Hanoi Private Day Tour: Hidden Gems, Hoa Lo Prison, Train Street

Tour guide and vehicle will pick you up at your hotels then start discovering Hanoi. It is the final resting place of Ho Chi Minh, the most iconic and popular leader of Vietnam, known to his people as ‘Uncle Ho’. His body is preserved here in a glass case at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in central Hanoi (albeit against his wishes). For visitors, a trip to this site can be an extraordinary experience as it is not just an average attraction; it’s a part of a unique history. Started in 1973, the construction of the mausoleum was modeled on Lenin's mausoleum in Russia and was first open to the public in 1975. Security is tight and visitors should dress with respect (no shorts, sleeveless shirts and miniskirts) and everyone has to deposit their bags and cameras before getting in. Uncle Ho’s remains are sent yearly to Russia for maintenance therefore the mausoleum is closed usually from October onwards.

Hanoi Presidential Palace - a part of Ho Chi Minh Complex, is known as the Palace of the Governor-General of Indochina. It is a beautifully restored French-style building constructed in 1906 that is now used for official receptions. Hanoi Presidential Palace was constructed in 1906 by Auguste Henri Vildieu – a famous French architect. This building was intended to become President Ho Chi Minh’s official residence but he chose a traditional stilt house instead. Inspired by French architecture style, this unique yellow three-story building has 30 rooms surrounded by a lush garden, an orchard, a long boulevard, and a carp pond. And visitors are allowed to see it from a short distance and not allowed to go inside

(Optional - you pay 40,000 VND or 1 USD and 50 cents for tickets) The living and working place of one of the most famous and important political characters in Vietnam history, President Ho Chi Minh’s Stilt House, aka Uncle Ho’s stilt house is a must-visit place for tourists upon visiting Hanoi. With simple design with peaceful and fresh air at this place, visitors can know more about the greatness and simplicity of the man who lived there.

Legend claims that The One Pillar Pagoda was built following a dream by the fatherless emperor in which the enlightened being Avalokiteshvara gave him a baby son resting on a lotus flower. Emperor Ly Thai Tong commissioned the pagoda to be created in resemblance of this lotus flower which is also the Buddhist symbol of enlightenment. The Emperor remained in gratitude to the bodhisattva and subsequently to to Quan Am, the Goddess of Mercy following the birth of his son. Inside the temple a richly gilded statue of Quan Am takes centre place at the main altar. Today, the concrete pillar that supports the tiny wooden pagoda is a replacement for the original one which was blown up by the departing French, it remains unclear how much of the wooden temple is the original one. Another point of interest is a bo tree that grows behind the pagoda which legend state is an offshoot of the one under which Buddha became enlightened - the tree was given as a gift from India in 1958.

(Optional - you pay 70,000 VND or 2 USD and 80 cents for tickets) The site is one of Hanoi’s most picturesque tourist attractions. Originally built as a university in 1070 dedicated to Confucius, scholars and sages, the building is extremely well preserved and is a superb example of traditional-style Vietnamese architecture. This ancient site offers a lake of literature, the Well of Heavenly Clarity, turtle steles, pavilions, courtyards and passageways that were once used by royalty. Visiting the Temple of Literature you will discover historic buildings from the Ly and Tran dynasties in a revered place that has seen thousands of doctors’ graduate in what has now become a memorial to education and literature. Originally the university only accepted aristocrats, the elite and royal family members as students before eventually opening its doors to brighter ‘commoners’. Successful graduates had their names engraved on a stone stele which can be found on top of the stone turtles.

(Optional - you pay 40,000 VND or 1 USD and 50 cents for tickets) This is a "must-see" one while in Hanoi City. Tourists will be amazed at the great artifacts carefully displayed here such as: clothes, tools and models of rituals, funerals, weddings, etc. Everything are displayed as a small corner of life and traditional culture of ancient ethnic people.

(Optional - you pay 50,000 VND or 2 USD for tickets) Hoa Lo Prison in Hanoi originally used by the French colonists in Indochina for political prisoners, and later by North Vietnam for U.S. prisoners of war during the Vietnam War. During this later period, it was known to American POWs as the "Hanoi Hilton". The prison was then used to incarcerate Vietnamese dissidents and other political prisoners. The prison was demolished during the 1990s, although its gatehouse remains a museum. The prison was built in Hanoi by the French, in dates ranging from 1886 to 1889 when Vietnam was still part of French Indochina. The French called the prison Maison Centrale, Central House', which is still the designation of prisons for dangerous or long sentence detainees in France. It was intended to hold Vietnamese prisoners, particularly political prisoners agitating for independence who were often subject to torture and execution. It had become a symbol of colonialist exploitation

Visiting Hanoi Train Street in Hanoi is one of the Best Things To Do to learn and explore Hanoi local life Rather than being a normal road with car or motorbike traffic, it has actual real railway lines running through it. Homes and businesses literally open out onto the railway lines. For the most part, the locals who live and move through there go about their day as with any other Hanoi street. Motorbikes zoom up and down the side of the railway lines. Local ladies cook delicious smelling foods, crouched over their seasoned cooking pots and surrounded by bundles of herbs and other fresh ingredients. Kids run around, crossing the tracks to each other’s houses. Animals snooze peacefully in the daytime sun.

The Hanoi Opera House located in the French Quarter of Hanoi, Vietnam. It was erected by the French colonial administration between 1901 and 1911. Hanoi Opera House is one of three opera houses that the French built during their time in Indochina, the others are Haiphong Opera House and Municipal Theatre in Ho Chi Minh city. It was modeled on the Palais Garnier, the older of Paris's two opera houses. The main architectural style of the Opera House is Neoclassicism. As mentioned before, Hanoi Opera House was modeled on the Palais Garnier but with a smaller scale and using materials that are suitable with the environment. After the departure of the French the opera house became the scene for several political events as well as the scene of street fighting during the fight for Hanoi. (The house is close and opens in some special events. The visit to this site allows you a glance of outside and the history).

Approximate 17:00 Our car and driver will drop you off same pickup place. In case you want to have more time to stay longer in the Old Quarter, you can ask the guide to drop you there and you have your own privacy in the area. Say goodbye to tour guide and driver. End of the trip!