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RTW Trip Day #18: Good Morning Vietnam: Exploring Hanoi’s Old and French Quarters
- andrewsco3
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
16 October 2025
Steps: 11,168
Today was our first day exploring Hanoi, and we caught a taxi to Hoàn Kiếm Lake in the Old Quarter of Hanoi as the taxi's are so cheap here. It cost about $8 CAD for a 1 hour taxi ride using the Grab app. I still can't get over the traffic here, it's quite literally madness.
Hanoi's Old Quarter
First order of business was to find a place for breakfast, as we hadn't eaten anything before setting off in the taxi. We found this cute little place called Hanoi Coffee Culture that was tucked away along one of Hanoi's old streets.
I tried my first egg coffee and it was delicious. I got an iced version and it tasted a bit like a tiramisu! Me, Susie and Evelyn all got an English breakfast with bacon and eggs (a nice change) and Jess got a fruit and granola bowl.
Just look at how pretty the restaurant was, with a lovely shabby chic decor and Vietnam flags everywhere!
After breakfast we headed to a large indoor market called Dong Xuan Market, which was huge. It sold pretty much anything you could dream of but is definitely not what I would call an organized market!
We spent a few hours just walking around the old streets, looking at various souvenir shops and clothing store, and stopping for a smoothie along the way. Everything is so cheap here - it worked out to be around $7 for 4 smoothies.
As we were ordering our drinks the heavens opened and it started belting it down with rain. You get proper rain here! We sat and waited it out before heading towards Hoàn Kiếm Lake and the French Quarter.
Hoàn Kiếm Lake & Ngoc Son Temple
Ngoc Son temple is the iconic temple that sits in the middle of Hoàn Kiếm Lake, and is connected to the mainland by a beautiful red bridge. Inside, there were ornate altars filled with offerings of fruit, flowers, and incense, which is apparently a sign of how deeply locals still honour these figures this temple honors. From the back of the temple, there are lovely views across Hoàn Kiếm Lake
Continue walking along the lake in the direction of the French quarter and you will get some great views of Turtle Tower, that sits in the middle of Hoàn Kiếm Lake.
The French Quarter & Obama Bun Cha
The French Quarter feels very different from the Old Quarter of Hanoi. The buildings have a clear French influence, with wide tree-lined boulevards and elegant colonial architecture that feels more like Paris than the bustling maze of streets in the Old Quarter.
There are plenty of leafy parks and open spaces, and the area has a more refined, upmarket feel with luxury hotels, designer stores like Gucci, and embassy buildings.
Yet it still holds onto that old-world charm that makes Hanoi so special - crumbling façades and small local cafés. We came across a building that looked like it was almost falling down, with trees growing out of the roof and roots hanging through the ceiling, so we had to go in and see what it was all about. Inside was a simple little coffee bar with a short menu, a few people reading or working on their laptops, and a calm atmosphere that just felt perfect.
The French Quarter is also where you’ll find Bún Chả Hương Liên, which is often referred to as “Obama Bún Chả”. It's actually a pretty unassuming spot that shot to fame when President Obama and Anthony Bourdain ate here in 2016. The restaurant is still proudly decorated with photos of that visit, and their signature dish of bun cha (grilled pork and noodles served with herbs and dipping sauce) was really good!.
We took the hour-long taxi ride back to the hotel and decided that tomorrow would be a homeschooling day followed by some fun for the kids at the mall. We weren’t sure we could face another long drive back into central Hanoi, especially knowing we’d be doing it all again the next day to catch our train to Ninh Binh.
Previous Day #17: Arriving in Vietnam and our First Hot Pot
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