Want To Know How To Survive Hanoi?

Hanoi is one of the most chaotic cities in the world. If it isn’t for the motorbikes seemingly wanting to run you over, or the fact every street looks the same. Having these tips will help you navigate through the craziness of Hanoi.

Some of them might seem basic, but believe me, I wish I had known all this before we arrived in the organised chaos that is Hanoi in Northern Vietnam

Crossing The Road

You might be reading this thinking, why is this guy giving me tips on how to cross a road? I’ve been doing this since I can walk.

But Hanoi doesn’t follow the same rules you know. Red means stop, green means go right? No not right. Green means nothing, red means nothing, this is a ruleless land. You can’t wait for a green man to help you cross, as it will never happen. Bikes will drive up the path too and even down closed roads, so just keep your eyes open.

To cross the road you have to do something that you were told never to do, walk in traffic.

Here are some of the best ways to walk in traffic, but still be very careful!

1. Be confident, walk steadily, keep the pace, don’t run don’t stop suddenly.
2. Don’t cross in front of cars or buses. You higher chance of getting hit, and hit hard.
3. Keep your eye on the traffic coming towards you
4. Look both ways still, don’t just walk out. If your first step has a bike coming towards you, don’t step out. They don’t have time to react.

Book A Tour

Booking a tour is best to do on your first full day. This is perfect for 2 reasons; one you can get to learn about the city and two you can find out places to eat, see and do. Some things in this city can be very overwhelming so being able to know about the coffee or knowing where to get a good Banh mi could be a great start to this city.

The other reason for this is if you have a long flight, and you have to pass through time zones, it forces you to be up and out a tour will keep you from going to sleep during the day.

Below is the tour I have personally done, it was a food tour of Hanoi and we ate so much food it was incredible, the coffee was amazing and we got to see Train Street during a train heading through. Couldn’t ask for more.

Check it out here, this is an affiliate link but it doesn’t affect your price, I just earn commission which helps me fund this website.

Booking A Hotel Or Hostel

It can be extremely difficult to tell the difference between a nice place and a horrible one. There are a lot of old buildings in Hanoi, where you will find things that maybe won’t work and maybe there will be rats floorboards or you might just find a dream hotel.

You might think it’s easy to find good places online with reviews, but this isn’t always the case.

A lot of places in Hanoi will get you to write a review while in their presence which gives a lot of short 5-star reviews, who places that should be 3 at best.

• To tell a phoney 5-star place from a real one. Look for long detailed reviews, that have been written by a real person because they want to write it.
• Don’t just look at the overall score, look through the reviews and listen to the bad ones. Normally I would say this is probably written by a Karen but you have to think this is someone trying to warn you
• Booking.com like to show the positives unless you click on the reviews.
• When you write a review under watch edit it so others know once you have left.

Get A SIM Card

Getting a SIM card in Hanoi is pretty easy, most hotels will sell you one but it doesn’t mean it will be the best one for you.

This is my advice, if there are two of you travelling together get two different sims, one of you can get the hotel sim and the other head to a phone network shop. (if you are travelling alone, and can find your way to a shop without the Internet, this is the better option)

The shop will set the sim up for you correctly and they are super helpful. The hotel should do the same.  For us, the hotel was a little bit more expensive at 250,000VND and the shop was around 200,000VND for around the same data.

We went to the Vietel shop for Holly’s Sim and got 30 days and got mine from the hotel which apparently lasts 30 days but it’s hard to check what you brought unless you can read Vietnamese. Currently, both sims work fine.

The reason why you should get two different sims for the two of you. If one hasn’t got a signal, then the other person can data share it and the other and more important you get screwed over and they don’t give you the package you ask for at least you have one working phone.

But not going to lie most people you meet in Vietnam are more than helpful and trustworthy.

Places To Eat And Drink

You’re never going to be hungry in Vietnam,  there is so much food everywhere, I mean everywhere. People are walking down the street with food, people cooking on the paths, shops, restaurants and even people on bikes with food.

