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Full day (8hrs) Hanoi city tour with Ba Dinh Square, Ho Chi Minh House, Sword Lake and Old Quarter. Temple of Literature and Water Puppet Show. 

First you’ll meet your local guide and driver at your hotel and then set out for a full day sightseeing tour of Hanoi which includes the most significant attractions. Visit Ba Dinh Square, a revered and historically significant site where Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam an independent nation after centuries of being a monarchy.

Around Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum, which is situated in the back of the square, gives ample opportunities for photos. Following that, it would behoove you to take a leisurely stroll through the adjoining Presidential Palace. While sauntering through the garden you will catch a glimpse of some quaint scenes like a large, picturesque fish pond, the wooden house-on-stilts where Ho Chi Minh lived during his last years and the sturdy concrete house where he took his last breath. As you continue on your way out, be sure to visit the famous One-Pillar Pagoda made in the likeness of Guanyin, a goddess in Chinese mythology who is the goddess of mercy and compassion. 

Next, after a short excursion, is Quan Thanh Temple. This traditional Taoist temple was dedicated to Hanoi’s divine protector, Huyen Thien Tran Vu. Inside the temple on the main altar sits a huge bronze statue of Huyen Thien Tran Vu, measuring an imposing 4 meters high and weighing a spectacular 4 tons. The size and the fine details and owing to the expert craftsmanship of the bronze working from the 17th century has made this statue officially a national treasure. After the temple, as you continue along the lake side, you will walk past the memorial of John McCain, former Senator of the US and former US Navy pilot who was famously (infamously?) shot down as in Hanoi during wartime in 1967. 

After lunch the tour continues. Next stop is the Temple of Literature and the attached Noble Academy replete with beautifully restored architecture meant to preserve the history of Vietnam’s imperial education. A highlight in the complex is the collection of stone stelae bearing names of the successful mandarin examinees throughout many, many centuries. Tour continues around the illustrious Sword Lake. On a little island within the lake sits Ngoc Son Temple and is connected to the bank by the The Huc Bridge conspicuously painted in red. Ngoc Son Temple was built in honor of the eminent military leader and tactician, Tran Hung Dao. After that, why not mosey on over to the Old Quarter nearby and explore the buzzing sights and sounds and smells of the shophouses, food stalls and friendly pubs to wet your whistle!

Finally in the late afternoon, you’ll enter the water puppet theater to see the scintillating yet quaint performance of this ancient and uniquely Vietnamese art form that’s been performed since the 11th century. 

Included:

  • Private vehicle.
  • English speaking tour guide.
  • Entrance fees: Presidential Palace, Quan Thanh Temple, Museum of Ethnology, Temple of Literature, Ngoc Son temple, water puppet show at Thang Long theater.
  • Wet tissue and drinking water.

Not included:

  • Breakfast/Lunch
  • Tips for driver and guide.

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