I did not think I would end up going to Vietnam this year. The whole Asia trip happened pretty last-minute. My boyfriend had invited me to a wedding in India over Thanksgiving. Coincidentally, my sister was going on a work trip to China a few weeks before, and then was planning to spend a week in Vietnam for fun. I decided to join her and am so happy I did! I ended up flying from LAX to SFO (to drop my dog off at my parents', as one does?), then from SFO to Hong Kong, where I stayed for two nights with my sister, then we flew to Hanoi, Vietnam.

We were so excited for Vietnam. The original plan was to spend 3 nights in Hanoi, a bustling city and Vietnam’s capital, and 4 nights in Hoi An, a more quaint, coastal destination. Unfortunately, due to the weather, we had to change the Hoi An part of the trip. We ended up in Hanoi for most of the trip with a 2-night excursion into the mountains — one night in the Pu Luong Nature Preserve and one night in Ninh Binh, a place nicknamed “Ha Long Bay on Land.”

November 15, 2025

After landing in Hanoi, we had to figure out the whole Grab taxi situation, the equivalent of Uber in some Asian countries. It was a bit stressful because there were people dressed in Grab uniforms right outside the airport, continuously trying to convince you to ride with them for cheaper than directly through the Grab app. Thank god we stuck with the app, because our Gen Z food tour guide in Hanoi later joked that if we had gotten in one of those, we would have been taken to Cambodia and chopped up. We still don’t know how much of that was a joke, but either way, we both ended up having nightmares.

After safely finding our way to Hanoi (and not Cambodia), we checked into our hotel, then immediately found our way to an egg coffee down the street, got a massage at the hotel as we waited for our room, then once it was ready, took a cat nap, and finally hit the town!

We were staying in the old quarter of Hanoi, so if you haven’t been there, it is VERY bustling. There are people, cars, and scooters everywhere. It is a very popular area to stay in because it is centrally located and walkable to everything. I’d honestly recommend staying right outside, but still walkable to the old quarter, because the old quarter is A LOT. 

Looking back at photos, trying to write this blog post, I’m kind of shocked at how much we ended up doing on this first night after our nap. We wandered around the old quarter, taking it all in, and got instantly overwhelmed, so we tried to find a nice indoor place to eat. There are street food places everywhere, but we already needed a bit of a break. We found a quiet indoor spot at Tung’s Kitchen and enjoyed spring rolls, pho, and a lovely chicken salad.

After dinner, we continued to bop into stores, and found ourselves trying on silk dresses for like an HOUR at Silk Sisters. After they took many videos of us runway walking in their dresses for the gram, we both got a silk dress. The night wasn’t over yet, because we then found ourselves getting a late-night mani/pedi. FRESH NAILS for the trip.

November 16

The next morning, we had a lovely hotel breakfast. Then, since we had absolutely nothing planned for this trip, we had to decide what to do for the day. So, naturally, we ended up at a hair salon. We went to Hali Hair Salon and got a shampoo/massage, a haircut, and a blowout for about $11 USD. The TikTokers will tell you it was the best haircut they’ve ever gotten. TBH, it wasn’t, but it was $11, so take that information for what you will. I forced Hannah to take some pics of me because I said, “I’ll never have blown-out hair like this again on the trip.” To which she said, “Or you’ll have it every day.” I did, in fact, not dry my own hair on the Vietnam portion of the trip.

Post blowouts, we went to an adorable cafe called Tranquil Books & Coffee. Then, we stopped by Train Street just to take a look. Then, we continued to bop. That evening, we went on a walking food tour with a local guide, our guide was the Gen Z I mentioned earlier, the one who gave us nightmares. His name was Minh, and he was truly quite memorable. I’d 10/10 recommend his food tour. The food was incredible, but honestly, my favorite part was just getting to know more about the people and the city through the eyes of someone close in age. P.S. He knew all the same TikTok references.

