Vietnam War Hidden History of Hanoi’s Charm and Hoa Lo Prison

What's Included

Meeting and pickup

Itinerary

• 1
  Hanoi

  1️⃣ Coffee Talk: Sip a cup of coffee (or another beverage) at a unique local café while retracing key milestones from feudal eras to modern times for an overview of Vietnam’s history. Vietnam's story will surely impress you with its profound depth and dramatic ups and downs alongside so many world powers.

  30 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 2
  Long Bien Bridge

  2️⃣ Long Bien Bridge: A bridge over 120 years old dubbed the "horizontal Eiffel Tower"—a witness to the complex relationship between Vietnam and France, as well as its enduring resilience through fierce American bombing raids.

  15 minutes • Admission ticket included
• 3
  Hanoi

  3️⃣ Hang Ngang Villa (Tuesday to Saturday) or Historic French Villa (Sunday & Monday): Visit the place where President Ho Chi Minh drafted the Declaration of Independence, or a century-old French villa to explore daily life under colonial rule. At these historic sites, step back into 1945 to discover the actions of French and Japanese forces, the trials faced by the Vietnamese, and the geopolitical chess game between the US and the Soviet Union during World War II.

  30 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 4
  Dong Xuan Market

  4️⃣ Dong Xuan Market: Hanoi’s oldest and most famous market, preserving memories of fierce battles between the Vietnamese and the French, where you may occasionally hear authentic stories directly from the old locals.

  15 minutes • Admission ticket included
• 5
  Hanoi

  5️⃣ Old Communal Apartment Blocks: Built mainly in the 1960s and 1970s, these blocks showcase unique subsidy-era architecture, where roughly 50 families share a common living space and hold fascinating stories about local life during and after the war.

  15 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 6
  Hanoi Opera House

  6️⃣ Hanoi Opera House & the French Quarter: Inspired by Paris’s Palais Garnier, this lavish landmark sits in an area known as "Little Paris in Hanoi." Behind its colonial charm lie stories of French-Vietnamese conflict and cooperation, visible bomb scars you can see firsthand, and fascinating tales of American presence—from famous anti-war figures like Joan Baez (Queen of Folk) and Jane Fonda to recent visits by US presidents.

  30 minutes • Admission ticket included
• 7
  Hoa Lo Prison

  7️⃣ Hoa Lo Prison (Inside Visit): Built by the French in the late 19th century to detain Vietnamese political prisoners, it was later used to hold captured American pilots and became known as the "Hanoi Hilton." During the visit, we will reveal moving stories of the Vietnamese held here, alongside surprising and intriguing insights into the daily lives of American pilots during their detention at Hoa Lo.

  45 minutes • Admission ticket included

Additional info

• Service animals allowed
• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
• Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
• Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness

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