French Quarter Hanoi Walking Tours
French Quarter Hanoi is best explored on foot and while you can definitely DIY it yourself, going on a guided tour gives you a local perspective and understanding to the neighborhood.
I spent the second of my five days in Hanoi exploring this area and really enjoyed wandering the streets while sipping my coffee and learning about the city’s political history.
Old Quarter is Hanoi's golden child and French Quarter tends to fall to the wayside, so unfortunately, the options were quite limited.
However, I did my best to scour the internet and even consulted some personal friends. So if you're looking for the best French Quarter Hanoi Walking Tour, here are three unique offerings.
1. Hanoi French Quarter: Coffee and Stories
Operated by OneTrip With Local
Start your day with an egg coffee inside a colonial style French Villa and then make your way through the neighborhood's most iconic landmarks including St. Joseph's Cathedral, Hanoi Opera House, and Hotel Sofitel Legend Metropole.
This tour is the perfect balance of informative, engaging, thoughtful, interesting, and genuine.
The tour guides are clearly passionate about their city, and have a great sense of humor and lots of personal stories to tell.
You'll meander your way towards Hoan Kiem Lake and then say your goodbyes after grabbing some delicious ice cream from Trang Tien Ice Cream, one of the city's oldest shops. Go for the rice flavor for something delicate, sweet, and fragrant!
If you're looking to deepen your understanding of Hanoi while taking a casual and well-curated stroll, then this tour is a clear winner.
TOUR ITINERARY:
St. Joseph's Cathedral ➝ Loading T café ➝ Secret Pagoda ➝ Hotel Sofitel Legend Metropole ➝ Hanoi Opera House ➝ Trang Tien Plaza ➝ Hoan Kiem Lake ➝ Hanoi University of Pharmacy ➝ Ice Cream!
TOUR SCHEDULE:
3 hour tour
9 AM and 2 PM time slots
Book With Viator | Book With GetYourGuide | Tour Operator Website
2. Free Student-Led Hanoi French Quarter Walking Tour
Operated by Hanoi Free Private Tour Guide
The one downside to the previous tour is that they never stop at any of the neighborhood's multiple museums. Hanoi French Quarter has six museums and it would be a shame to not visit any of them.
That's where this next tour comes in!
The French Quarter Walking Tour by Hanoi Free Private Tour Guide is an extremely authentic experience led by local university students who want to practice their English.
This tour basically takes you in the opposite direction as it begins at Hoan Kiem Lake and then makes its way through French Quarter with stops at St. Joseph’s Cathedral and Hanoi Opera House.
What sets this tour apart is its final stop at Hoa Lo Prison.
The prison was constructed during French colonial occupation to detain political dissidents of Indochina. It was later used to hold American prisoners during the Vietnam war. Nowadays, it is a museum dedicated to preserving some of the artifacts and stories from Hanoi's bloody past.
This tour gives you an interesting peek into Vietnam's history with colonization and presents a rare opportunity to interact with local students. As a responsible traveler, I try my best to give back to the communities that I visit, and there's no better way than through authentic cultural exchange.
That being said, this tour's quality can vary depending on the student's fluency and preparedness. Just keep that in mind before booking.
However, since it's technically free, you're not really losing much.
Platform providers like Viator and GetYourGuide have it listed for approximately $5 USD (to cover fees), but if you go directly to their website, you can book it for free! (I recommend booking with them directly to cut costs, but also 100% understand if you want to keep all your tours in one place.)
TOUR ITINERARY:
Hoan Kiem Lake ➝ St. Joseph's Cathedral ➝ Trang Tien Plaza (and Trang Tien Ice Cream Shop where French introduced Ice Cream to Viet people in 1958) ➝ Hotel Opera House ➝ Hoa Lo Prison
TOUR SCHEDULE:
3.5 hour tour
One tour every hour from 8 AM to 3 PM with a break at noon
Book With Viator | Book With GetYourGuide | Tour Operator Website
3. Private Street Food Tour Of French Quarter
Operated by Crossing Vietnam Tour
What better way to explore the living culture of a neighborhood than with a walking street food tour?
This experience is a good way to get to know Hanoi's modern culinary culture and simultaneously learn a little bit more about the city's colonial past.
The tour begins in Old Quarter and makes its way down to the French Quarter. You'll stop at four different restaurants and try signature Vietnamese dishes like pho, coffee, and ice cream while admiring the neighborhood's charming French colonial buildings.
The tour guides double check on dietary restrictions beforehand and are thoughtful and well-informed guides to the neighborhood.
Satisfy both your foodie instincts and your quench for knowledge with this comprehensive district tour!
TOUR ITINERARY:
Hoan Kiem Lake ➝ Hanoi Opera House ➝ St. Joseph's Cathedral ➝ Old Quarter
With stops at local restaurants and cafes along the way!
TOUR SCHEDULE:
3 hour tour
Tour Times: 8 AM, 11 AM, 2:30 PM, 5:30 PM
Additional Options
I did my best to filter out the top three unique, organized, and professional walking tours of Hanoi French Quarter, but there are a lot of other local providers that you can book with.
In my research, I found that there were actually a lot of free walking tours led by college students including this one by Hanoi Free Walking Tours. It's just that I was unable to find any reviews to back up their professionalism.
If you're staying at a hostel, hotel, or homestay, they might also have free walking tours for the community. Most of them will probably take you through Hanoi Old Quarter but if you feel comfortable with it, you can also request a quick detour through French Quarter.
Not sure where to stay? Here's a guide to the best neighborhoods in Hanoi!
Additionally, you can always DIY a tour for yourself. The district is extremely safe and walkable, and organizing it for yourself gives you the freedom to take as much time as you want to explore the area's attractions and museums.
We'll talk about the best way to do this in the section below.
What If I Want To DIY A Tour For Myself?
It’s totally doable.
I would look up all of French Quarter's main attractions and then save the points of interest to a Google Maps list. From there, you can create your own route.
The quarter is fairly small and this should be manageable even for beginners.
Again the drawback is that you have to do some research beforehand. Otherwise you’re just going to be looking at buildings with no context.
A guided walking tour of Hanoi French Quarter is one of the best ways to learn about the city's colonial past and connect with locals for personal recommendations.
However, a lot of these tours are pretty short so you should round out your French Quarter experience with a visit to a museum or two.
My personal favorites were the Museum of Vietnamese Women and the Vietnam National Museum of History. These provide a lot of context into Vietnamese society and I think they’re a great way to frame and deepen the rest of your travels in the country.
Dedicate one full afternoon to exploring the French Quarter and afterwards you can continue on your itinerary with walking through the Old Quarter or maybe taking some day trips out to notable destinations like the Incense Village, Ninh Binh, or even Ha Long Bay.
Once you’re done with Hanoi, it’s an easy exit to the mountains in the north. Simply hop on an overnight bus to Ha Giang to do the famous motorbike loop or you can make your way down south to other cities like Hue, Hoi An, and Ho Chi Minh City.
More On Travel In Vietnam:
PIN THIS FOR LATER