But as I said before Hanoi can be overwhelming and the amount of choice can be a lot.

Sometimes you want to ease yourself into the local cuisine not jump right in to pho on the side of the road, with meat that sat out for however long. Yes, it might be OK for the locals but your stomach might not be ready yet.

Here is a list of places that are favourites with Westerners but still let you try Hanoi food.

Banh Mi 25

Place to try a Banh Mi, it’s like a baguette with meat and vegetables in it with a bit of juice.

Hanoi Coffee Culture

Good coffee, including the Hanoi Egg coffee, which is worth a try. And a very good breakfast. One of the favourite places for their hospitality.

The Note Coffee

Iconic Instagram place. Massive fan of backpackers. You have a coffee leave a note and spend hours reading everyone else’s notes.

MẸT Vietnamese restaurant & Vegetarian

The Met places seem to be like a chain around the city and they have a good range of local food, also the people are more than happy to show you how to eat certain items.  The food is good here.

Places To See

There are lots of places to see in Hanoi, the city itself is massive. The best way to work out how to see it all is with a tour or just get lost in the city.

Train street

This place is what Hanoi is known for, but seeing it can be more difficult than you expect. Due to the narrow space between the train and the wall, they only let certain numbers down at one time.

You kinda of need to be invited in, via a coffee shop or on a tour. But the best way of making sure you can see it when a train comes is a tour.

Pagodas

There are many Pagodas in the city and some Temples too. You can walk up to many and have a look around, just be sure to respect the religion there.

Some might charge you, but some don’t. The best way to find them is simply to Google them.

Night Market

This is the biggest night market in Asia and the reason why is the fact it takes up a lot of roads in the city.

You will find there is more at weekends but there is always some around in the city after 7 pm.

Google Maps isn’t the best when finding these markets as it can be very misleading with few markets off the main markets.

The best way to find it is to head to the Hoan Kiem Lake. And head north to the old quarter.

In this market you will find a lot of “designer” makes some of them look pretty good too. But a fraction of the price.

The water puppet show.

This isn’t something  I saw personally but hear it recommended a lot so it’s on the list.

I believe it tells the story of farmers and a bit about the history of Vietnam and Hanoi.

Staying Safe In Hanoi

Other than traffic you need to be aware of pickpockets. This is like most cities in the world. Nothing to be scared of but something to always be aware of.

I have read stories of people getting phones or cameras stolen out of their hands. Bags slashed. And Holly even got her arse grabbed by a woman not sure if she was checking her back pockets or if it was something else.

But I walked around with my camera and gimbal in most parts of the city. It never got attempted once and the kit isn’t cheap. But the reason why I believe this is the fact gimbal gives me a strong grasp and it’s always got the strap wrapped around my hand.

When it comes to phone wallets and others. I rarely keep it in my pocket. I had it in my cabin zero bag.

This bag is folded down with good straps that you wear front or back facing.

This is it here, again I recommend it and again it’s an affiliate link.

This bag is also waterproof It has been super handy when I went Kayaking in Cat Ba and during rains so my phone and gadgets didn’t get wet. If you want to know more about this bag check out this article: Why We Chose Cabin Zero Backpacks For Travel

Other things we have to keep safe are straps for our phones that attach to cases, and ways to hang them under our shirts.

Annoyingly nothing is unstealable but there are ways to make it harder. When it comes to theft, don’t make it easy, don’t be obvious what you have. As horrible as it seems, just like a bear chasing you. You don’t need to outrun the bear you need to outrun the person next to you.

If you are seen as easy to rob with more monetary value, you are the target. Look guarded and don’t show them what you have…. Says the guy walking around with his camera filming.

If you liked this article about Hanoi you should follow us on YouTube . We are Travelling around Vietnam we have an amazing video where we travel around Hanoi and you will see all the places I’ve talked about in this article and even more!