10 Famous Places In Hanoi

As a capital of Vietnam with more than 1000 years of history, Hanoi has many cultural and historic sites that attract a lot of tourists nationwide. Vietwind Travel is pleased to recommend foreign tourists with 10 must - see tourist destinations in Hanoi.

1. Tran Quoc Pagoda

This is one of the oldest pagodas in Vietnam on the eastern shore of West Lake .The current structures are very impressive and date back to 1842. The pagoda is just off the road that divides West Lake and Truc Bach Lake. Tran Quoc Pagoda is the foremost symbol of Buddhism in the country. The landmark is beautiful offering good ambience and nice photos.

Tran Quoc Pagoda

2. West Lake

To the north of the old quarter is the enormous Ho Tay. This lake is the largest in Hanoi with a shore length of around 17km (10.6 miles) and is a popular place for recreation with many surrounding gardens, hotels and villas.

3. Hoa Lo Prison

The Hoa Lo Prison was a prison used by the French colonists in Vietnam for political prisoners, and later by North Vietnam for prisoners of war during the Vietnam War when it was sarcastically known to American prisoners of war as the "Hanoi Hilton". The prison was demolished during the 1990s, though the gatehouse remains as a museum.

4. National Museum of Fine Arts

For a singular glimpse into Vietnamese culture, the Country’s National Museum of Fine Arts is the best place to visit. The museum showcasing Vietnam's fine arts from every historical period. The facility contains a vast collection of art, sculpture, crafts and artifacts from every period in Vietnam’s history.

5. The Presidential Palace

Although Hochiminh President passed away but The Presidential Palace in Hanoi is a remarkable landmark. The palace was built between 1900 and 1906 to house the French Governor-General of Indochina. The Presidential Palace complex is open every day from 7:30am to 4pm, with a lunch break from 11am to 1:30pm.

6. Hoan Kiem Lake

Hanoi is a city of lakes and Hoan Kiem is one of the most popular with visitors. Superbly scenic and serene, the lake provides a habitat for soft-shell turtles and contains many picturesque pagodas and small bridges.

Hoan Kiem Lake

7. One Pillar Pagoda

The Buddhist One Pillar Pagoda is almost peerless in Vietnam, with a history that dates back a full millenium. The iconic landmark was badly defaced by French troops in 1954 but was rebuilt decades later.

8. Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

One of the most conspicuous mausoleums in the world, the massive tribute to the most famous leader in Vietnam provides Hanoi with a landmark on par with Lenin’s tomb in Moscow. Open since 1975, the mausoleum site also contains a museum on Ho Chi Minh.

9. Grand Opera House

Hanoi Opera House is located on the August Revolution Square, the center of Hanoi, near Hoan Kiem Lake and the Vietnam History Museum. The theatre, designed and overseen by the French, was constructed from 1901 and was finished in 1911. It marks a significant period in the history of architectural development in Vietnam under the French at the end of nineteenth century to early twentieth century. It is a historical witness of the Revolution of Hanoi.

The Hanoi Opera House is not only a venue for art performances, but also a place for visitors to enjoy an almost 100 year old historical architecture.

10. Temple of Literature

Temple of Literature is located on Van Mieu Street, 2km west of Hoan Kiem Lake. Van Mieu - Quoc Tu Giam is a famous historical and cultural relic consisting of the Temple of Literature and Vietnam is first university. The temple was built in 1070 in honor of Confucius, his followers and Chu Van An, a moral figure in Vietnamese education.

Temple Of Literature

Tay Ho Palace

On the east bank of West Lake, there stretches out into the lake a strip of land.

This is Tây Hồ village, an ancient village of Thăng Long. In the village, right on the water edge, there is a temple dedicated to Liễu Hạnh, who lived in the 17th century and was deified as Thánh Mẫu (Holy Mother), rank-ing first in the pantheon of Vietnamese folk religious beliefs. The places dedicated to Holy Mother Liễu Hạnh are sometimes called đền (temples) or phủ (palace). Tay Ho Palace was built according to the following tale:

Tay Ho Palace

In the early 17th century, one morning, Dr. Phùng Khắc Khoan (1528-1613) and his friends were boating on West Lake when they met a beautiful girl. They talked and composed poems together. When Phùng asked her name, the girl smiled, read a poem and then suddenly vanished. By analyzing the poem, Phùng came to realize that she was Liễu Hạnh Holy Mother. After that event, Tây Hồ villagers built a palace to be dedicated to her.

Tay Ho Palace

Today, this site attracts many pilgrims who come to pay homage to the Holy Mother and to admire the natural beauty here.

Bánh Cuốn (Rolled Cake)

In Ha Noi, bánh cuốn was first made in Thanh Trì, a suburban village. Thanh Trì lies to the south-east of Hà Nội on the bank of the Red River. The inhabitants here are skilled in making the original rolled cake, as thin as paper, as clear as porcelain glaze and having a nice flavor. The flour is soft and elastic. In the past, every morning, Thanh Trì girls brought bánh cuốn to the inner area and sold it in the streets.

They carried a bamboo basket covered with a flat basket on their heads and when customers called them, they would put it down. In it there were a bottle of fish sauce, vinegar, chili, some bowls, and dishes, a dozen or so pairs of chopsticks and layers of bánh cuốn arranged over one another. Each layer of bánh cuốn had been covered with a little fat and fried pieces of onion.

Bánh Cuốn (Rolled Cake)

The huckster slowly took out each layer, rolled it and placed it on a dish to serve her customer. Banh cuon taken with hot sour sauce is really a delicious and popular food. When urban people have more sophisticated tastes, they take bánh cuốn together with giò bò (beef paste), giò lụa (lean pork pie) or chả lợn (fried pork pie). In each way, they can enjoy a special flavor. Though there are now new types of bánh cuốn, that made in Thanh Trì is still flavored by many Hanoians.

