Hanoi Old Quarter | Self-Guided Audio Walking Tour
90 minutes
About this experience
Hanoi's Old Quarter is not really a neighbourhood. It is a commercial code, and once you can read it you cannot stop. Hang means goods. Traders came in from the craft villages around the city, clustered by trade, and named their streets after what they sold. The silversmiths were summoned from one village in 1461, and their guild house still stands on Hang Bac, dedicated not to silver but to the ancestor of all hundred crafts. On the second floor of a silk merchant's shop, at a family dining table, Vietnam's Declaration of Independence was written. Ten stops in a loop: Hoan Kiem Lake and Ngoc Son Temple, Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Square, the Kim Ngan guild house, the ancient house at 87 Ma May, Hang Buom, the O Quan Chuong gate, Dong Xuan Market, Hang Ma, Bach Ma Temple and 48 Hang Ngang. Self-guided, so the walk is yours. 10 stops, 2.4 km, about 1 hour 30 at an easy pace, narrated in English with a live GPS map. No group, no guide, no set arrival time.
What's included
Hanoi's Old Quarter still sorts itself by trade, and the street signs are the index. Ten stops north from the lake through the merchant grid, ending at the dinner table where a country was declared.
Good to know
Operated by Roamer and sold by AGORA. Your voucher and booking reference arrive by email straight after payment.