Around Hanoi

Ba Be

Cat Ba Island

Ninh Binh

Craft villages

There are the various craft villages around Hanoi. Bat Trang, specializing within the production of good quality pottery and ceramics, Van Phuc, a silk weaving community, and Dong KY, famous for its carved mother-of-pearl, are three examples. The range of merchandise produced in craft villages is bewildering – cane birdcages, effective silk, knives, rattan, cooking oil and dozens more.

Le Mat, where many households are famous for his or her ability in breeding snakes for medicinal purposes, food and ‘snake wine’ (popular with Vietnamese men as a lift for virility), is one we avoid. The snakes are collected indiscriminately from the wild by peasants – a current police raid discovered effectively over a hundred snakes in the Crimson E-book of endangepurple species from a single restaurant.

A number of larger villages have traditional temples, pagodas or communal houses. Some have local customs and types of creative expression, singing, dancing and so on. One village is thought for its marionette performances. If you’re interested, we’ll attempt to arrange an indication or efficiency for you. It won’t be a cultured ‘attraction’ designed for tourists – the local people will provide something impromptu, and fully authentic.

A gentle cycle trip by among the rarely-visited villages close to Hanoi is an agreeable means of encountering elements of the agricultural culture of the Purple River Delta and assembly a few of its inhabitants. A tour by car is more practical for visiting the extra distant communities in the next province.

Further away 

The stays of the ancient citadel of Vietnam, Co Loa, are to be discovered 18 km north of Hanoi. Constructed in the 2nd century BC, little remains today, however the site could be attractive for these all in favour of archaeology.

There are lots of opportunities for day trips to places equivalent to Mai Chau (ethnic minority villages set in beautiful scenery), Cuc Phuong (National Park), Tam Cuc (boating via spectacular scenery along a languid river), Hai Phong (attractive city centre and surrounding countryside) and Ha Tay Province (extensive variety of craft villages).

A day journey to Ha Long Bay is feasible, but doesn’t really do it justice – an over evening keep on a ship is more rewarding. Cat Ba Island and the northwest mountains take a minimal of two days; however an excursion to Ba Be Lake needs not less than three days.

Travelers coming to Vietnam for less than a few weeks typically find that being based in Hanoi with visits to Ha Long and/or the northern mountains offers a more fulfilling experience of Vietnam than trying to cover the entire country.