Old Quarter & Pho
Three days in the thirty-six streets, from a dollar bowl of pho at dawn to egg coffee by the lake after dark.
3 days · budget ($150 - $350) · Best in October - December or March - April
Hanoi is one of the cheapest capitals in the world to travel in and one of the best to eat in. A bowl of pho on a plastic stool is about a dollar, the city bus is twenty-eight cents, and the Temple of Literature costs a dollar twenty. The Old Quarter is a grid of thirty-six guild streets where every block sells one thing. This plan walks it, eats through it, and gets out to the lakes and the mausoleum on the edges.