Lake · Hoàn Kiếm, Hanoi
Hoàn Kiếm Lake
Hoàn Kiếm Lake (Hồ Gươm) is the lake in Hoàn Kiếm ward in central Hanoi, with Ngọc Sơn Temple on an island at its northern side.
0 km in a straight line
Vietnam•City
Hanoi
Hanoi (Hà Nội) is the capital of Vietnam; Vietnam's national tourism board describes it as founded over 1,000 years ago. XTOUR maps the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, Hoàn Kiếm Lake, the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Hỏa Lò, Saint Joseph Cathedral and the city's national museums at their places in the city.
Country
Vietnam
Type
City
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Church · Hoàn Kiếm, Hanoi
St. Joseph's Cathedral, Hanoi
Saint Joseph Cathedral (Nhà thờ Lớn) is the Catholic cathedral at 40 Nhà Chung Street in Hanoi's Hoàn Kiếm ward.
1 km in a straight line
Museum · Cửa Nam, Hanoi
Hỏa Lò Prison Relic
The Hỏa Lò Prison Relic at 1 Hỏa Lò Street in Hanoi's Cửa Nam ward is the preserved part of the prison the French built in 1896, kept as a historical relic with permanent exhibitions.
1 km in a straight line
Historic site · Ba Đình, Hanoi
Imperial Citadel of Thang Long
The Imperial Citadel of Thang Long is the heritage area of the former imperial citadel at 19C Hoàng Diệu in Hanoi's Ba Đình ward, where excavations exposed remains from the 7th century to the Nguyễn dynasty.
2 km in a straight line
Gallery · Ba Đình, Hanoi
Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts
The Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts (Bảo tàng Mỹ thuật Việt Nam) is the national art museum in Hanoi's Ba Đình ward, founded in 1966.
2 km in a straight line
Monument · Ba Đình, Hanoi
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (Lăng Chủ tịch Hồ Chí Minh) at 1 Hùng Vương Street in Hanoi's Ba Đình ward is the mausoleum built from 1973 to 1975 to house the embalmed body of President Hồ Chí Minh.
2 km in a straight line
Explore deeper
Guides to Hanoi
11 guides
Travel Guide01
Visiting the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long: ticket, rules and what the centre's pages disagree on
The Imperial Citadel of Thang Long in central Hanoi is run by the Thang Long – Hanoi Heritage Conservation Centre, whose own pages set the fee, the reductions and the visitor rules. This guide sets out what those pages say, where they contradict each other, and what changed when reconstruction of Kính Thiên Palace began in September 2026.
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Travel Guide02
Temple of Literature (Văn Miếu – Quốc Tử Giám): layout, tickets and the night tour
Hanoi's Temple of Literature is run by a city centre whose website sets out the daytime ticket, the reduced and free categories, the entrance and exit gates, the site plan and a separately ticketed night tour. This guide explains what each part of the site is, what those pages say, and where the Vietnamese and English versions differ.
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Useful from Hanoi
Travel Guide01
Cổ Loa citadel: what its heritage managers describe, and what a visit involves
Cổ Loa, the earthwork citadel attributed to King An Dương Vương of Âu Lạc, lies in Hà Nội north of the city centre and is managed by a board under the Thang Long – Hanoi Heritage Conservation Centre. This guide sets out what the centre and the board say the site is, where they separate legend from evidence, and what the board's visitor page says about tickets and access.
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Travel Guide02
The Gióng festival at Phù Đổng and Sóc temples: two festivals, one hero
The Gióng festival, inscribed by UNESCO in 2010, is held at two temples in outer Hà Nội: Sóc, where the hero is said to have risen to heaven, in the first lunar month, and Phù Đổng, his birthplace, in the fourth. This article explains how the two differ, what the nomination file says happens at each, and what XTOUR cannot give you, starting with this year's Gregorian dates.
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Travel Guide03
Tết Nguyên Đán: the holiday rule, the 2027 dates and what official bodies tell travellers
Tết, the Lunar New Year, is Vietnam's main holiday, and its length is set in two steps: the Labour Code fixes five days, and the government chooses the actual days each year. This article sets out that rule, the 2027 holiday the government approved on 2 October 2026, and what the national tourism authority tells visitors to expect.
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Travel Guide04
Vietnam's 2025 province mergers: why heritage sites changed their addresses
In 2025 Vietnam cut its provinces to 34 and moved to two levels of local government, so heritage sites now give addresses that look wrong next to older pages: Hội An in Đà Nẵng, Phong Nha in Quảng Trị, wards where there used to be districts. This article shows what the official pages say, old and new, and what XTOUR does and does not infer from them.
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Travel Guide05
Vietnam's intangible heritage: what UNESCO lists, and what it does not
UNESCO's intangible heritage page for Viet Nam lists 17 inscribed elements, three of them on the Urgent Safeguarding List. This article sets out each one as UNESCO describes it, which nominations are only pending, and why water puppetry is not on the list.
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Travel Guide06
Vietnam's seasons by region: north, centre and south, as official sources state them
Vietnam does not have one rainy season. The national tourism authority's month bands and the national hydro-meteorological forecasting centre's bulletins together show a north with a cold, drizzly winter, a central coast whose main rains come in autumn, and a south with a rainy season through the middle of the year. This article sets out what each body says, where they differ, and where official forecasts and storm warnings are published.
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Travel Guide07
Vietnam travel guide: where to base yourself
XTOUR plans Vietnam around the cities and towns you sleep in: Hanoi in the north, Hue and Hoi An or Da Nang in the centre, Ho Chi Minh City in the south, with Ha Long, Phong Nha and the Ninh Binh sites reached from a base. This guide says what each base is for, which sites linked to a base lie outside it, where official pages still use pre-2025 place names, and which XTOUR guide takes over.
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Travel Guide08
Vietnam's World Heritage sites: what XTOUR can source from official pages
UNESCO's own list pages refused XTOUR's requests, so this article is built from what each site's managing body and the Thăng Long heritage centre say about recognition. It covers seven properties with readable official pages, names the ones XTOUR could not source, and notes where official pages disagree.
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Travel Guide09
Chùa, đền, đình, miếu, lăng: Vietnamese heritage words as official bodies use them
Vietnamese heritage signs name a building by what it is for: who is worshipped there, which community gathers in it, whose remains it holds. This article explains chùa, đền, đình, miếu, phủ, hội quán, nhà thờ họ, lăng and Văn Miếu from the way Vietnamese heritage bodies use them on their own pages, including the cases where a name misleads.
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Destination information last verified: October 11, 2026
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