Hello Hanoi!

Hanoi, Vietnam in March: I’m desperately cleaning my feet with the last piece of tissue because I thought wearing sandals on the wet, dirty streets was a good idea. I switched back to my chucks. It’s been the first day of my vacation and I couldn’t wait to change into my summer clothes as soon as possible. Little did I know that Hanoi suffers a constant overcast sky, rain or drizzle during that time of the year. But it made walking around the city more pleasant than burning, tropical sunshine. And walking is quintessential in Hanoi: A city with a poor public transport system and never-ending motorbike traffic, but where’s so much to explore around every corner. People sit on their little plastic stools, goods are sold on bicycles and the street (or railway tracks) becomes everyone’s living room – the charm of the old days in a fast developing economy is what makes Hanoi so fascinating!

And between all the traffic, gigantic trees and decaying colonial buildings, you’ll find places full of beauty and charm, like the Cathedral, the Hoàn Kiem Lake and the Temple of Literature. Hanoi is vintage and real (not the hipster vintage kind), extremely photogenic and an amazing playground for street photographers!

A coffee break at the quaint rooftop of the Hanoi Social Club was more than welcome after all the walking…

One important thing when being in Vietnam is enjoying its fantastic cuisine. Vietnamese food is a favourite staple of my bf’s and mine diet, so we turned that trip into our little pho mission! Out of hundreds of pho spots, we picked wisely and can certainly recommend these places: Quán Pho Thìn (see map here) and Pho 10 Ly Quoc Su (see map here).

However we had our fair share of spring rolls, fruit shakes and fine-dining too 😉 (in this case at the elegant Sofitel Metropole)

I hope I was able to give a little intro and feel about Vietnam’s charming capital 🙂 Our short stay in Hanoi has been a blast, and I’m thanking my friends Stefan and Katya for hosting us ❤️

Interested into other Vietnam articles? You may also like:

From the archives: Vietnam – Halong Bay