What to See in Hanoi - Top Sights and Attractions

Temple in Hanoi, Vietnam. Văn Miếu is a temple dedicated to Confucius in Hanoi, northern Vietnam. The temple also hosts the Imperial Academy, Vietnam's first national university. The temple was built in 1070 at the time of Emperor Lý Thánh Tông. It is one of several temples in Vietnam which is dedicated to Confucius, sages and scholars. The temple is located to the south of the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long. The various pavilions, halls, statues and stelae of doctors are places where offering ceremonies, study sessions and the strict exams of the Đại Việt took place. The temple is featured on the back of the 100,000 Vietnamese đồng banknote. Just before the Vietnamese New Year celebration Tết, calligraphists will assemble outside the temple and write wishes in Chữ Hán. The art works are given away as gifts or are used as home decorations for special occasions.^[2]

Museum in Hanoi, Vietnam. Established and operated by the Vietnam Women’s Union, the Vietnamese Women’s Museum officially opened its doors to public in 1995. The four-storey building is in Hanoi, Ly Thuong Kiet Street, situated along the central Hoan Kiem Lake and old quarter. It underwent renovation between 2006 and 2010. It functions as a gender museum and research centre that provides knowledge on the historical and cultural heritage of Vietnamese women among the nation’s 54 ethnic communities. By featuring women as its central theme, it illuminates the significant roles and contributions of Vietnamese women in the historical and cultural development of Vietnam. The museum also provides a platform for intercultural exchanges to occur between women in Vietnam and global societies, with the goal of fostering “equality, development and peace.” The museum consists of three permanent exhibitions: Women in Family, Women in History and Women’s Fashion. The permanent exhibitions feature more than 1000 materials, photographs and artifacts that describe the roles of Vietnamese women in the nation’s history and contemporary society The museum also organises thematic exhibitions to showcase transformations and new developments that occur in contemporary Vietnam. The museum’s key mission is “to enhance public knowledge and understanding of history and cultural heritage of Vietnamese women…thus contributing to promoting gender equality.”^[9]

Museum. The Vietnam People's Air Force Museum, Hanoi or Bảo Tàng Phòng Không - Không Quân is located on Truong Chinh Street in the Bach Mai District of Hanoi. The museum is on the edge of the disused Bach Mai Airfield.

The museum tells the history of the Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF) from its formation in 1954 through to the present day. There is a heavy emphasis on its role in the Second Indochina War and the Cambodian-Vietnamese War. The museum comprises one main building with displays on the history of the VPAF, biographies of VPAF aces, uniforms and flightsuits, aircraft weaponry and engines, items from downed US aircraft and the forward fuselage of a MiG-21. Outside is a static park with aircraft of the VPAF and the Republic of Vietnam Air Force.

The museum is open Mon.-Thurs. and Sat.-Sun. from 08:00 to 11:00 and 13:00 to 16:00. Entry fee is 20,000 VND^[10]

Region in Vietnam. The Red River Delta or Hong River Delta is the flat low-lying plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries merging with the Thái Bình River in northern Vietnam. Hồng is a Sino-Vietnamese word for "red" or "crimson." The delta has the smallest area but highest population and population density of all regions. The region, measuring some 15,000 square kilometres is well protected by a network of dikes. It is an agriculturally rich and densely populated area. Most of the land is devoted to rice cultivation.

Eight provinces together with two municipalities, the capital Hanoi, and the port Haiphong form the delta. It has a population of almost 23 million in 2019.

In 2021, Paul Sidwell proposed that the locus of Proto-Austroasiatic languages was in this area about 4,000-4,500 years before present. The Hong River Delta is the cradle of the Vietnamese nation. Water puppetry originated in the rice paddies here. The region was bombed by United States warplanes during the Vietnam War. The region was designated as the Red River Delta Biosphere Reserve as part of UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme in 2004.^[11]

Historic square with Ho Chi Minh's tomb. Ba Đình Square is the name of a square in Hanoi where president Ho Chi Minh read the Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 2, 1945. It is named after the Ba Đình Uprising, an anti-French rebellion that occurred in Vietnam in 1886–1887 as part of the Cần Vương movement. When Ho Chi Minh died, the granite Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum was built here to display his embalmed body. It remains a major site of tourism and pilgrimage.

