Hanoi Trip – December 2013

I spent 3 days traveling around in this beautiful city in Vietnam, Hanoi. I am impressed with Hanoi. It was December, and the weather was nice, about 17C / 59F – 20C / 68F, probably a bit dry for people from tropical Asia, but friendlier for somebody from non-tropical regions.

I think I spent around US$10 for my transportation during this trip, exclude meals, the transport back to the airport, and hotels. I mostly walked and took several buses in Hanoi. I knew I can walk in Hanoi’s weather, and it’s proven to be a very good decision.

Traveling from Noi Bai Airport to Hanoi’s city center by public bus

Noi Bai Airport is around 30km away from Hanoi’s city center. Just for orientation purpose, I consider the Hoan Kiem Lake as Hanoi’s city center / downtown.

There are two public buses serving the route to / from Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport. Bus No. 17 (Noi Bai Airport – Long Bien Terminal), and Bus No. 7 (Noi Bai Airport – Cau Giay Terminal). Bus fare of these two buses are different than any regular public buses in Hanoi. It costs VND7,000, instead of the regular bus fare VND5,000. All public buses in Hanoi has a uniformed color, red-white-yellow.

Public bus in Hanoi. (Source: vtc.vn)

You can find public bus at Noi Bai airport at the right corner from the airport exit gate. I recorded a video to show the direction to the Noi Bai Airport’s bus terminal. This video also provides you with hints on how to pay the bus ticket / pay to the bus “conductor”, and a stop button in the bus.

Above video is showing the trip from Noi Bai airport to Long Bien terminal with bus No. 17. Please bear in mind, this airport bus is only the first step to the city center. Perhaps, you need to change bus to reach your final destination in Hanoi. So other than learning how to get into the bus at the airport, you also need to learn a bit about public bus routes and numbers in Hanoi, which is not too difficult if you are using google maps to see the direction.

Note:

  1. There are some reviews mentioning the bus asking for more money if you bring heavy or big space consuming bags. So be careful about this. If you bring big heavy bags, you may consider a taxi from the airport.
  2. Experience may differ from what you see in the video. It should be taken as an individual case, although I made that video based on several different buses in Hanoi. One thing that may distinguish my experience is because I am Asian, I look like any ordinary Vietnamese. Perhaps, they thought I am Vietnamese and did not bother to ask me too much. I think this should be taken into consideration, because I don’t want to generalise Vietnamese bus attitude towards the foreign visitors. So, please read more reviews to prepare your trip.

Alternative Transport from Noi Bai Airport

There is taxi service at the airport. In fact, once you come at the airport lobby, some taxi drivers may surround you. Taxi drivers who aggressively offer you a ride at the airport lobby are most likely taxi touts, because branded taxis has their own line outside the airport exit. There is a widely recommended taxi service in Hanoi, named Mai Linh taxi, which taxi has a distinctive white-green color. Other good taxi services are Hanoi Taxi and XP taxi. These taxis have their  specific parking/waiting slot on the road in front of the airport exit gate. Taxi fare is written in an information board at that parking slot. For further information about Hanoi’s taxi, please read other reviews. I didn’t take many taxi during my stay in Hanoi.

Public bus fare in Hanoi

There two kind of bus fare in Hanoi:

  1. Bus from / to Airport (No. 7 and No. 17): VND7,000
  2. Bus in the city: VND5,000

Paying the bus ticket

  1. You pay the bus ticket to a bus “conductor” or the bus ticketman. He should be easily identified because he wears a grey blueish uniform.
  2. Pay with local currency, with exact amount, or slightly above the rate.

