Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, is famous for its ancient and peaceful beauty with long time history, rich traditional culture and friendly people. Therefore, it is not the first time Hanoi stands in the top ten most attractive destinations in Asia as well as the world voted by Tripadvisor or Us Travel & Leisure Magazine.

Once upon a time, Hanoi had the name Thang Long, which means flying dragon. Its name originated from the legend of Thang long foundation as King Ly Cong Uan made decision to move the capital from Hoa Lu, Ninh Binh to this land. Then he saw a dragon flying in the sky so he named the new capital Thang Long. Thang Long experienced the up and down of five dynasties then has the name Hanoi since 1831 under King Minh Mang’s time.

Nowadays, there are still a lot of old houses and historical sites inside Hanoi City for you to explore. If you firstly come to this city, you cannot miss the main beautiful sightseeing and relics such as Hoan Kiem Lake- the  most unique lake with turtles in city center, Hanoi Imperial Citadel, the remaining relics of the destructed forbidden city, the Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam (Temple of Literature) - Viet Nam's first university, the mausoleum of President Ho Chi Minh, who was recognised as a world cultural celebrity by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1990, his house on stilt where he lived and worked during the last years of his life.

Uncle Ho - The great father of Vietnam People



A great number of museums, including Museum of History, Revolutionary Museum, Military Museum and Museum of Ethnology, lead you from the founding days of Vietnam throughout various wars against foreign invaders.

If you want to find out the daily life of Hanoian, come to the old quarter of Hanoi. By Xich lo or bikes, you will see ancient houses on busy streets. How appealing these streets are. Old quarter has been the streets of commerce for hundreds of years, where the narrow streets are roughly arranged by trade such as Hang Ma (paper product), Hang Thiec (iron product), Hang Bun (noodle) and so on. At present, many streets in old quarter have changed their products, for example Thuoc Bac (i.e. herb) street sells building material in stead of herb.

 

Autumn (September to early November) is the best time to visit Hanoi. This season brings Hanoi a mild and gentle atmosphere with breeze, yellow leaves on almost all streets and various flowers decorated everywhere.

Though fast developing of economy, Hanoi still keeps its own characteristics that makes who has come here once will return more and more. Hope that Hanoi will be your love one day as you decide to come here.