Vietnam · art & history
Museums in Hanoi
Art, history, science, and design museums in Hanoi, Vietnam. Skip-the-line tickets, combo passes, and audio guides — Expedia Attractions makes museum tickets bookable in seconds.
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Hanoi's museums, and which one to pick
The Museum of Ethnology out in Cau Giay is the one worth the taxi: fifty-four ethnic groups documented indoors, with full-scale stilt houses and a towering Bahnar communal roof rebuilt in the garden. Hoa Lo Prison, the Hanoi Hilton to American pilots, presents itself mainly as a French colonial jail. The Vietnam Military History Museum moved in late 2024 to a vast new building out on the Thang Long boulevard.
What's actually worth your time in Hanoi
The Temple of Literature, Vietnam's first university from 1070, charges 70,000 dong and opens 8am to 5pm, with a separately ticketed lit night programme on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum is free but shuts Mondays and Fridays and closes for weeks of embalming maintenance. Train Street has been officially barricaded since 2019 and the cafes there trade against orders. Roads around Hoan Kiem go car-free each weekend.
When the weather turns in Hanoi
Northern Vietnam has a grey drizzle season around February to April that never quite rains and never quite stops. The response is coffee: the Old Quarter holds hundreds of narrow upstairs cafes where nursing one drink for two hours is expected behaviour. The Ethnology and Fine Arts museums are indoors. Lotte Center's 65th-floor observation deck and Trang Tien Plaza cover the mall option.
What first-timers get wrong in Hanoi
Count the zeros, because a 500,000 note and a 50,000 note are similar in colour and the mistake is routine. Book Grab or Xanh SM rather than flagging cars, since unbranded taxis with rigged meters still work the Old Quarter. A friendly man offering to fix your shoe will take it and then set a price. Ha Long Bay is a long drive each way even on the expressway, leaving only a couple of hours afloat.
What things cost in Hanoi
A bowl of pho on a street corner is 40,000 to 60,000 dong, roughly double in a sit-down restaurant. A glass of bia hoi runs five to ten thousand. A Grab motorbike across the Old Quarter costs 20,000 to 40,000. The Temple of Literature charges 70,000 and Hoa Lo Prison a similar amount. Old Quarter guesthouse rooms start well under a million dong a night.
When to go to Hanoi
| Best months for museums | Avg daily high | Rain days |
|---|---|---|
| December | 22°C / 72°F | 4 days |
| November | 27°C / 81°F | 7 days |
| February | 23°C / 73°F | 11 days |
The month to avoid is July — around 33°C (91°F) with roughly 21 rain days. Prices and crowds track the weather here: December is the sweet spot, July the month most people skip.
Pack for peak season: Summer clothes, plus one light layer for air-con and evenings, Comfortable walking shoes — every guide on this site assumes you'll use them.