Measuring Distance on a Bus Ride and Determining Where to Stop

This is one of the most challenging aspects when you take a bus in Hanoi. Simply because most of the signs are written in Vietnamese. These are the tricks I used:

  1. Counting stops: Find an internet connection and check your google maps. Build a public bus direction and see how many stops a bus takes to go to your destination(s).
  2. Identifying landmarks: Some of the touristic sites in Hanoi are big in term of size and clearly visible from the road. You can use them as your orientations to determine your direction. You can also use other places you are familiar with as orientations to determine where you should stop/go. Examples:  Lenin statue is near Flag Tower, and they are near the Imperial Citadel;  Ly Thai Tho statue is facing towards the Tortoise Temple; Thai Long Water Puppet Theater is across the Ngoc Son Temple; Temple of Literature is a few walks away from the KFC Nguyen Thai Hoc. Oh yes, I used KFC (Kenctucky Fried Chicken) as my orientation. If I am lost, I can eat and check my maps. :p

Bus stops in Hanoi

Bus stops are where you pick up or drop off a bus. Hanoi’s buses are pretty neat in picking and dropping their passengers, although they are known for being hasty when closing the door. There are three kind of bus stops in Hanoi:

  1. Main bus stop / transits terminal: Bo Ho, Cau Giay, Long Bien.
  2. Bus stop with seats
  3. Bus stop with sign without seats (most common)

A big bus transit terminal at Long Bien (Source: http://tinmoi.vn)

Bus stop with sign and seat in Hanoi (Source: http://www.cpv.org.vn)

Bus stop with only a sign without waiting seat.

Bus ticket in Hanoi

This is the ticket that will be given by the bus conductor after you pay the bus fare to him.

Hanoi’s bus ticket (Source: tripadvisor).

How to get off a bus (the stop button)

Every bus in Hanoi will stop at each bus stop it passes by. But in case it misses the bus stop, or you want to alarm the driver to stop at the next stop, there is a red button in Hanoi’s buses which you can push to indicate that you want the bus to stop.

Stop button on Hanoi’s bus – red arrows.

Stop button on Hanoi’s buses.

Changing buses in main terminal in Hanoi

Main terminal in Hanoi such as Long Bien and Cau Giay consists of several bus stops. One thing you need to prepare is knowing the route or number of your next (connecting) bus. You can check the bus’ number on the information signs and wait near it. For visual guidance you can check the video above.

A route suggestion on traveling around in Hanoi:

Suggested trip around Hanoi, Vietnam. (Click to see more detail in Google maps).

Suggested trip around Hanoi, Vietnam. (Click to see more detail in Google maps).

or click here to see the details of this map in Google maps.

Main attractions in Hanoi

  1. Hoan Kiem Lake (Lake of Restored Sword): Tortoise Tower, Ngoc Son Temple and its Red Bridge, Ly Thai To statue, Thang Long Water Puppet, Bo Ho roundabout (the later sites are located around Hoan Kiem Lake).
  2. Ho Chi Minh complex in Hanoi: Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Presidential Palace, botanical garden, HCM cars exhibition and old residence, one pillar pagoda, ancient house and temple of goddess of mercy, HCM Museum (the later sites can be seen inside the HCM complex / botanical garden).
  3. Temple of Literature.
  4. Flag Tower, Lenin Park, and Imperial Citadel (these three sites are located side-by-side)
  5. Hoa Lo Prison Museum.
  6. Vietnam Women Museum.

Other routes / sites:

  1. Street vendors in Old Quarter.
  2. Long Bien Bridge.

Good restaurants / cafes:

  1. Quan An Ngon (Vietnamese food. Phew… you should go here. The most crowded restaurant in Hanoi).
  2. Bun Bo Nam Bo (reasonably priced Vietnamese food, on 67 Hàng Điếu street).
  3. City View Cafe (bar with city and lake view).
  4. Thuy Ta Cafe (cafe, coffee, beer, lake-side cafe).
  5. The Hanoi Social Club (coffee and meal).
  6. KFC Bo Ho (well… it’s KFC, but it has terrace seats with a good view).

That’s all folks. Don’t forget to send your comments, and I wish you a nice trip in Hanoi.

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