hi all.
i have three days in hanoi.1 day is taken up as part of tour package seeing usual sights. other two days and nights are free. any suggestions.
thanks

What time of year is this trip and where are you staying? Also am not sure what is included in your day tour. Lastly what are your interests?

hi mjs,
we will be there mid may.
thru tour we will see ,temple of literature,ngoc son temple,walk around lakehoan kiem andvisit vietnam museum of ethnology.

oops left out interests. architecture,live music,interesting streets,looking over the fence

I was surprised that the puppet show was actually entertaining.

Loved the chả c� thăng long at Cha Ca La Vong restaurant on "cha ca street". At least, I think that is the dish I had. But maybe it was chả c� l� vọng, given that was the name of the place. The fish sauce was sooo good.

Go on a food tour with a local. Our guide was a college student who wanted to improve her English. She asked us so many questions about the US.
We loved Hanoi. Go to Pho24 for a quick meal.
Have Vietnamese crepes at another restaurant. The French influence is there after years of occupation.
Go spend a night on a small junk in Halong Bay. We wished we could have spent a second night.

Head for Don Juan market to the north of the old quarter. The Vietnames Military Museum is worth a look and is sort of on the way to The Ho Chi Minh complex which includes the great man's mausoleum, his Stilt House etc. The Vietnamese Womens Museum is one of the better museums. St Josephs Cathedral is worth a walk by and there are some nice restaurants around there - have a coffee at Cong Caphe and watch the world go by. Haven't got time to list all of our favourite restaurants in the city. Pho Bo is the signature Hanoi dish but avoid the chain pho places like Pho 24 etc. . Have Bia Hoi (fresh Beer) at beer corner with a few "unusual " bar snacks.Three days is no time at all - it is a hugely engaging and manic city. Some photos and detail from one of our many visits there on our blog @ https://accidentalnomads.com/2014/12...ray-for-hanoi/

Loved the chả c� thăng long at Cha Ca La Vong restaurant on "cha ca street
Not that good compared with the best at 107 Nguy�n Truong Tho

Go early morning to the Dong Xuan Central Market. The Museum of the Military History of Vietnam, with its Vauban Tower (go on top for beautiful view of Hanoi), is very interesting. You also have on the south edge of H� T�y Lake the very old Tran Quoc Pagoda and the nearby Quan Than Temple.

Coffee at the train street is an ideal. But you should be very careful when the train pass by.

It is no longer allowed to walk alongside Train Street

We had a great time on this street food tour: Hanoi street food tour by walking, street food walking tours, hanoi food on foot tour, street food walking tour Hanoi, Hanoi food walking tour. Our guide was lively and funny and we really enjoyed ourselves. We booked a group tour but were with just one other couple.

You alked AROUND in the little streets, but, before, you could walk alongside the railways and it has been prohibitedyears ago to protect the people' privacy (because you could see inside the back of every house)

The Train street was off limits in December and we were told that tourists misbehaving and the possibility of injury or death is what closed the Street train from tourism. Understand it has reopened as of January. We enjoyed a street food tour. The Ho Chi Minh mausoleum was closed when we were visiting. Reminds me just a little bit of Red Square. The Museum of ethnology, the Hoa Lo prison and the Old Quarter were all interesting.