Botanical Gardens
This 50-acre park behind the Presidential Palace was designed by French landscape engineers in 1890 as jardins botaniques. After defeating the French in Hanoi in late 1954, the state repurposed the gardens and opened the grounds and its extensive network of trails to the public. Athletes congregate here for pickup soccer games, badminton, tai chi, and jogging. Lovers looking for seclusion head to the sculpture garden on the east side of the park, or cross the bridge to an island in the middle of the tree-shaded, preternaturally green lake.
