Hanoi Vietnam

928 Cruises availables At departure or passage at this port

Aqua Expeditions (25 Cruises)

Aqua Mekong.

Aqua Mekong

40 Passengers
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Avalon Waterways (72 Cruises)

Avalon Saigon 1

Avalon SaigonSM

36 Passengers
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CroisiEurope (220 Cruises)

Cruise CE Croisieurope RV Indochine ship

RV Indochine

48 Passengers
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Cruise CE Croisieurope RV Indochine II ship

RV Indochine II

62 Passengers
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Emerald Waterways (364 Cruises)

Emerald Harmony

Emerald Harmony

124 Passengers
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Emerald Liberte.

Emerald Liberte

187 Passengers
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Scenic Cruises (151 Cruises)

Scenic Spirit.

Scenic Spirit

68 Passengers
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Uniworld Boutique River Cruise (86 Cruises)

Mekong Jewel.

Mekong Jewel

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Hanoi | Cruise Port Guide

You hear Hanoi before you see it: a continuous hum of scooters, short honks and bargaining voices. River boats sailing up the Red River moor on the outskirts of the Vietnamese capital, and a short transfer is enough to plunge into a thousand-year-old city where every sidewalk serves as kitchen, living room and parking lot all at once. Founded more than a thousand years ago between dikes and rice paddies, the "city between the rivers" sums up Asia as few ports of call can.

The Old Quarter and its thirty-six streets

For centuries, the merchant heart has been organized into guild streets: Silk Street, Hemp Street, Traditional Medicine Street. The narrow façades, known as tube houses, stretch far back behind shopfronts crammed with goods, a legacy, it is said, of a tax once calculated on the width of the shop window. You get around on foot, to the rhythm of vendors in conical hats and porters with baskets hanging from their shoulder poles. Every intersection offers its steaming pho, served on knee-high plastic stools, and the smell of star-anise broth follows you from one end of the quarter to the other.

The Lake of the Returned Sword

At the edge of these lanes, Hoan Kiem Lake gives the capital room to breathe. According to legend, an emperor returned here to a giant turtle the magic sword that had driven out the Chinese invader. A red-lacquered wooden bridge, The Huc Bridge, leads to Ngoc Son Temple on a shady islet. Early in the morning, the shores belong to tai chi practitioners and Chinese chess players; in the evening, to families who come to enjoy the cool air around the tower in the middle of the lake, lit up like a lantern.

The memory of the scholars

A few minutes away by vehicle, the Temple of Literature lines up courtyards, ponds and pavilions dedicated to Confucius. Founded in 1070, it housed the country's first university; the steles resting on stone turtles still bear the names of the laureates of the imperial examinations. Students still come here to have their photos taken in gowns before graduation, carrying on ten centuries of respect for learning. Nearby, Hoa Lo Prison, which American pilots ironically nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton", documents a darker chapter of history, from French colonization to the Vietnam War. The colonial legacy can also be read in the avenues of the French Quarter, where the 1911 opera house, inspired by the Palais Garnier, stands alongside ochre villas and ornate balconies beneath the tamarind trees.

A train in the alley

A curiosity that has become famous, Train Street squeezes between homes so close to the tracks that residents fold up chairs and stalls as the train passes. Seated in front of an egg coffee, a local specialty as creamy as a dessert invented here in the 1940s, you wait for the vibration that announces the locomotive and the ballet of stools being folded away. Those who love a show can also book a water puppet performance, an art born in the rice paddies of the delta, where wooden dragons and fishermen move across a pool to the sound of drums.

Port of call at a glance

ItemDetails
DockingRiver mooring on the outskirts of the capital; transfers by vehicle
Old QuarterExplored on foot; take care when crossing
Good to knowDry season from October to April, the most pleasant

When it's time to return on board, the din of the scooters fades behind the dikes of the Red River. Something remains, though: a scent of broth and cilantro, the red of a lacquered bridge, the self-assurance of a capital that crosses the centuries without ever slowing down. Hanoi doesn't close its doors; it invites you back.

Frequently Asked Questions

River vessels sailing up the Red River moor on the outskirts of the capital, and a short road transfer reaches the centre. Hanoi is not a sea port: this call belongs to river cruises.
Yes, and it is the only way to understand it. The thirty-six guild streets — Silk Street, Hemp Street, Traditional Medicine Street — unfold at the pace of vendors in conical hats. Take care crossing: the scooters do not stop.
The Old Quarter and Hoan Kiem lake form a coherent, walkable pair. Adding the Temple of Literature, a few minutes away by vehicle, fills the window without racing the clock.
It is the Lake of the Restored Sword, the capital's breathing space. A red lacquered wooden bridge, The Huc, leads to Ngoc Son temple on a shaded islet. Early in the morning the banks belong to tai chi practitioners.
These tube houses run deep behind narrow storefronts because a tax was once calculated on the width of the shopfront, so the story goes. The result gives the Old Quarter its distinctive silhouette.
Yes. Founded in 1070, it housed the country's first university. Stone stelae mounted on tortoises still bear the names of imperial examination laureates, and students continue to pose there in graduation gowns.
It is a lane where homes sit so close to the rails that residents fold away chairs and stalls as the train passes. You watch it from a table over an egg coffee, a local specialty invented here in the 1940s.
The dry season, October to April, is the most pleasant. Summer is hot, humid and stormy, which makes walking the Old Quarter considerably harder.
The Vietnamese dong and Vietnamese. Small notes help in the market streets and for cyclo rides; English is used in hotels and tourist services, less so in local shops.
Yes, a water puppet performance — an art born in the delta's rice paddies, where wooden dragons and fishermen move across a pool to the sound of drums. The banks of Hoan Kiem lake in the evening are also very family-oriented.