Ba Dinh Square is in the center of Ba Đình District, with several important buildings located around it, including the President's Palace, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and the National Assembly Building.^[20]

Exhibits on prehistory and modern times. The Vietnam National Museum of History is in the Hoan Kiem district of Hanoi, Vietnam. The museum building was an archaeological research institution of the French School of the Far East under French colonial rule of 1910, was extensively refurbished in 1920. It was redesigned between 1926 and 1932 by architect Ernest Hébrard. The museum was acquired by the Government of Vietnam in 1958 and then the artifact collections were expanded to cover eastern arts and national history.

The museum highlights Vietnam's prehistory (about 300,000–400,000 years ago) up to the August 1945 Revolution. It has over 200,000 exhibits displayed covering items from prehistory up to the 1947 revolution and founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, arranged in five major sections.^[21]

Exhibits related to Ho Chi Minh. The Ho Chi Minh Museum is located in Hanoi, Vietnam. Constructed in the 1990s, it is dedicated to the late Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh and Vietnam's revolutionary struggle against foreign powers.

Ho Chi Minh museum is located in the Ho Chi Minh complex. The museum documents Ho Chi Minh's life, with 8 chronological exhibitions. The first one, from 1890 to 1910 modeled after his upbringing, hometown and youth. The second exhibit concerns the next ten years of his life, when Ho Chi Minh travelled the world seeking a means of freeing Vietnam from the restraints of colonialism.

The next three exhibits, covering Ho Chi Minh's life from 1920 to 1945, depict how he adapted the influence of Marxism and Leninism into the founding principles of the Vietnamese Communist Party, as well as addressing his continued pursuit of achieving independence for Vietnam. Exhibits 6-7 cover Ho Chi Minh's life from 1945 until his death in 1969. The final grouping of exhibits primarily focus on his status as a national hero and the finer details of his political life.

The museum consists of a collection of artifacts, miniatures, and various gifts gathered nationally and internationally. In addition to Vietnamese, the museum also provides descriptions written in English as well as French. Guided tours are also available upon request.^[23]

Temple in Vietnam. Bút Tháp Temple is a Buddhist temple located near the dyke of the Đuống River, Thuận Thành District, Bắc Ninh Province, Vietnam. The temple is also popularly called Nhan Thap Temple. The temple was built in the 13th century. The temple houses the biggest Avalokiteśvara statue with one thousand eyes and a thousand arms. But Thap Temple is one of the most famous temples in Viet Nam. Inside, there are various valuable ancient objects and statues, which are considered to be Vietnamese masterpieces of 17th-century wood carving. During the same time the temple had become famous for the venerable abbot and Zen master Chuyet Chuyet 1590 - 1644.

The complex has 10 buildings spreading for 100 meters from the three-entrance gate to the bell-tower and back house. Inside the temple are more than 50 statues of different sizes including the Triad Buddha, Manjusri (Van Thu) on a blue lion and Samantabhadra (Pho Hien) on a white elephant. The most remarkable is the thousand-handed and thousand-eyed Guanyin, which is described as a sculptural masterpiece of Vietnam.

The architecture, sculpture and decoration of the temple were exclusively confined to the 17th century, so it was the best intact and typical example of Vietnam’s classical Buddhist art.^[25]

Lake with a Vietnam War monument. Trúc Bạch Lake is one of the many lakes in the city of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. It is known outside Vietnam as the site where future United States politician John McCain landed during the Vietnam War after being shot down.

Trúc Bạch Lake is located northwest of Hanoi's Old Quarter, immediately adjacent to the eastern shore of the city's largest lake, the West Lake (Hồ Tây), a former branch of the Red River whose west bank is nearby. Trúc Bạch Lake was separated from the West Lake by the construction of a narrow dike (Cổ Ngư, "reinforcement") in the 17th century to allow raising fish. The inhabitants of the Truc Yen Village, located on the south shore of the newly formed lake, were in the business of making bamboo blinds and hence cultivated a small variety of bamboo. In 1957 and 1958, major Thanh Niên Road was built between the lakes. In 1730s, the Trịnh Lord Trịnh Giang had Trúc Lâm Palace constructed on the lake shore. The building first served as a pleasure palace but was later converted into a prison for royal concubines found guilty of crime. The silk they produced, known as "Bamboo Village Silk" became famous for its beauty.

