Hobby trips

Outdoor rows of MiG-17s, MiG-21s and captured American aircraft, plus missiles and radar. Open 08:00–11:00 and 13:00–16:00; tickets are around 30,000 VND.

Free museum on the 1972 air war over Hanoi, with a full-size B-52 wreck in its yard. Open 08:00–11:00 and 13:30–16:30.

The tail section of a B-52 shot down in 1972 still rises out of this small neighbourhood lake. A short walk from the B-52 Victory Museum.

Its fashion floor shows the costumes of Vietnam’s ethnic groups and the history of the áo dài.

The Old Quarter’s silk street, with shops selling silk and tailors who make áo dài to measure.

A 1911 opera house modelled on the Palais Garnier. Check the programme for concerts and occasional tours.

A neo-Gothic cathedral from 1886, its grey towers facing a small square of cafés.

The long iron bridge across the Red River, now used by trains, motorbikes and walkers.

A striking inverted pyramid by gmp architects, built for the city’s millennium in 2010; worth a look for the building itself.

The French colonial prison later known as the “Hanoi Hilton”. Sombre but essential; evening tours run on some nights.

Fifty-four ethnic groups, with full-size village houses in the garden. Allow half a day; closed on Mondays.

Clear, moving galleries on family life, fashion and women in wartime. One of the best-designed museums in the city.

Lacquer, silk painting and folk prints in a former French boarding school opposite the Temple of Literature.

Bronze drums and ancient treasures in Ernest Hébrard’s 1932 building, which blends French and Vietnamese forms.

A restored tube house showing how Old Quarter merchant families lived around a central courtyard.