Top Things to Do with Two Days in Hanoi

Hanoi is Vietnam’s capital city, located in northern Vietnam.  Hanoi is frenetic and has a reputation for its crazy traffic, mostly made up of motorbikes.  It’s also known for its French architecture and mouthwatering variety of Vietnamese street food.  On our Magnificent Mekong tour with Viking River Cruises, we had 48 hours in Vietnam.  Even with that short amount of time, we were able to fit in a lot of the best things to do in Hanoi, including viewing Ho Chi Minh, visiting Hoa Lo Prison and a few temples, and eating a lot of delicious food, all while successfully dodging motorbikes, or riding on the back of one. 

Traditional Vietnamese Food: 15 Dishes to Try in Vietnam

There are so many things to be excited about when traveling to Vietnam, but one of the things we were really looking forward to was trying Vietnamese cuisine.  We were traveling with Viking River Cruises on their Magnificent Mekong river cruise trip, so we weren’t sure how many opportunities we would have to eat traditional Vietnamese food.  We actually had a number of occasions to try Vietnamese dishes, but one of the best decisions we made was to spend some time taking two street food tours in Hanoi with Duc Ivan, owner of Hanoi Street Food Tours. 

Hanoi Side-Trip: Ha Long Bay in 24 Hours

When we booked our Viking Mekong trip with Viking River Cruises, the dilemma we had was whether or not to book an extension.  Two extensions are offered with the Viking Mekong itinerary through Vietnam and Cambodia.  One is for a couple days in Bangkok, but we’d already been, and the other is a side-trip from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay.  The Ha Long Bay extension effectively adds two days on to the trip, 24 hours of which is spent on a trip to Ha Long Bay and the rest of which provides additional time in Hanoi.