers its walls with visitors' post-its.
12:30 Cha ca La Vong lunch (120,000 VND). ≈120k VND. Turmeric fish with dill, flash-fried at your table — a dish so singular the street is named after it.
14:30 Grab back to Noi Bai (350,000 VND). Allow 3 hours; the airport road is honest but the traffic isn't.

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