Some recommendations from the food tour:

• Bún Cá Cây Si: 5A Ngõ Trung Yên (Noodles with Fried Fish)
• Nhân Restaurant: 60 Hàng Nón (Bánh Xèo)
• Bún Bò Nam Bộ: 75 Hàng Điếu (Beef Noodle Salad)
  ‍

November 17

The next morning, we went to Café Giảng, since we now had all of Minh’s local recs. Café Giảng invented egg coffee, and Minh did not let us down with this rec. Then we found ourselves at another Minh recommendation for lunch, to try the famous Hanoi dish Bún Chả at 74 Hàng Quạt. He said this was the best place for it, and they are only open for lunch. It was delicious, but after having already eaten 4 entire dishes of street food the night before, we were pretty street food-ed out.

On our way to Bun Cha, we stopped at a custom-made stamp stall and got some stamps made for gifts, which we had to pick up later in the day and the following days.

Later in the day, we went on a free walking tour with a local guide through the service called Guru Walk. She was another young Gen Z’er who led us all around the town. We walked around the Hoam Kiem Lake, learning more about the city and Ho Chi Minh, went into a few temples, and walked through areas of the Old Quarter we somehow never hit in our previous days of endless wandering. She took us through a ginormous indoor market that sold all sorts of things, but the huge textile section caught our eyes the most.

For dinner, we ended up at Pizza 4P’s. If you go to Hanoi, there’s no way you won’t hear of this place. People love it; you need a reservation. There are a few locations near the Old Quarter, but we ended up at Trang Tien for availability. We’re so happy we did because we discovered an entirely different side of town, just outside of the old quarter, that was a bit calmer.

I forgot to mention the random facial we got before our late-night dinner reservation. When in Hanoi.

November 18, November 19, November 20

The following morning, we departed for Pu Luong Nature Preserve, something we were terrified of because we booked it through the hotel with absolutely zero research after we cancelled the Hoi An trip, and before Minh had shared his lovely Cambodia joke. So, I truly thought we were going to be picked up by a bus at 6 am, stolen, and never come back.

Well, turns out the company was reputable, and we did not get stolen. But with each bus entry throughout the journey, I was untrusting of the situation to say the least. No way in hell was I getting on the bus that was going to steal us away to Cambodia if nobody else was in it before us. Lol.

We were convinced on this trip because the hotel concierge mentioned that Pu Luong was a “less touristy, more local version of Sapa, and Ninh Binh was that same equivalent of Ha Long Bay.” In hindsight, I don’t know about all that, but Hannah and I still had a blast together.

In Pu Luong, we went trekking through the rice terraces in the rain, which honestly might have been my favorite part of this portion because it was really interesting to learn about life there.

The following day, we went to a local farming village and a silk-weaving village, then we went on a bamboo raft of sorts.

On the final day of our side quest, we were in Ninh Binh, where we went to Trang An, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and took a raft through some of the coolest caves I’ve ever encountered. Then we went to Vietnam's ancient capital and checked out some more temples. Finally, we went to the Mua Caves, then headed back to Hanoi. After some terrifying dinners on our side quest, we ate a lovely dinner at Mesdames Linh Cuisine, which I would definitely recommend.

November 21

Our final day in Hanoi was Hannah’s 25th Birthday. So what did we do? Well, we got another blowout. BIRTHDAY BLOOWW OUUTT. Then we had to pick up the last of our stamps from our local, friendly stamp vendors, whom we simply forgot to negotiate with in the slightest and overpaid tremendously, oops.

Post blowout, post stamp pickup, we headed to Café Giảng again, this time trying out the Treng Tien location to check out some other shops in that neighborhood. We were pretty tired by this point in the trip, so our shopping didn’t last long, and we ended up having a sit-down lunch at MET. I got one last bánh xèo, one of my newly discovered favorite Vietnamese dishes, thanks to our food tour. 

We bopped around town some more, rested at the hotel, and ended the trip at an incredible cocktail bar called Nê Cocktail Bar. We sat and chatted for hours, trying 4 Vietnamese cuisine-inspired cocktails. The Phở cocktail was absolutely amazing; I have never tasted anything quite like it. Then, finally, to end the 25th birthday right, we got a midnight Bahn Mi, duuhhh.