Red River Delta in Viet Nam: A Good Idea for a Day Trip from Hanoi?
 

With only 3 full days planned in Hanoi in early January, our plans (designed by a local travel agent) include a full day day trip to the Red River Delta area. It sounds interesting, but I've also heard how great Hanoi is so we might just want to stay put. If you've visited this area, I'd be interested in your opinion.
Thanks.

hi! i live in Hanoi. you want visit Hanoi city or red river (like agriculture, river...) ?

I haven't visited that area, but I've been to Hanoi three times, and three days sounds very short to me. I'd stay put.

Depends on what you want out of your visit in to Hanoi. Like Thursdays, I consider 3 days in Hanoi too short to even see the major things in the city. Travel agents are renowned for scheduling you with so many things there is no time to wander and discover. We spent a week in Hanoi and never ran out of things to do/see/experience.

To present another answer, we loved our time outside of the city in the Red River delta. It will give you a completely different perspective on the area and Vietnam. What exactly is the agent proposing you spend your time doing? Is the agent talking about the Tam Coc area or what?

Get up early in Hanoi, like 5 am and go to the Hoam Kiem Lake (I think that's the spelling). So many locals are going through their exercise programs. I absolutely loved it because ANY movement of your body constitutes an exercise program in Hanoi. I loved seeing a huge line of about 30 mature ladies slapping each other on the back, then turning around and repeating on someone else. I loved the ballroom dancing exercise sessions. No form of body movement is considered too embarrassing to do.

Thank you all for your thoughtful responses. I'm always inclined to spend time exploring a city rather than go on an excursion, but there seems to be compelling reasons for going to the Delta as well. Dat_Hoang- thank you for your suggested itinerary (it doesn't look like what was planned for us), and the link to your blog, which I am enjoying and I'm sure will be helpful to us as we plan our trip.

Here's how our day trip is planned: 1) Duong Lam village of the Northern Red River delta, where we will visit the Mong Phy hamlet. Visit Mia Pagoda and visit ancient houses of Mr. Hung (?). Then Ngo Quyen temple and Phung Hung temple.

Julies and Dat Hoang - I'd be interested in your opinions of this plan.

A footnote to my query - we actually have four full days in Hanoi plus a morning (up until 11:30a) before we catch a flight out.