Half a century ago, a number of improved bánh cuốn stalls came into being on Ha Noi streets. They still used Thanh Trì bánh cuốn but added fillings of half-lean-half-fat port and fresh chopped shelled shrimp, fragrant mushrooms, and jelly fungus soaked in warm water and cut into small pieces with onions, fish sauce and pepper. All those ingredients are fried then put into the rolled cake which will be steamed before being .served to the customer. In the bowl of prepared fish sauce, some drops of belostomatid essence are added to give the food a flavor.

Today, at bánh cuốn stalls in Ha Noi Old Quarter, the cake. And the fillings inside the cake are made at the same time. Customers have to wait for each dish of cake and enjoy the warm and fragrant smoke, particularly on cold days. Unfortunately, belostomatid species have gradually been subjected to extinction and almost all stalls use chemical belostomatid essence. Nevertheless, the bánh cuốn stall at No. 17 Cha Ca Street still serves customers with the real belostomatid essence.

Bun Cha (Grilled Chopped Meat And Rice Vermicelli)

Thạch Lam wrote poetry-like prose to describe the attractiveness of baskets of bun cha in Ha Noi streets in the 1930’s: “When you are hungry and sitting down-wind, you smell the aromatic smoke of grilled chopped meat, you’ll be very much likely to become a poet.

Blue smoke spirals up like a misty veil on the mountain side; fat sizzles on burning coal and the bamboo fan gives the sounds like those coming from the moving branches of a tree.

The meat for making chả is of two types: for chả băm (grilled chopped meat), people use lean shoulder of pork and for chả miếng (grilled meat piece), they use belly pork. The meat is pressed between two bamboo slats, and then grilled on a small box of burning charcoal. The huckster slightly fans the flame with a small bamboo fan, just enough for the meat to be done to a turn without being burned and losing its flavor.

Bun Cha Hanoi

Bun in this dish is different from other kinds and it should be thin strands made into small rolls. The vermicelli is placed on a small tray covered with green banana leaves, in a corner of which there is some cabbage, lettuce, coriander, perilla ocymoides, cockscand mint, and particularly basil grown in Láng village. The sauce must be well-prepared with fish sauce, sugar, lemon, garlic, chili and pepper in such a manner that is neither too salty nor too sour.

Bun Cha Hanoi

The preparation of the sauce to be served with bun cha is in fact a culinary art. In the past, this specialty in Hà Nội was sold by hucksters in the streets or markets. Now it is sold everywhere, at many stalls. People no longer use bamboo slats but steel-grids and the vermicelli is not the same as in the past. Bún chả has partially lost part of its past charm.

Lenin Park

This park lies between four streets namely Trần Nhân Tông, Lê Duẩn, Đại Cồ Việt and Nguyễn Đình Chiểu, and occupies an area of more than fifty hectares.

Lenin Park

Before 1958, the Ha Noi People Committee decided to transform the dump into a recreational park. At the time, all Hanoians were mobilized to voluntarily work for this project which was completed in 1960. On 11th January 1960, President Ho Chi Minh planted a memorial banyan tree in the park.

Lenin Park

As the country was then not unified yet, the park was called Thống Nhất (Unification) to show the affection of the apital’s people for their southern compatriots.

In 1975 the country was reunified. On 19th April 1980, the Ha Noi People’s Committee renamed the park after Lenin in commemoration of his 110th birth anniversary.

The park has two big gates on Trần Nhân Tông and Lê Duẩn Streets and two smaller gates on Đại Cồ Việt and Nguyễn Đình Chiểu Streets. In the park, there are many trees and flowerbeds, a large lake, tree-covered islands, recreational areas for children and quiet places for the elderly. Early in the morning, people, who live around the park, come here to do their physical exercises and to enjoy fresh air.

Every year, a “Spring Flower Festival” is held here, attracting lots of people with a wide variety of flowers and ornamental plants.

Hà Nội Children’s Cultural Palace

It is located where, under French rule, there were two establishments: to the north was a kindergarten where festivals for adults such as beauty contests and periodical markets, etc. were often held; and to the south was the French club.

After the Vietnamese Government took over the capital, the two buildings were turned into the Young Pioneers’ Club, where children could enjoy entertainments. In 1973, with assistance from Czechoslovakia, the old club was tom down to give place to the Children’s Palace.

The palace, which was inaugurated on 19th February 1977, is located on Lý Thái Tổ Street and covers over 10,000 m2. At the center is one six- storey building. It has got an area of 1,875 m2 for use and nearly 100 rooms for studying and other activities. Each room has got modern equipment for specific purposes: machines and models for scientific and technical research; soundproof rooms and musical instruments for music performances; a dancing room of 100 m2.

Hà Nội Children’s Cultural Palace

The Technical Department of the Palace is well-equipped for drawing, sculpture, paper cutting, serigraphy, metal forging, housewifery, lace-weaving, embroidery, knitting, photography, etc. The Sports and Gymnastic Department has such games as table tennis, badminton, chess, national martial arts, karate, gun shooting, parachuting, etc. There is also a library with 60,000 books and a cinema of astronomical films.

On the left of the central building, there is a building called Khăn Quàng Đỏ (Red Scarf) Cinema. The cinema covers an area of 1,500m2 and has 520 seats. On the left of the building is another building with the “traditional house” of the Young Pioneers’ Union and other administrative department. In particular, one room of this building witnessed President Ho Chi Minh signing the Preliminary Agreement on 6th March 1946 with the French Agreement on 6th March 1946 with the French Government. The entire palace can seat 5,000 children at a time. This is a place to foster child talents in science and arts for the Capital.