Short Trip to Hanoi, Vietnam 2022

We started our winter 2022 in Hanoi, Vietnam. However we only stayed in the North for 24 hours before getting a quick, cheap flight to Central Vietnam, Da Nang. Here's why.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

We flew into Hanoi because we found a cheap flight. Honestly this is the only reason, we had been looking at flights into Da Nang, Vietnam for mid December 2022. All the flights we found were going to be $1,400 CAD each one way, by the time you add taxes it was going to be close to $3,000 CAD for both of us (yes, we only buy one way tickets because we are unsure where we will be when it is time to fly home).

We were sitting in Halifax, Nova Scotia waiting for a flight home when we started looking again at flights to Vietnam. This time for fun, we looked into flights to Hanoi. It was $600 CAD each. It was only going to cost $1,200 CAD for both of us to get to Vietnam if we flew into the North. Needless to say we booked this flight, while looking at the options on how to get down to Da Nang (our desired winter location). If we would take a motorcycle down the coast, the coastal train or a quick 1 hour flight for $160 for both of us. Either way, it was a heck of a lot cheaper to go this route than direct.

So why did we only stay 24 hours in the North before leaving for Da Nang?

Sights

If you have not been to Hanoi before, there is quite a bit to do. See the old prison, walk around Hoan Kiem Lake, go down Train Street, go to the night market for shopping, drink Egg Coffee the list really does go on and on. It is a really good spot to get your bearings, adjust to the time change (+ 12 hours from Canada), get your first taste of Pho and absorb the Vietnamese culture.

For us this is where we started out in winter 2020, we had done most of these sites and in the past spent 3 days here. There were only two major items we had on our list: see Train Street and try Egg Coffee, this took all of 2 hours to accomplish. From where our Air BnB was located it was a 2 minute walk to Train Street and 5 minute walk to Hoan Kiem Lake for a cafe for Egg Coffee.

Photo Credit: V. Gray

Train Street was a bit of a let down and we should have listened more to the reviews online about it, but we needed to see for ourselves. When we arrived at the tracks, the pieces that run between the houses/businesses are blocked off with fencing and have an official sitting on either side telling you "no". Then a local shop owner will approach you and offer to take you to their restaurant for a coffee or meal beside Train Street or you can hire a tour guide or photographer and go down the tracks. You can not walk down them as it is suggested online. Oh, well we have seen it now.

The last item on the list to do was to try Egg Coffee, the North is known for it. At least this did not disappoint, we went to The Note Coffee. It was rich, creamy and the exact caffeine fix we were looking for with a view out into the streets so we could watch people.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

The Weather / Pollution

The weather in Hanoi is not the greatest in December, anywhere from 10C - 15C and rainy/overcast. Yes, this is warmer than Canada some days, but not by much. The weather was definitely a big factor in why we moved on so quickly as well.

Along with the weather being uninviting, Hanoi is extremely polluted. It is actually known as one of the most polluted cities in the country and its region. It normally sits at an air quality risk of "high for sensitive groups". In the past we are not normally affected by this (except for in Bangkok, Thailand), this time however it got to me.Whether it was the lack of sleep from the flights over or at our AirBnB, the time change or maybe I was just coming down with something I developed a fun little cough that took me a week or so to shake off.

Photo Credit: V. Gray

Get Settled

We were so eager to get out of Hanoi. We looked into our options for renting a good motorcycle to ride down the coastal roads, this was going to take 5 - 8 days (the route we wanted), the coastal train would take 15.5 hours or our last option was a 1 hour flight for $160 for both of us.

Since we knew we wanted to get settled into Da Nang, find a bike, an apartment, start making local connections at the market and restaurants and get some work done we settled for the flight. A morning flight and by 2 pm we were in Da Nang at our next Air BnB starting our apartment hunting, for us this was well worth it

Hanoi, the City

If you have never been to Hanoi, Vietnam you should take 3 or 4 days to see the sites, eat the food and try the Egg Coffee. Hanoi is a big city, it is busy, loud and polluted. The people are wonderful, helpful, friendly and used to tourists (so English is easy to come by). Sitting in the park looking out over Hoan Kiem Lake we were approached 3 times by students wanting to practice their English.

This was the cheapest route for us to our winter home for 2022/2023, so a quick in and out did not hurt us. After having already been to Hanoi in the past we have seen the sights we wanted too and made good friends here. We had no desire to stay any longer than we needed to with the weather, nose and pollution so it was easy for us to make the decision to move onto brighter places.

Cheers!

**Please note that all opinions and views expressed in this post are my own, from my own experiences. If you would like to see more pictures follow me on Instagram vikki.gray **