The lake front is open only along Thanh Niên Road, the other sides are occupied by houses and residential streets. The lake is among the most seriously polluted in Hanoi. Nearby historical sites include: Quán Thánh Temple to the southwest of the lake, Châu Long Pagoda to the east, An Trì Temple (dedicated to the worship of a hero from the war against the Chinese Yuan Dynasty) on Phó Đức Chính Street, and Cẩu Nhi temple on a small hill near the northern corner of the lake.^[27]

Museum in Hanoi, Vietnam. The Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts is located in Hanoi, Vietnam. It is a museum showcasing Vietnam's fine arts from a range of historical periods. It is the country's primary art museum, the second being the smaller Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts.

The Museum exhibits Vietnam's fine arts from the Ancient time till the Modern time. Much of the 20th Century art presented in the museum is concerned with folk narratives of a nation in defence. As a collection it draws on themes of martyrdom, patriotism, military strategy and overcoming enemy incursion.

The museum presents a small collection of late 20th and early 21st Century painting, including works by artists exploring abstraction and abstract impressionism, giving greater attention to the individualist artist.

The site, 66 Nguyễn Thái Học Street, was selected by painter Nguyễn Đỗ Cung in 1963. The building, built in 1937, was an abandoned Catholic girl's boarding house. Next door at No. 65 was an artists' colony.^[28]

Grand Catholic seat dating to 1886. St. Joseph's Cathedral is a church on Nha Chung Street in the Hoàn Kiếm District of Hanoi, Vietnam. It is a late 19th-century Gothic Revival church that serves as the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hanoi. The cathedral was named after Joseph, the patron saint of Vietnam.

Construction began in 1886, with the architectural style described as resembling Notre Dame de Paris. The church was one of the first structures built by the French colonial government in Indochina when it opened in December 1886. It is the oldest church in Hanoi.

The cathedral conducts mass several times during the day. For Sunday evening mass at 6:00 PM, large crowds spill out into the streets. The prayer hymns are broadcast and Catholics who are unable to enter the cathedral congregate in the street and listen to hymns.^[31]

Đống Đa is one of the four original urban districts of Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. It is bordered by Ba Đình to the north, Hoàn Kiếm to the northeast, Hai Bà Trưng to the east, Thanh Xuân to the south, and Cầu Giấy to the west. The district currently has 21 wards, covering a total area of 9.95 square kilometers. It is the most populous district in Hanoi. As of 2017, there were 420900 people residing in the district, the population density is 42302 inhabitants per square kilometer, 18 times higher than the overall density of Hanoi. Dong Da district is home to various enterprises and many of Vietnam's most prestigious universities such as Hanoi Medical University, Foreign Trade University, University of Transport and Communications, Thuyloi University.

Dong Da district has a large number of monuments and relics, including Temple of Literature (Văn Miếu), a cultural symbol of the city. The district is also where the Battle of Ngọc Hồi-Đống Đa between Tây Sơn dynasty and the Qing dynasty, one of the greatest victories in Vietnamese military history, ended.^[32]

The National Assembly Building of Vietnam, also known as the New Ba Đình Hall, is a public building located on Ba Đình Square across from the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam. Construction started on October 12, 2009 and finished on October 20, 2014. The building is used by the National Assembly of Vietnam for its sessions and other official functions.

This building is the largest and most complex office building built in Vietnam after the reunification of the country. The Building covers an area of 63,000 m2, and is 39 m in height. The building can accommodate 80 separate meetings with more than 2,500 people at the same time.

The old Ba Đình Hall was demolished in 2008 to make room for a new parliament house. However, archaeological remains of the old imperial city of Hanoi, Thăng Long, were found on the site and therefore the construction of a new building was delayed.

The proposed project took 15 years (1999–2014) from the initial concept to the inauguration. The project attracted attention and debates in the country's mass media concerning the construction site and conservation of Ba Đình Hall. The project led to the largest archaeological excavations in Vietnam at the site of Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long. The German architecture design consultant company, gmp International GmbH, was awarded the Vietnam's National Architecture Award by the Vietnam Architect Society in 2014.^[34]