Originally Posted by
imm2b
JW Hanoi is a nice hotel but a bit far from the Old Quarter for tourists. FWIW, Four Seasons is building a hotel right in the center of Hanoi lakeside at Hoan Kiem Lake. Personally, 1.5 days in Hanoi is a bit too rush. I would say 3 days would be ideal to enjoy Hanoi. It's a compact city, most of tourist things are within 5 km of Hanoi center. The Old Quarter is a must visit at night, on weekends, the streets around Hoan Kiem Lake is blocked off for pedestrians only.
Things to do in Hanoi are Night Market on Hang Ngang & Hang Dao streets, Ta Hien & Luong Ngoc Quyen streets for fresh beer (Bia Hoi) and snacks. Temple of Literature, One Pillar Pagoda, Ngoc Son temple in the middle of Hoan Kiem Lake. Street foods are everywhere in Hanoi, a must try is Bun Cha (Hanoian's grilled pork with vermicelli), Obama & Anthony Bourdain's shared a meal of Bun Cha in Hanoi, but don't go to that shop, it's expensive and mediocre at best. My favorite spot for Bun Cha is on Cửa Đông street, they only open for lunch. Other food to try is of course, Hanoi Pho Bo or Ga (Beef or chicken) and Xoi Yen, a famous sticky rice place in Hanoi. Banh Mi (Vietnamese baguette sandwiches) is one of Vietnam's French influence culinary favorites. Kafa coffee is ubiquitous in Hanoi, a great place to have Ca Phe Sua Da (Vietnamese Coffee with condensed milk) relax and people watch. May be I should offer a street food tour for Flyertalkers.
.
The JW offers a free shuttle to the city so we can just use that and then grab a taxi or UBER to where we need to go. Trying to see everything in one go is not our thing .. we will try to get to the lake and just walk around. Eating is our thing. We will do the night markets for sure.
We are doing a three day cycling tour to spend time together -- "This journey will bring you to a new side of Ha Long Bay. Starting from Red River out of Hanoi city we cycle to the famous UNESCO world heritage site of Ha Long Bay. We cruise on crystal clear water to beautiful Cat Ba island and visit one of the world's biosphere reserves, Cat Ba National Park. Here we'll be treated to green jungle and beautiful scenery, We spend the night ion the beach before we cycle along the coast to meet our next boat. This one takes us to the newly discovered Thien Long cave before we head back to Hanoi."