Hai Phong Vietnam, Hanoi City
Frequently Asked Questions
In the commercial port zone, among cranes and container ships. The pier itself has no appeal: a shuttle or taxi is required to reach the city centre, a few kilometres away.
Not directly. A vehicle is needed first to leave the port zone. Once dropped downtown, everything is walkable: the municipal theatre, the Du Hang pagoda and the Tam Bac market are close together.
The early 20th-century French colonial centre, with its Italian-style municipal theatre and flowered esplanade, the Du Hang pagoda with its triple-roofed gate, and the Tam Bac market. Half a day is plenty.
About two hours of highway each way. It is a full-day commitment: the old quarter of thirty-six guilds, Hoan Kiem lake, the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and the Temple of Literature.
Yes. The bay is roughly an hour and a half by road, which leaves time for a few hours of sailing among the limestone karsts, UNESCO-protected since 1994.
Banh da cua, a brown noodle soup with paddy-field crab, served in steaming bowls from early morning. Locals defend it with a hometown pride that amuses the whole north of the country.
In May and June, when the flame trees bloom along the avenues and give the city its nickname, the city of scarlet phoenixes. The dry season, October to April, remains the most comfortable for walking.
The Vietnamese dong and Vietnamese. Carry small notes for the Tam Bac market and the sidewalk cafes; English remains limited outside organized tours.
Yes, if you stay downtown. The esplanade in front of the theatre, where locals dance and play shuttlecock in the cool of the evening, and the Tam Bac market appeal to children. The Hanoi excursion, by contrast, means four hours in a vehicle.
Both work, and the length of the call decides. Staying means seeing a working Vietnam, far from the tourist circuits; leaving means reaching the postcard images, Hanoi or Ha Long Bay, at the cost of three to four hours on the road.
