How do I spend 4 days and 3 nights in Hanoi....?

Question

I will be in Hanoi for 4 days and 3 nights. What do I do to get the best of Hanoi with minimum expenditures. I plan to go to Halong Bay. Is it worth, to go and spend 1 night in a junk or just stay in a hotel?

Answer 1

If you're looking for a junk place in Hanoi, you'll find plenty. There's heaps of hostels and hotels, but you'll find that most will cost you $10 and up a night for a bed in a hostel that you share with 10 people in one room.  A nice hotel will costs you $20 and up.

You can also spend a night on a nice ship at Halong Bay for $25 that includes food and activities. It's worth a night stay. Some stay for two nights and three days.

1. Spend a couple hours walking around the Old Quarter and sit at a cafe for coffee, apparently Vietnam has some of the best coffee.

2. Breakfast-Buy a baguette with your choice of fillings at a stall, will only costs you 50 cents and it's good. Many residents buy from them and so do backpackers. Will save you heaps of money.

3. Go to the main Lake and visit the Temple, will cost you 30 cents.

4. Go to the Prison

5. Visit the shops and look around

Look at travelfish.org, heaps of advice of what to do in southeast asia. And of course, a Lonely Planet book will help.

Answer 2

viet people are fcken loud!

Answer 3

it depends on you. if you want to pay least, you will live in not good place, and vice versa. however, in Hanoi, you can easily find a good place to live with not too much expenditure. however, you should have a friend there, especially a Vietnamese friend, because the vietnamese usually take much more money when they have any exchange with the foreigners.

Answer 4

my suggestion:

day1: explore hanoi and the old quarter

day2 & 3: halong bay and spend a night in the junk - a worth experience

day 4 - hua lu (1 full day trip) - worth visiting coz beautiful scenery and great experience.

alternatively:

day 2 - halong bay (1 full day trip) but you will miss the chance of overniting in the junk

day 3 - hua lu

day 4 - last sight of hanoi

Answer 5

I would say taking a tour to Halong Bay for at least 2 days/1 night is well worth it.  The trips aren't very expensive, and you can book them the day before (maybe even the day of).  I would avoid the day trip because it takes over 3 hours just to get from Hanoi to Halong Bay.

Hua Lu/Tom Coc is a nice day trip also as msufiany stated.  The scenery is very similar to Halong Bay- limestone karst formations- but in a different setting (in a river amongst rice paddies).  If you just did Halong Bay, you could skip this...

For things to see within Hanoi:

-Old Quarter

-Temple of Literature (33 cents admission)

-Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (if that is your type of thing)

-Catch a "water puppet" show.  I think there is a theater located in the Northeastern corner of the lake.

If you have more time, I would recommend going to Sapa.  

There are plenty of cheap beds in Hanoi.  I stayed in a guesthouse located in the Old Quarter that was listed in LP, and it cost $6 for a double (even though I was the only one staying there).

Be careful about xe om (motorcycle taxi drivers) though!  Keep your bags locked as one of mine stole my camera.