12 hours
5 people
Not accessible
Culture
Fooddy
Private
Hanoi is the city of thousand years of civilization of Vietnam. Experiencing many ups and downs in the history of building and defending the country, this capital today possesses nostalgic vestiges of difficult times in the past, architectural works of interference between the West and the East, the traditional and modern habits of the city people. A full day of experiences around the downtown area with activities like morning exercise in the parks, eating bowls of pho in the old town, walking along the train tracks, and experiencing different and exciting modes of transport around city. These will give you a chance to live like a local, understand daily life, see inside the city and be different from other tourists.
6.00
Your personal host will meet you at the apartment, and then embark on a full-day discovery tour, a journey that takes you back in time to Hanoi in the 1980’s.
Outside your apartment building, in the center of Hanoi, you will see the locals setting up their small shops, and have a chance to say hi to them.
6.15
Take a short walk to the nearby Hoan Kiem Lake “Lake of the Restored Sword” located in the historic center of Hanoi. Here you’re likely to catch the locals out and about exercising, jogging, dancing, and doing their morning tai chi. You are welcome to join in on the fun if you choose.
6.50
Continue to walk from Hoan Kiem Lake to the Old Quarter, the historical heart of this capital city that borders one side of the lake. This labyrinth of narrow streets is filled with history, exotic scents, buzzing motorbikes, other tourists, and a tangled web of electrical wires! This is a fascinating place to take a walk to see the real Hanoi.
7.00
Arrive at Pho Bat Dan “an authentic noodle shop” where you will line up to buy a delicious bowl of noodle soup. The queue here is often long, but you can mingle with the locals while waiting. The line that forms prove the quality of the food here. Where locals eat is always a good sign in any country!
After breakfast, we take a short walk to continue to the Train Street. For an outsider like you, it seems like an extraordinary place to live, but for the few Hanoians that reside on this small stretch of track, it is home. Tall, narrow buildings claustrophobically tower over either side of the train track. Later, you will have a chance to experience a train ride hurtling through these narrow streets.
8.00
From the train street, we head to the local bus station where you will catch the e-bus. The first smart electric buses in Vietnam that use eco-friendly energy. These buses run on electric power, which discharge no emissions and makes minimal noise.
8.15
Get off the bus at the French Quarter and from here, take a short walk to Cà Phe Cộng, Hanoi’s Must-Visit Café. There’s no shortage of immaculately designed cafes in Hanoi (and across Vietnam, for that matter)—but Cộng Cà Phê takes the cake. Cộng‘s ‘Communist Chic’ design recalls the days of youth brigades, state ownership and Russian-language schoolbooks. Many Hanoians look back on this period of history with a certain amount of nostalgia—the North did win the war, after all. Enjoy a special cup of Vietnamese Cappuccino while watching the world go by. There is also a wide range of smoothies and other drinks available.
9.00
The relaxing conversation with your Serene Host over a cup of coffee is a good way to end our morning’s adventures before the cyclo/ rickshaw drivers come and take you back to your apartment. The short but fun cyclo ride allows you to turn back time and experience the slow travel methods of days gone by. Take a short rest and still have a whole day of adventure ahead of you!
10.45
The local motorbike drivers will come to take you on a fun ride to Gia Lam train station located on the outskirt of Hanoi. Ride along the historic Cau Long Bien over the Red River, a historic bridge designed by the famous French architects who built the Eiffel Tower. During the ride, you will have a chance to get off the motorbikes and take photos.
11.05
Arrive at the train station, your Serene Manager will help you to purchase the train tickets and wait until the train arrives. Enjoy a fun ride crossing the Red River again, returning to the city center.
11.40
Arrive at Hanoi’s Central Railway station, transfer to Bun Cha Huong Lien Restaurant where President Obama and Anthony Bourdain enjoyed a supremely delicious Hanoian specialty: Bun Cha. Sitting on your plastic stool, sharing a bowl of delicious noodles with the local residents around you will surely make you feel like a local.
15.30
Your afternoon continues with a short walk back to Hoan Kiem Lake. Stroll around the edge of the Lake while meeting and mingling with the locals. Visit the historic Post Office, another significant piece of French architecture where you buy postcards to send home, or keep as souvenirs. To most, sending postcards is an old-fashioned, outdated way of keeping in touch but imagine when sending a postcard to a loved one, the response could easily be “Wow, thanks! I haven’t gotten a postcard in forever!”
One of the best parts of traveling is sharing your experiences with the ones you love. So, just do it, as Nike would say!
16.00
Within a few minutes’ walk is Trang Tien street filled with bookstores, cafés, shops, and art galleries. Now it’s time to cool yourself off with an ice cream at Kem Trang Tien. Millions of Hanoians recall spending time here as children, and still as adults. Trang Tien ice cream is made from all-natural Vietnamese ingredients.
Leaving the ice cream shop wind your way back to your apartment. We will walk you through the Sofitel Legend Metropole a five-star historic luxury hotel, opened in 1901 as the Grand Métropole Hotel in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. Today it is one of the most important buildings in Vietnam displaying French Colonial architecture.
17.00
Arrive at your apartment where the remainder of the day is yours to as you, please.
It is a paradisematic country, in which roasted parts of sentences fly into your mouth. Even the all-powerful Pointing has no control about the blind texts it is an almost unorthographic life One day however.
Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean. A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary regelialia.
It is a paradisematic country, in which roasted parts of sentences fly into your mouth. Even the all-powerful Pointing has no control about the blind texts it is an almost unorthographic life One day however.
It is a paradisematic country, in which roasted parts of sentences fly into your mouth. Even the all-powerful Pointing has no control about the blind texts it is an almost unorthographic life One day however.
It is a paradisematic country, in which roasted parts of sentences fly into your mouth. Even the all-powerful Pointing has no control about the blind texts it is an almost unorthographic life One day however.
