Hanoi - can this be done in one day?
 

We are planning our time in Vietnam and want to make sure we have plenty of time and are not rushed. This is what the private guided tour is recommending. Is this possible? Are the musuems really small? Trying to figure out if we should add another day. They say no.

Ho Chi Minh Complex, mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, the Presidential Palace and the Ho Chi Minh’s house on stilts. One Pillar Pagoda, Temple of Literature, the Fine Art Museum, Ethnologic Museum, West Lake, History Museum, lake of Hoan Kiem.

All in one day? Sounds awful. Slow down, take your time. I'm sure they could drive you from place to place in that time, but you wouldn't have time to experience and enjoy. I would also not bother with a private guided tour. Decide which places you want to see, and you can get a taxi from place to place. It's easy and cheap. You don't need a guide in Hanoi, but you do need more time.

Kathie is SO right! Hanoi is worth all the time you can give it. Especially walking or cyclo-riding through the Old Quarter. It's fantastic! Aren't you going to have a silk dress custom-fitted (at a fraction of the cost elsewhere)? Aren't you going to pop into the many little art galleries and handcraft shops? Aren't you going to see the Water Puppets performance? Where are you going to eat? Chow-down at a hole-in-the-wall Mom-and-Pop place that serves pho -- the national soup dish. Hanoi is ever so much more interesting and fun compared with Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City, if you insist).

Thanks. I thought so. I am not a shopper at all (sorry to offend anyone!!) but I am slow in museums and at cultural sights. They also have the water puppets that night. I will just insist on one more day. Will two days work for the afore mentioned stops? We have 3 nights scheduled, but are arriving day one and going to the Perfume Pagoda one day. Should I book one or two more nights?

Since you were so helpful, I had asked for 4 nights in Siem Reap (one day will be spent on Tonle Sap) and they say we only need 3 nights. Should I insist on going back to 4 nights. I really do appreciate your insight!

Siem Reap is a whole different scene, as you can imagine. Tonle Sap is worth a half day, depending on the weather. When we were there (it was February), we were amazed how hot it was. Spend as much time as you can at Angkor -- it will haunt you for the rest of your life. Go early, come back to your hotel to cool off, and return late in the day when the heat has gone out of the sun. Wait until well after dark to have dinner. Make sure you have a guide who speaks decent, understandable English. That's the one part of our Cambodian trip that I regret we failed to insist upon. He was a pleasant enough person, but we could hardly understand him. See the Killing Fields buildings, the floating villages, the crafts school. There's more there than Angkor Wat.

I don't know where else you are going on this trip, but you might want to re-think your itinerary.

Let me start by saying don't short your time in Siem Reap. I spent a week there, loved every minute. Three days is considered the amount of time it takes to see the so-called major temples. But do visit some of teh smaller temples - often you'll be the only visitors. So I'd insist on 4 nights in Siem Reap.

Two days of sight-seeing in Hanoi is really minimal. )Again, I spent a week.) For instance, the Ethnographic musem is delightful. Don't miss the outdoor exhibit areas where they have brough in villagers from various ethnic groups in VN to build their traditional dwellings. Indoors, there are a number of fascinating exhibits, incuding videos os shamanistic healing rites and traditional marriage ceremonies. I spent half a day there. The History Museum is also wonderful. You could spend half a day there as well. For a really different museum experience, cross the street to the Museum of the Revolution. You'll see the 1960s North Vietnamese propaganda point of view which perceived the "American War" as purely an imperialist war, with no recognition of the Vietnamese people being divided. It's a good counterbalance to the US propaganda of that time. I also enjoyed the Women's Museum. Hanoi has many excelent museums. The Temple of Literature is wonderful. Before or after your trip to that area (the Art Museum is nearby) stop at Koto for lunch or a snack. It's a restaurant where they train street kids in food services. I understand you are not a shopper, but the Handicraft center next door to Koto is a fair-trade store with craft items fram many different ethnic groups in VN.

Also, while your itinerary includes Hoan Kiem, it doesn't look like they have included time to explore the old quarter. You could spend a whole day there and not see it all. We also visited some temples off the toursit track and saw no other non-locals there.

At a minimum, spend another day in Hanoi. You could add several more days and not run out of things to do.

I agree with the other responses - this is far too rushed. The Mausoleum, Presodential Palace & Ho Chi Minh house can all be seen fairly quickly, but exploring Hanoi itself is something you need some time for. We vsited the Temple of Literature as part of a tour and had about 30 minutes - we went back on our free day and spent a couple of hours there. You could easily spend a half day just in the old quarter. If possible I would add 2 days to your stay.

I feel that two days would be enough. Given, that'd be two full days, so depending on your travel arrival and departures from the city, you'd have enough time. A lot of those places you've listed are very close together, so you'd wander from one spot to the next. (if i remember correctly -- we had a driver, so they shuffled us around fairly quickly!)

I just returned from Hanoi and We spent 1.5 days there and this was more than enough. I think you could see all that you want to see in 1 day. If I had more time I'd go to Sapa or Ha Long bay. We saw lot's of photos for Sapa and this looked very interesting. Vietnam is at it's best outside of the cities. We had a big list of things we wanted to see in Hanoi and we ended up cutting it down a little. You'd be surprised how much you can see in one day

I agree that you can "see" a lot in one or two days and will be able to tick a few boxes (saw that, went there) - but a year from now what will you really remember if you don't take time to walk around and observe the little things (like the tai chi practitioners at dawn around Hoan Khiem Lake), absorb the atmosphere, smell the smells, eat the food? I'm surprised by very little these days, but to hear that 1.5 days in a rich city like Hanoi (and obviously I'm not talking money here) is "more than enough" does set me back.

Kathie, I'm sure the current regime recognises that the Vietnamese people were divided. No reason not to: after all, it was the US that sabotaged the proposed 1956 national elections after two years of division and established the puppet regime of the Republic of (south) Vietnam. Everyone at the time knew that Ho Chi Minh would have won a national election hands down.

You need three days to do Hanoi justice and to enjoy yourself.