Hanoi's Old Quarter: A Thousand Years of Street Life

Hanoi's Old Quarter — the 36 Streets — was established in the 13th century as a trading district outside the walls of the Imperial Citadel, and the streets were named for the guilds that occupied them: Hang Bac (Silver Street), Hang Gai (Silk Street), Hang Duong (Sugar Street). The trades have changed — Hang Bac now sells jewellery rather than silver, Hang Gai sells silk and embroidery — but the street plan and many of the buildings date from the 19th century, and the district retains a character that the rest of Hanoi has largely lost to development.

The street food of Hanoi is among the finest in Vietnam — a cuisine of extraordinary delicacy and variety that is quite different from the food of the south. Pho bo (beef noodle soup), bun cha (grilled pork with rice noodles and herbs), banh mi (baguette sandwiches filled with pâté, pickled vegetables, and coriander), and cha ca (turmeric-marinated fish with dill and spring onions) are the classics, and the best versions of all of them are found in the Old Quarter, served from tiny restaurants that have been in the same family for generations.

The Hoan Kiem Lake, at the southern edge of the Old Quarter, is the social heart of Hanoi — a lake of extraordinary beauty in the middle of the city, with the Ngoc Son Temple on a small island connected to the shore by a red wooden bridge. On weekend mornings, the streets around the lake are closed to traffic and the entire city seems to gather there — for tai chi, for badminton, for the morning walk that is as much a social ritual as a form of exercise.

The Temple of Literature (Van Mieu), founded in 1070 as Vietnam's first university, is the finest example of traditional Vietnamese architecture in Hanoi — a complex of five courtyards, pavilions, and gardens that has been continuously maintained for nearly a thousand years. The stone stelae in the third courtyard, inscribed with the names of doctoral graduates from the 15th to 18th centuries, are among the most important historical documents in Vietnam.

The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, where the embalmed body of Vietnam's revolutionary leader lies in state, is one of the most visited sites in Hanoi — a place of genuine pilgrimage for Vietnamese visitors and a fascinating window into the country's political culture for foreign ones. The queue to enter can be long, and the dress code (no shorts, no sleeveless tops) is strictly enforced. The adjacent Ho Chi Minh Museum and the One Pillar Pagoda are worth visiting in the same trip.

The Dong Xuan Market, at the northern end of the Old Quarter, is Hanoi's largest covered market — a four-storey building of wholesale and retail stalls selling everything from fresh produce to plastic toys to silk fabric. The ground floor food section, where the vendors sell pho, bun bo, and banh cuon (steamed rice rolls) from early morning, is one of the finest places to eat breakfast in Hanoi.

The best time to visit Hanoi is from October to April, when the weather is cool and dry. The summer months (June to August) are hot and humid, with temperatures regularly exceeding 35°C and occasional typhoons. The spring months of March and April bring a fine drizzle — the crachin — that gives the city a soft, atmospheric quality but can make outdoor sightseeing uncomfortable. The Tet festival (Vietnamese New Year, usually in late January or early February) is the finest time to experience Vietnamese culture but the worst time to travel, as the country shuts down for a week.

The water puppet theatre (Mua Roi Nuoc) is one of Hanoi's most distinctive cultural experiences — a 1,000-year-old art form in which wooden puppets are manipulated by puppeteers standing waist-deep in water behind a bamboo screen, performing scenes from Vietnamese mythology and rural life to the accompaniment of a traditional orchestra. The Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre, on the shore of Hoan Kiem Lake, gives performances several times daily and is one of the finest traditional arts experiences in Southeast Asia.

The villages around Hanoi offer some of the finest craft experiences in Vietnam. Bat Trang, 13 kilometres southeast of the city, has been producing ceramics for 600 years and the village's workshops and showrooms sell everything from simple rice bowls to elaborate hand-painted vases. Van Phuc, 10 kilometres southwest, is the finest silk weaving village in Vietnam, and the workshops where the silk is woven on traditional looms are open to visitors. Both villages are accessible by local bus from the Long Bien bus station.

Practical tips for Hanoi: the traffic in the Old Quarter is one of the most intense in Southeast Asia, and crossing the street requires the technique of walking slowly and steadily into the flow of motorbikes, which will part around you. The xe om (motorbike taxi) and the Grab app (the Southeast Asian equivalent of Uber) are the most practical ways to get around the city. The street food is best eaten at the plastic-stool restaurants that line the pavements of the Old Quarter — look for the places with the longest queues of local customers.