Hanoi

The day after Christmas 2024, we flew to Hanoi to kick off our 16 days in Vietnam as a family. We spent three full days in Hanoi:

Day 1

Temple of Literature

The Temple of Literature has a thousand year history as the center of higher education in Vietnam. It houses stone turtle stelae with the names of graduates dating back to the 1400s.

Much to our kids delight, the space was not all ancient history, but also included some fun play spaces.

Vietnamese Women’s Museum

Before visiting the Vietnamese Women’s Museum in the afternoon, we enjoyed a lunch at Pizza 4P’s 500m from the museum. Not only was the pizza delicious, it was fun to watch it made.

The Vietnamese Women’s Museum includes signage in English for nearly all exhibits. My daughter could have spent a whole day reading her way through the museum; my son on the other hand, was ready to leave after a couple hours. The museum has a wealth of information on the marriage practices of various peoples within Vietnam, the roles of women during the Vietnam War, and female clothing and jewelry from around Vietnam. The museum is not particularly rich in hands on learning, though there was a grain mill that was fun to struggle with operating. Despite spending an afternoon in the Women’s Museum, I managed to leave without taking a single photo.

Walking back to our hotel we enjoyed bowls of Phở at the Michelin highlighted Phở 10 Lý Quốc Sư.

Day 2

Vietnam Museum of Ethnology

Wow! The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology is a must visit if you find yourself in Hanoi. It consists of two buildings with multiple floors of indoor exhibits (nice if the weather is uncomfortable) as well as an outdoor area with several rebuilt traditional habitations from different ethnic groups around the country.

Indoors, not only were there extensive exhibits of cultural artifacts,

there was also a hands-on children’s room. Our kids enjoyed playing with toys as well as making some woodblock prints.

Outdoors our kids loved exploring the various dwellings

and challenging themselves on various balance toys.

We easily spent an entire day here.

Day 3

Imperial Citadel of Thang Long

The morning of our third full day in Hanoi we went to the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long. The site is layered with the history of various ruling powers. Ancient fortifications are juxtaposed with Vietnam War era bunkers.

I enjoyed the beauty of gardens atop imposing walls.

There were various things to discover throughout.

I think we ourselves were the item of interest for one school group.

We wrapped up our time at the Citadel in order to make it to the English mass at St Joseph’s Cathedral.

St Joseph’s Cathedral

For three of the four of us, this was our first time attending mass. We went to St. Joseph’s both because they offered an English service and because we wanted to see the building where they meet.

After mass we waited through a very long line for the widely recommended Bánh Mý Mama.

While I would gladly eat such a sandwich again, I don’t think I would stand and wait for one for an hour again.

On our way from lunch to the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre my wife stopped for some kopi luwak coffee.

Water Puppet Theatre

Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre was sold out when we went our first afternoon in Hanoi, so we purchased tickets for three days later. We were glad we shuffled things around to be able to watch the show. We all enjoyed both the puppet show and the live music that accompanied it.

Conclusion

If I could only spend one day in Hanoi with kids, I think I would choose to spend the day at the Museum of Ethnology and then take in a showing at the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre in the evening (being sure to buy tickets to the puppet show in advance).

Our next stop: Ninh Binh