Day One in Hanoi: Tired, Hungry, and Wide-Eyed in the Old Quarter

We landed in Hanoi at 12:45 a.m. By the time we reached our hotel in the Old Quarter, it was around two. A sensible couple might then have slept for a respectable number of hours. We managed about three before excitement, hunger and the need for coffee reopened negotiations.

This is the diary of our first day in April 2025: a rather ambitious introduction to Hanoi on a very small sleep allowance.

Breakfast before the batteries were fully charged

Outside the hotel, a vegetable market was already doing a convincing impression of a place that had been awake for hours. Fresh produce, movement and unfamiliar smells gave us plenty to take in. Our stomachs, meanwhile, had a much simpler list of priorities.

We found a stall selling bánh mì. The sandwiches were welcome, even if the strong coffee I had imagined did not materialise there. Breakfast had begun. Full operating capacity remained some distance away.

Hoan Kiem Lake and Ngoc Son Temple

We headed towards Hoan Kiem Lake and visited Ngoc Son Temple. The quieter setting was a welcome contrast to the streets, though neither the scenery nor our enthusiasm could entirely disguise how tired we were. I ached, and Lizz felt dizzy.

A little context makes the visit more interesting: Ngoc Son stands on a small island linked to the lakeshore by the red The Huc Bridge. It honours figures including the scholar Van Xuong and the military leader Tran Hung Dao. Vietnam Tourism’s introduction to the temple explains more about this landmark at the heart of Hanoi.

Our own immediate contribution to understanding the city was discovering that three hours of sleep does not become eight simply because you are pleased to be on holiday.

The cathedral—and something more substantial to eat

We still wanted to see St Joseph’s Cathedral. Nearby, we found phở, spring rolls and a cold Hanoi beer. After the flight, the short night and the morning walk, sitting down with a proper meal was a particularly agreeable form of sightseeing.

Finding somewhere to change money proved less successful. We went round in circles looking for a good rate and eventually accepted one worse than the airport bank’s. My internal compass and my financial judgement appeared to be sharing the same exhausted battery.

We considered a taxi and somehow kept walking instead. Looking back, this was not our finest demonstration of pacing ourselves.

Train Street: the train arrived; our camera skills did not

Back at the hotel, a rest would have been the obvious next step. Curiosity won. We went to Train Street, bought drinks we considered overpriced, and waited for a train to pass through the narrow space between the buildings.

The noise and closeness made quite an impression. We both tried to record it and pressed the wrong controls on our phones. The train completed its part perfectly. We had failed the filming assessment.

That is a memory of our visit, rather than a recommendation to stand beside an active railway. Access arrangements can change. Follow barriers and staff instructions, keep clear of the tracks, and do not rely on a timetable copied from an old blog post. The national tourism authority has reported on safety concerns and proposed changes around the railway café area.

At last, a sensible appointment with the bed

By the end of the day, we had used up the energy we possessed and quite a bit we had apparently borrowed. It was time to sleep. Hanoi had given us a busy welcome; tomorrow, we hoped to greet it with functioning legs and a better grasp of our phone buttons.

Continue with Day Two in Hanoi: Pagodas, History and a Train Rush. For the wider journey, browse our Travel Diaries.