Hanoi: Old Quarter chaos and egg coffee

Hanoi is loud, cramped and completely absorbing. The Old Quarter's streets were each named for the trade once practised on them, and many still are — a street of tin, a street of shoes, a street of paper offerings — with a million motorbikes threaded through the middle. Most travellers pass through on the way north to the mountains, but the city deserves a couple of days of its own.

Crossing the Road

This genuinely is the first skill to learn. Traffic does not stop for you and there are rarely usable crossings. Step out and walk slowly and predictably, without stopping or sprinting, and the scooters will flow around you. Hesitating in the middle is what causes accidents.

What to See

• The Old Quarter — best explored with no particular plan; the 36 streets each had their own trade
• Hoan Kiem Lake and Ngoc Son Temple — the city's centre of gravity, busiest at dawn with exercise classes
• Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum — the embalmed leader, with a strict dress code, no bags and a fast-moving queue; closed for maintenance for part of the autumn
• Temple of Literature — Vietnam's first university, founded in 1070
• Hoa Lo Prison — the 'Hanoi Hilton', bleak and worth an hour
• Train Street — the tracks running between houses; cafés are periodically closed by police, so check locally rather than turning up
• Water puppet theatre — an hour of a genuinely old northern art form

Where to Eat

• Bun cha — grilled pork in a bowl of broth with noodles and herbs; Hanoi's dish above all others
• Pho — the northern version is clearer and simpler than the southern one, and is a breakfast food
• Ca phe trung — egg coffee, whipped yolk and condensed milk over strong coffee, invented here during a milk shortage
• Banh mi and xoi (sticky rice) from street carts for a very cheap breakfast
• Bia hoi — fresh draught beer on plastic stools, poured daily and costing almost nothing
• Follow the plastic stools: the busiest pavement kitchens are the best ones

Getting Around and Onward

• Grab — bikes and cars, with prices fixed in the app, which avoids negotiating
• Noi Bai Airport is about 45 minutes from the centre
• Sleeper buses and trains run north to Sapa (5-6 hours) and Ha Giang (6-7 hours)
• Ninh Binh is 2 hours south by train or bus, easily a day trip but better as an overnight
• Ha Long Bay cruises leave from the city daily; two-day trips are far better than one

Two nights is enough for the city itself, but build in a spare day: almost every northern trip — Ha Giang, Sapa, Ha Long — starts and ends here, and buses arrive at unsociable hours.