Ha Noi, Vietnam, 2026

Travel Dates: February 21th - February 26th

Our trip to Vietnam began in Hanoi. Our flight from rom MSP → Korea in-flight took 14 hours. Then from Korea → Hanoi in-flight took 5 hours. For this trip we exclusively watched It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia for the entire journey. It was glorious. The actual flights were just fine, unremarkable, which is good for flying, I suppose. We arrived in Hanoi in the evening, so we were able to go to sleep and wake up refreshed for out first day in Hanoi.

Photography gear taken on this trip

  • OM System OM-1 (x2)
    • with the 12-100mm f4
      • I used this lens the most, by far. It is incredibly versatile for most day-time shooting and I'm rather happy with its price-to-performance-to-size ratio.
    • the 17mm f2.8 mark I
      • Used very seldom on this trip, but a bright prime is an always-pack type of lens
    • the 9-18mm f4-5.6 mark I
      • I don't think I used this lens once on this trip. The 12mm of the 12-100 ended up suiting my needs just fine. Perhaps while at train street I would have benefited from the extra-wide end of this lens, but I didn't take it with me that day.
    • and the 75-300mm f4.8-6.7
      • This lens was only used one day to capture the beautiful red-shanked langurs in my Da Nang post

Gear takeaways from this trip

On this trip, I learned that:

  • The 75-300mm is very capable for wildlife that is not-too-distant. I would not bring it if birds were at all a realistic opportunity wherever I'm going. For Vietnam, I knew that birds or smaller wildlife were not going to be a primary interest, so I was okay leaving the heavier/larger 100-400mm f5-6.3 at home.
  • The 12-100mm f4 is seriously great for any city-based travel adventure or for hiking/landscapes. Its reputation is absolutely justified. I could easily take this plus a fast (f1.* for low-light) prime lens and I'd be good. The problem, as always, is making that decision to pack that light. Easier said than done

Below are my favorite image captures from the trip.

On our first day we stumbled upon a Tết celebration around Hoàn Kiếm Lake. The celebration included live music, dancing, and very colorful clothing.

This lake was a fairly close walk from our hotel. It was one our favorite places to frequent in Ha Noi.

We also visited many coffee shops. Vietnam is known for strong coffee, mostly due to their use of 100% robusta coffee, blended with coconut, salt, or egg. Egg coffee is a must-try; with its thick texture and caramel-like coffee flavor. Salt coffee was my personal favorite; with its salty cream topping and rich dark roasted coffee flavor. Coconut coffee varied in preparation and flavor, but was always very delicious. Really, you can't go wrong with coffee in Vietnam. It may not be my personal favorite coffee profile (I prefer pulling out flavor notes in my coffee opposed to more one-dimensional coffee roasted primarily to be blended with cream/sugar/etc. I like my coffee black) but it was wonderful to try all the various coffees for which Vietanm is known.

Several other captures are from the Museum of Literature and things I found interesting while exploring the city.

Train street

Train street is quite a unique experience. Vendors line either side of a section of residential train tracks. You can sit down, have a beverage or something to eat, while you wait for the next train to come through. There is such little space between you and the train I'm surprised they still allow train street to be open. And that is the reality because police often shut it down.

Should this be an experience? Maybe not because humans ruin experiences such as this. I'm happy we were able to experience it.

Imperial Citadel of Thang Long & Presidential Palace

We didn't plan on visiting this citadel (just stumbled upon it), but it ended up being one of our favorite experiences/explorations in Hanoi. After perusing the citadel we wandered through the Ho Chi Minh Presidential palace grounds since it was too late in the day to see Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum (the actual body of Ho Chi Minh). We did visit Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum a day or two after and it is quite the experience. You walk through an intense amount of security, leave all your possessions in a locker, and single-file walk into the mausoleum, get to view the body of Ho Chi Minh for a minute or less (no hands in pockets, no stopping) while being ushered through a room with armed guards lining the wall around you.

The last four images in this gallery are on the presidential palace grounds.

Bái Đính Pagoda

We took a day trip to Bái Đính. We love exploring Buddhist temples and pagodas when we travel and this experience did not disappoint. Our private tour guide for this day was not our favorite, but we still enjoyed the experience, overall. We prefer exploring places on our own and at our own pace, opposed to being led around, though the knowledge of a tour guide is invaluable. Audio guides are the best of both worlds, but the transportation side of hiring a tour guide for both the Bái Đính and Tràng An made it make sense.

Tràng An

On the same day we went to Bái Đính, we chose Tràng An instead of Tam Cốc; mostly because we didn't need a boat experience longer than 2-3 hours, we didn't care about the "traditional" rowing-with-feet style of boat rowing experience, and we didn't care for an experience which allowed merchants to approach your boat. Tam Cốc is known to be the older and "more traditional" experience. It's also a bit less expensive than Tràng An. For us, we simply wanted to enjoy the experience in a timely fashion. Especially because we were doing the Bái Đính experience before and had a traditional puppet show in the evening. It was a long enough day.

In researching Tràng An, no one mentioned how much sitting in a boat for 3 hours hurt your bum. Maybe it's just us, but it was uncomfortable. It was a beautiful and unforgettable experience. If I were to nitpick, I'd criticize the amount of boats allowed at one time. Seeing all the neon orange life preservers in photos kind of takes you out of nature and feels less picturesque.

Around Hanoi

Conclusion

Ha Noi was our favorite city in Vietnam. The combination of day trips, city life & exploration, museums, and overall vibe was a highlight of our trip.

Off we go to Da Nang.