30/05/2026
Swap these common tourist spots for even better alternatives! 👇💡🇻🇳
After years of living here, we've tried ALL the tourist spots
While many are popular for a reason, we found some of them to be lacking either in quality, experience or just discovered much better versions of them
Here's what we'd swap around if you're visiting for the first time:
❌ Thang Long Water Puppet Show
If you have young kids, still worth seeing if you have a spare hour, but honestly it’s hard to follow and if you sit too far back you don’t see much sadly. Not necessary.
✅ The Quintessence of Tonkin
A stunning cultural show that’s well worth seeing, it’s a few hours long so make sure you have a spare evening but this is spectacular, it’s got loads of dancers and tells a cultural story of Vietnam across time.
❌ The Note Coffee
The coffee is sub-par, unfortunately. Cute theme but just not worth it unless you need an Instagram pic here lol!
✅ Cafe Pho Co
Probably our fave coffee shop in Vietnam! Hidden behind a silk shop, this is a MUST visit and a hidden & unique place you won’t soon forget!
❌ Hanoi Train Street Main entrance
Very picturesque but much more crowded and overwhelming than the southern entrance.
✅ Southern entrance
If you’re after the train timetables (for either entrance), check out our free Train Street Guide.
❌ X-Space/I-Museum
Cute to visit if you live here, but as a visitor these are very basic (non-cultural, non-vietnamese) art installations meant for picture-taking, not recommended for visitors.
✅ Museum of Ethnology
SO underrated! This palace has interactive walkthrough houses from Vietnam’s 51 different ethnic groups and shows how they built their houses and lived throughout history. Great for all ages, try to do this on a day that isn’t raining because it’s all outdoors.
What would you add to the list? 🤔
We linked all these spots (map links, ticket booking) by tapping the
🔍 Find Video Info button on our link in bio 🔗
💬 Or comment "link"
