Bún Chả Hương Liên (Obama Restaurant)
24 Le Van Huu, Pham Dinh Ho, Hanoi, Vietnam
Bún Chả Hương Liên became the most famous restaurant in Hanoi on May 23, 2016, when President Barack Obama and chef Anthony Bourdain sat on plastic stools, drank Hanoi beer, and ate bún chả for a total bill of $6 — an episode of Bourdain's 'Parts Unknown' that generated more tourism interest in Hanoi than any government campaign.
Hanoi Ceramic Mosaic Mural
Tran Quang Khai, Chuong Duong, Hanoi, Vietnam
The Hanoi Ceramic Mosaic Mural is the longest ceramic mural in the world — a 4-kilometre mosaic stretching along the dyke walls of the Red River, created in 2010 to celebrate Hanoi's 1,000th anniversary.
Hồ Chí Minh Mausoleum & Complex
2 1 Dich Vong Hau Lane, Dich Vong Hau, Hanoi, Vietnam
The Hồ Chí Minh Mausoleum is where the embalmed body of Vietnam's founding father lies in state — a granite and marble structure on Ba Đình Square modelled on Lenin's Mausoleum in Moscow, where visitors queue in silence to file past the glass sarcophagus containing the preserved remains of the man who led Vietnam's independence movement and is universally known as 'Uncle Ho.
Hoàn Kiếm Lake & Ngọc Sơn Temple
Ho Hoan Kiem, Hang Bac, Hanoi, Vietnam
Hoàn Kiếm Lake is the spiritual heart of Hanoi — a small, green lake in the centre of the city whose name means 'Lake of the Returned Sword,' referring to a legend in which a 15th-century Vietnamese king returned a magical sword to a golden turtle in the lake after using it to defeat the Chinese Ming dynasty.
Old Quarter (36 Streets)
Ho Hoan Kiem, Hang Bac, Hanoi, Vietnam
Hanoi's Old Quarter is one of the most chaotic, beautiful, and sensory-overwhelming urban experiences in Asia — a dense grid of narrow streets north of Hoàn Kiếm Lake that has been a commercial district for over 1,000 years, with each street traditionally specialising in a single trade.
Phở & Street Food Culture
Doi Can, Doi Can, Hanoi, Vietnam
Hanoi is the birthplace of phở — the beef noodle soup that has become Vietnam's most famous culinary export and one of the defining dishes of 21st-century food culture.
Temple of Literature (Văn Miếu)
Quoc Tu Giam, Van Mieu, Hanoi, Vietnam
The Temple of Literature is Vietnam's most important historical monument — a Confucian temple and the site of the country's first national university, founded in 1070 by Emperor Lý Thánh Tông and operating continuously for over 700 years until the French colonial administration closed it in the 19th century.
Thăng Long Water Puppet Theatre
57B Dinh Tien Hoang, Hang Bac, Hanoi, Vietnam
Water puppetry (múa rối nước) is Hanoi's most distinctive performing art — a tradition that originated in the flooded rice paddies of the Red River Delta over 1,000 years ago, where farmers manipulated wooden puppets on the water's surface using submerged bamboo rods and strings.
Train Street (Phố Tàu)
3 Tran Phu, Hang Bong, Hoan Kiem, Vietnam
Train Street is one of the most surreal urban experiences in the world — a narrow residential alley in the Old Quarter where a fully operational railway line runs between houses that are separated from the tracks by less than two metres.
Explore iconic in Hanoi
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