Hanoi - 5 Day Vacation - Day 1 Make Tour Bookings, Old Quarters

Day 1

From Singapore, travelled by Tiger Airways to Hanoi Noi Bai Airport.
Travel time 3.15 hours.

Arrived in Hanoi Airport at about 2pm local time. I went to the Hanoi tourist Information counter to look for a map. They offered me a taxi service to city centre for a flat fare is 690,000 VDN. I'm not sure if it is a limousine service. I did my homework pre-trip and am aware that a normal taxi cost only 315,000 VDN. I didn't take up their offer and went out of the airport and took a normal taxi to Hanoi Old Centre Hotel located in the Old Quarter of Hanoi.

From Noi Bai Airport to the Old Quarter of Hanoi takes about 30 to 45 minutes depending on the traffic. Paid the taxi driver 350,000 VDN as he said he had no small change. It's quite normal in this part of the world, hence it pays to carry some smaller denominations of the local currency.



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Choose this hotel because of its location - near the Hoan Kiem lake as well as plenty of good food choice, activities and shopping in the vicinity. There is also a 24 hour convenience store just a few steps away..

We found out the hotel has a complimentary corner when they offer free drinks and fruits. This is also the corner where we get our drinks and fruits during breakfasts.

We booked the hotel via www.booking.com for USD31 per night. When I checked with the hotel staff, I was told that if we had booked it directly, I would have gotten it for USD26 for the Superior City View.

Hanoi Old Central hotel - Reception Area

Complimentary drinks and fruits throughout the day for the tired hotel guests.

Breakfast Area where meals are freshly cooked based on one's orders.

Another Breakfast Area 

Lobby Area of Hotel

Superior City View Room (photo from hotel website)

Nice Welcome

 After refreshing ourselves, we set out to look for suitable place for lunch. Found a small restaurant and had some local delights.

Dumpling Soup

Mixed Pho (Noodles)

We next set off to book our day tours. Earlier, I found from tripadvisor that Adventure Indochina Travel (1 Hang Buom Street, Hanoi, Vietnam) is one of those which had many good reviews. So we walk to look for it. Not too difficult to find it.


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The service was indeed very good. We were greeted by Mr Hai and Paul, we went in to see about a trip to Halong Bay, we were given great information and lots of choices as to which trips would suit us best. Paul explained everything thoroughly, even some dos and don'ts on tipping during the trips. We bought 2 Day tours which offer better quality services although they are slightly more expensive.

1) Halong Bay One Day tour costs USD24 per person and
2) Hoa Lu - Tam Coc One day tour costs USD22 per person

We then went back to the hotel to rest as the temperature was rather high - about 34 deg C and also humid.

For dinner, we had something special .. Vietnamese of course .. at Blue Butterfly Restaurant, 61 Hang Buom.

Quaint and narrow with tasteful deco

Mixed Veges Vietnamese style

Fried Rice

Grilled Fish 

And demo on how to wrap ingredients with rice paper

Total cost of this meal is 260,000 VND ( about USD 13)

Places to go in Hanoi. See this useful link.

Day 2