11 Interesting Facts about Hanoi

Hanoi is one of the most important cities in Vietnam and the capital of the country. This city is famous for having French colonial structures, interesting history, old cultural and delicious food. It is also beautiful with brilliant lake, rivers, museums, malls, monumental facts, culture and others that are interestingly not available in other cities of Vietnam.  Let's dig a little deeper and find out more about some of the interesting facts about Hanoi. We listed the selected 11 for you, after narrowing down the list from uncountable others. 
 

The name does stand for an interesting meaning; the name of the city means the ‘City inside rivers’ or the city of lakes. The reason behind this interesting fact is that the city is built between rivers; the fact also signifies the specialty of this city of having popular lakes like Ho Thien Quang Lake, Hoan Kiem Lake, Truc Bach Lake, and Thu Le Lake.
 

This fact is unique and not everyone knows about it, the Hoan Kiem Lake is home to tortoises that is now the reason for the lake to become the holy place for Vietnamese. However, you will not be able to spot them easily and will have to wait to get a glimpse of these beautiful creatures when they come on the surface. The reason why the tortoise is hard to spot is because of the color of the lake, they more or less look like the same color.
 

Hoan Kiem Lake

 

This is an interesting fact most of the visitors will not be aware of, so if you are a fan of by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, then do give the bridge a visit because it sure has a beautiful view to the city.
 

While researching about the city, you must have noticed the beautiful but congested house structure in Hanoi, well, this fact about Hanoi is quite interesting. The houses are built in close proximity because people want to save some property tax. The tax is based on the width of the building and this why there are so many of the tube houses in the city. This system of property tax was introduced in Vietnam in the 19th century.
 

If you hate traffic and crowded roads, then you are in for a real treat in Hanoi. The cities will be flooded with motorbikes, and you bump into one in every few steps. Having motorbikes is a common thing in Hanoi and owning a car is considered a luxury. However, the property tax thing really hit back and the roads are very small in the city, which interests most of the riders to buy a bike.
 

Vietnam Motorbikes

 

You might have heard about the dog meat is common in this part of the world, and when it comes to Hanoi, you will find dog meat in almost every meat shop. Even more common in the northern part of the city, so if you are adventurous and wanted to try something unusual, then Hanoi is the city to be.
 

Hanoi is famous for having various art form, but this is one of a kind, you will find water puppetry to be one of the most interesting facts about Hanoi. This is taken as a popular mode of entertainment and also an important part of the culture and tradition from almost 1,000 years now.  The Ly Dynasty introduced this water puppetry in the olden time, the puppet show was held in an actual river where the puppeteer stood in knee-deep water to carry out the show. 
 

Vietnam Water Puppetry

 

This is an informative fact about Hanoi that the museum name after Ho Chi Ming still has his preserved dead body. However, Ho Chi Ming wanted to be cremated after his death but his great work for the country made his a legend. The museum has a lot of information about his life and his great work.
 

This is like a summary to some of the facts, if you are impressed from all the interesting facts about Hanoi and decided to travel to this great city, then you shouldn’t miss the delicious food of this town. The city serves some of the delicious Vietnamese food on the streets and restaurants.

See more about Top 10 Best Restaurants in Hanoi     Hanoi Street Foods & Breakfast
 

The city is famous to serve cheap beer and hopping nightlife, if you wanted to enjoy the nightlife of Vietnam and cheap booze in Vietnam, then Hanoi is the place to be. Some of the interesting places, then the Bia Hoi junction will be perfect. They serve cheap beer with some traditional Vietnamese snack. The prices can be as surprising as VND 5,000, which is (USD 0.21, EUR 0.18, INR 16). However, the prices may vary after the pandemic now.
 

You might have noticed the beautiful French Colonial Structures all over the city, the glimpse of the structure is in almost every monument and architecture of Hanoi, starting with churches, cafes, Catholicism, and others. These glorious monumental structures are a result of French history that is attached to Vietnam.

These are some of the interesting facts about Hanoi, these will help you clear out the cloud that made you give a second thought to visiting the country. These selected facts build the very base of Hanoi and there are many others that we will leave it on you to discover when you visit Vietnam.