Vietnam

Immigration is usually quick, and the arrivals hall has ATMs plus SIM counters. The express Bus 86 (35,000 to 45,000 VND, about $1.50 to 1.75) reaches the edge of the Old Quarter in 45 to 60 minutes, or take a Grab with the price locked in the app for about 300,000 to 350,000 VND ($12 to 14). Have your hotel address saved in Vietnamese.

Hanoi's living room is a 20 minute stroll around the water, and at dusk it fills with joggers, badminton players, and old men playing chess. Cross the red Huc Bridge to Ngoc Son Temple (about 30,000 VND entry, roughly $1.15) for the giant preserved lake turtles and the legend of the returned sword.

Cafe Giang has been pouring ca phe trung since 1946, when milk was scarce and an inventive bartender whipped egg yolk with condensed milk instead. The hot version arrives sitting in a bowl of warm water to keep the custard cap from cooling. Expect 30,000 to 40,000 VND ($1.15 to 1.50) and a tiny, packed room that smells like dessert.

A thousand year old art form performed waist deep in water, with wooden puppets dancing dragons, fishermen, and festival scenes while a live orchestra plays beside the pool. Tickets run 100,000, 150,000, or 200,000 VND ($3.85, $5.75, $7.70) depending on the seat, and the show runs about 50 minutes.

The line starts forming before the gates open, so arrive by 7:30am. The mausoleum opens mornings only, Tuesday through Thursday plus Saturday and Sunday, and is closed Mondays and Fridays; it also closes for several weeks of annual maintenance each autumn (in 2026 that ran September 5 to November 3). Dress modestly and keep phones in your pocket inside.

Vietnam's first university, founded in 1070, with five courtyards of mossy stone, frangipani trees, and 82 stone stelae carried by turtles, each one naming a scholar who passed the royal exams. Entry is 70,000 VND (about $2.70), usually open 8:00am to 5:00pm, sometimes from 7:30am in summer.

Order the thing the grill was built for: smoky pork patties and sliced pork belly in a sweet fish sauce broth, with a tangle of rice noodles and a mountain of herbs on the side. Add nem (fried spring rolls) to make it the full set. A combo runs about 40,000 to 50,000 VND ($1.50 to 2), and the room is famous for a 2016 visit by a US president and a TV chef.

The 'Hanoi Hilton' was first a French colonial prison, then a POW camp, and the museum does not flinch from either chapter. Entry is about 30,000 VND (roughly $1.15), open daily 8:00am to 5:00pm, and most visitors spend an hour. The French era exhibits hit hardest; the American era rooms tell the other side's story.

Twice a day a real train squeezes down a residential alley barely wider than the carriages, past cafes set out with tiny plastic stools. The north section near the Old Quarter is often barricaded, so head for the southern stretch off Le Duan, where cafe hosts will seat you, sell you a coffee, and wave you back when the train comes, usually between 7:00pm and 9:00pm.