6d5n Hanoi/Sapa Itinerary Part 1🇻🇳🥖
Hello Zesties!
Ive recently taken a short break to Hanoi/Sapa (also my very first time in vietnam) and would gladly say this itinerary is PERFECT for those coming here for the first time!👍🏼 I’ll also try my best to include the price of everything covered here💵
DAY 1
We arrived in the airport at about 830am and cleared the immigration pretty quickly. We then took the grab to our airbnb located at Hoan Kiem Lake.
📍Bun Cha Ta Hanoi
Had our first meal here (highly highly recommended place) and omg we were blown right away. It was an instant 5 stars the moment i took a bite out of the meal. This is a MUST visit when in Hanoi. (i still crave for it till this day)
💸 Total 240k/$12 (2 servings of buncha)
📍Cafe Giang
Next up would be no other than Cafe Giang (if i’m not wrong, a 3 storey high cafe, with 99% full seating) can u imagine??? We had their egg coffee & salted coffee and it was really good. Tho the egg coffee was really thick unlike how we’d usually have our coffee. As much as you had to wait to get a seat, i’d still recommend it as the coffee were indeed really good.
💸Total 90k/$4 (2 cups of coffee)
📍Phuc Loi Stamps
This was a really cute souvenir to get (altho the ink we got leaked all over). You had to wait a day or 2 to collect the stamp so plan ahead!
💸Total 250k/$12 (1 head)
📍Hanoi Train Street
There’s 2 entrance to the street, we went to the main entrance (tran phu entrance/ north/ old quarter side). We honestly didn’t know how to make our way to the main entrance as google pin did not bring us exactly there. (refer to the pic where i’ve taken a pic of a red sign that says “tong duy tan”where you can get to the main entrance) As we didn’t know that initially, we had to ask a random local selling hardware and were lucky enough to have her bring us there. There were so many cafe to choose from and we’ve heard you would need to make a reservation beforehand to be able to get in (which we didn’t). But the lady that brought us in brought us straight to a cafe that she knows and sat us down immediately. i guess we were lucky in that sense to have gotten a seat somewhere out of the blue? 😂
💸Total 150k/$7 (2 cups of ginger tea)
📍St Joseph Cathedral
It was around the corner so we checked it out! It’s one of the highlight of Hanoi as well. But there were quite a number of tourist so it was pretty hard getting a pic of it without having anyone in ur shot hahaha.
📍Banh Mi Mama
If you have done abit of research, you would’ve heard of this place. I honestly have not tried enough banhmi to know if this was it or not, but i liked it! It wasn’t the kind of baguette where your gums hurt from biting into it if it was tooooooo crispy. It was just right, and the combination of the meat, veg & sauce were really well put together. Tho i must say the queue was insane. It did move pretty fast so we waited for about 15-20mins.
💸Total 35k/$1.70 (1 serving of banhmi)
📍Che4mua
This was also a highly recommend dessert shop but we were so unlucky the recommended ones were OOS such as their Banh Troi Tau & Che Khuc Bach. We got a hot sweet ginger soup made of sticky rice & black rice yogurt drink thingy. They were still very nice anyway so highly recommend!
Total 55k/$2.60 (2 servings of dessert)
📍Hanoi Old Quarter Spa
After a long day, we decided to go for a vietnamese massage which we haven’t tried before and randomly googled one with a high rating. And wa i tell you, this is it. They were so packed we had to go to the other outlet (which wasn’t too far away) IT WAS SOOOO GOOD. The masseuse were really skilled, and the service was excellent too! No wonder it’s a 4.9⭐️ with 1.7k reviews. Don’t need to google anywhere else just go here trust me!
Total 960k/$47 (2 pax Vietnamese massage 75mins)
📍Cho dong Xuan Night Market
We ended our day here at the night market to have some street food and see if there were anything we could bring home at an affordable price. We really liked the sausage that you will see everywhere!! I had 3 sticks on my own 🌝 It started raining half way so we didn’t really get to shop but there were lots of apparels in the market too!
💸 Total (i can’t rmb. but i do rmb 1 sausage skewer costs 15k/$0.70 hahahaha)
Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com/l/WwycNwHl (this was an apartment IN a bar. there’s a door within the bar that leads you up to ur room) how cool is that!
Stay tuned for a detailed post for day 2!
During my own trip to Hanoi and Sapa, I found that pacing your days carefully really helps maximize what you can experience without feeling rushed. The first day in Hanoi is especially packed with diverse activities—from savoring the famously rich egg coffee at Cafe Giang to wandering through the vibrant Hanoi Train Street. What I appreciated most was how accessible local eats like Banh Mi Mama and street sausages in Cho Dong Xuan Night Market made the culinary experiences not only delicious but affordable. One tip I would add is to start your mornings early, especially if you want to visit popular spots like the St Joseph Cathedral or Hoan Kiem Lake, so you can avoid large crowds and get better photos. For transportation, apps like Grab are extremely useful and inexpensive, making moving between places hassle-free. If you’re interested in souvenirs like the Phuc Loi Stamps, be sure to remember that collecting them requires planning ahead due to the wait time. And don’t miss out on the spa experiences—Vietnamese massages at reputable places in Hanoi Old Quarter are wonderfully relaxing and offer excellent value. For Sapa, although not covered in detail here, I recommend planning day trips to nearby villages like Cat Cat and hiking or exploring local markets. The sleeper bus is a convenient way to travel overnight between Hanoi and Sapa, saving daytime for sightseeing. Lastly, booking your accommodation near key landmarks such as Hoan Kiem Lake not only places you at the heart of the city's culture but also makes it easier to explore the city on foot. From my experience, this itinerary blends food, culture, sightseeing, and relaxation very well, making it an ideal starter itinerary for any first-time visitors to Vietnam.
