What to See in Hanoi

The city down south may have his name, but only Hanoi has the man himself, entombed in distinctly Lenin-esque fashion. Against his wishes, but that's how it goes. No talking, revealing clothing (shorts should be knee length and no exposed shoulders), or other signs of disrespect allowed while viewing; photos are allowed only from outside, in the grand Ba Dinh Square.…

This gleaming white museum and its gloriously ham-handed iconography is the perfect chaser to the solemnity of the mausoleum. The building, completed in 1990, is intended to evoke a white lotus. Some photos and old letters are on display on the second floor, but the main exhibition space is on the third floor.…

This prison was built by the French at the turn of the 20th century, in classical French prison design. This is where the French imprisoned and executed Vietnamese freedom fighters.…

This often overlooked museum has recently benefited from an extensive renovation of its permanent exhibitions. The modernised interior is well laid out with information in Vietnamese, English and French, and contains a huge amount of information on the fearsome female heroines of Vietnamese history.…

A pleasant park in the centre of town, an easy walk from anywhere in the Old Quarter. It's the locals' favorite leisure spot, and a great place to watch people practising tai chi in the morning or to sit and read in the afternoon.…

The exit from the mausoleum takes you right into the grounds of the, uh, vestige, where Ho Chi Minh lived and worked from 1954 until his death in 1969. The nicely landscaped complex includes two of Ho Chi Minh's houses, kept shiny and "as he left them" by the authorities, as well as a garage with two of Ho's "used cars" and a carp-filled pond.…

This museum gives a very informed and detailed account of the Vietnamese struggle against first the French (starting in 1858—on the first floor), then against the US, ending on 30 Apr 1975 (on the ground floor). It is housed in a colonial French building which was completed in 1932.…

The park faces Hoan Kiem lake with a beautiful view of the busy Hang Bai St and the serenity of the willows on the bank of the lake. Many locals view this mini-park as their favourite place because it is a symbol of the integration of modernity and tradition.…

Exhibitions cover mainly the culture and ritual practices of the various ethnic groups in the whole of Vietnam. One of the key attractions of the museum is the open-air exhibition, which has houses of some ethnic groups, which even comes with inhabitants in costumes. The museum features actual explanations of the exhibits in Vietnamese, French and English.…

One can always feel the diversity and liveliness of Hanoi there. In the morning, there are low-energy aerobics class for elders and aerobics class for the young in the morning. During the day, one can enjoy the tranquility in the park since everybody is either at work or in school.…

Vietnam's military history extends back some two millennia, and this museum covers it in four buildings. Item descriptions on museum exhibits are in Vietnamese, French, and English. On display outside are the ubiquitous MiG-21 jet fighter, T-54 tank, and many bombs and articles captured in the Indochina and Vietnam wars.…

Only party-approved art is shown here and there is no information in English and only little in Vietnamese. But it is an interesting museum at any rate, with pieces such as the wonderful pictures of soldiers on boats depicted on prehistoric bronze drums, Buddhist art, and revolutionary art of the 20th century wars.…

Until 19 Dec 1972, this was just a small brackish pond just off Hoang Hoa Tham St, about 1 km west of the mausoleum. On that day, in a twisted retelling of the Hoan Kiem legend, Vietnamese anti-aircraft missiles blasted the enemy's eight-engine, 100-ton aircraft and sent it to the shallow bottom of the lake, where it r…

Built as a residence for the Vietnamese king, the citadel was mostly destroyed by the French, used as a military headquarters during the Vietnam War and nowadays it is described on the UNESCO World Heritage list as "Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long - Hanoi".

Time: the 12th to the 13th day of the second lunar month. Objects of worship: Bach Ma God (the symbol of the sun god), Long Do God ("the god who defends the east"), confer a title of "Thang Long Capital of Nation royal tutelary god". Xuan Nguu presenting rite.

The Temple of Literature was founded in 1070 and established as the country's first university six years later. The courtyard features stone tablets, each mounted on the back of a tortoise, inscribed with the names of graduates.

A stone plaque commemorating the shooting down of a US Navy (not "USAF" as depicted) aircraft in 1967. Read the Vietnamese script and you can pick out the name of John McCain, now a US Senator, one of the airmen.

There's a UH-1 helicopter, Soviet-built MiG fighters, a huge Mi-6 helicopter and other aircraft. Unfortunately they've been exposed to the elements for some time and local children climb over them.

Extends out into the lake, with small but attractive grounds, displays on Vietnamese history and, more memorably, displays on the giant turtles, including a mummified specimen.

Visitors find this either charming and lovely or utterly pointless, depending on how many tour groups are crammed into the small grounds at the time of their visit.

Mostly a residential hub of the well-to-do. Hotel Intercontinental and Hanoi Sheraton are on this lake front.

This is a collection from Vietnamese history from about 1,000 years back until 1945. Many antiques.