The Most Photogenic Corners of Vietnam: Hoi An’s Lanterns, Hanoi’s Cafes and a Night on Halong Bay

Some countries reward a camera roll more than others, and Vietnam is one of them. Between the lantern-strung streets of Hoi An, the French colonial buildings of Hanoi’s Old Quarter, and the limestone islands scattered across Halong Bay, there is barely a stretch of the country that doesn’t look considered, despite none of it being built for a photograph. For anyone drawn to that kind of visual richness, trips to Vietnam that string a few of these regions together tend to deliver a route that looks as good as it feels to travel.

Hoi An’s Lanterns and the Last of Vietnam’s Tailoring Trade

Hoi An’s old town earned its UNESCO status for a reason: mustard-yellow shopfronts, wooden shutters, and silk lanterns strung across nearly every street corner, lit gold once the sun goes down. Much of the town closes to cars in the evening, so the best hours to walk it are after dinner, when the Thu Bon River picks up the reflected light and paper boats drift past on the current.

The town is equally known for its tailoring trade, built up over decades of dressmakers and suit-makers who can turn around a custom piece in a day or two, using fabric chosen on the spot from wall-to-wall bolts of silk and linen. A fitting usually takes less than half an hour, with a second visit the next day for adjustments.

Between the tailor shops, the night market stalls selling handmade shoes and jewellery, and the lantern workshops where the paper frames are still assembled by hand, Hoi An rewards slow browsing more than a checklist of sights.

Hanoi’s Old Quarter, One Coffee at a Time

Hanoi’s Old Quarter is arranged around thirty-six streets, each historically named for the single trade once sold there, from silk to silver to votive paper. French colonial architecture sits alongside that older grid, most visibly at the cream-coloured Hanoi Opera House and the twin spires of St Joseph’s Cathedral, both built during the era of French Indochina and still functioning as working buildings rather than museum pieces.

The city’s defining ritual, though, happens at street level and in tiny plastic chairs: egg coffee, a Hanoi invention made by whipping egg yolk, sugar, and condensed milk into a foam poured over dark Vietnamese coffee. Cafe Giang, credited with inventing the drink in the 1940s, still serves it from the same narrow alley location, though dozens of newer cafes across the Old Quarter have their own versions worth comparing. Mornings are the quietest time to walk the streets before the traffic and market stalls fully take over.

A Night on Halong Bay

Halong Bay’s nearly two thousand limestone karsts rising out of jade-green water have made it one of the most recognisable landscapes in Southeast Asia, and an overnight cruise remains the best way to see it properly. Boats typically depart from Hanoi in the late morning, reaching the bay by early afternoon for a first round of kayaking or swimming near one of the smaller islands.

Evenings on deck, once the day-trip boats have cleared out, tend to be the highlight: quiet water, a slow sunset behind the karsts, and dinner served as the boat finds a sheltered spot to anchor for the night. Many itineraries include a stop at Sung Sot Cave, one of the larger cave systems in the bay, along with an early swim or tai chi session on deck before breakfast. Cabins range from simple to considerably more polished, so it is worth checking what is included before booking rather than after.

What to Pack for the Look and the Heat

Vietnam’s climate makes packing a genuine puzzle: humidity that calls for the lightest possible fabrics, combined with cathedrals, temples, and pagodas that expect shoulders and knees covered. Linen and light cotton hold up better than synthetic fabrics in the heat, and a couple of looser midi dresses or wide-leg trousers cover both the temple-visiting and the dinner-out end of the wardrobe. Cafes and restaurants tend to run their air conditioning cold enough to justify a light layer, even in the middle of summer.

Cobblestones in Hoi An’s old town and uneven pavements in Hanoi make a stylish but sturdy sandal a better choice than anything with a heel, and comfortable shoes matter even more on a boat deck in Halong Bay. A scarf earns its space too, since it doubles as sun protection on deck and quick shoulder coverage at a pagoda entrance. Leaving room in the suitcase for a Hoi An tailoring order is worth planning for from the start, since most travellers end up buying more than they expected once they see the fabric choices in person.

Fitting the Three Together

Hanoi makes the most sense as a base for the first few days, since it connects easily to Halong Bay by road and to Hoi An by a short domestic flight to Danang, followed by a thirty-minute transfer. A route that spends three or four days in Hanoi, including the overnight cruise, before flying south to Hoi An for another three or four days, covers all three regions comfortably in ten to twelve days without feeling rushed.

Domestic flights within Vietnam are short and frequent, which makes this kind of multi-stop route easier to plan than it looks on a map. Booking the Halong Bay cruise and any Hoi An tailoring appointments a few days ahead, rather than on arrival, tends to open up better boat cabins and more flexible fitting times. The order can be reversed without losing much, though starting in the north keeps the coolest weather for the early part of the trip. Just imagine all the beautiful Instagram shots you can get here!