Hanoi Hop-On Hop-Off Sightseeing Ticket

Hanoi is dense, hot and hard to cross on foot, and its sights are further apart than a map suggests. An open-top bus that loops the lot and lets you get off wherever you want solves most of that in one ticket.

The circuit runs through the busy streets of the capital and stops at the landmarks people come for: the Hanoi Post Office, the Opera House, Tran Quoc Pagoda out on West Lake, and the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum on Ba Dinh Square. A full loop takes about four hours if you stay aboard, which is itself a decent orientation to the city.

The point, though, is not to stay aboard. Get off at whatever you want to spend time on, and pick up the next bus when you are done.

The open upper deck is the reason to take this rather than a taxi. Hanoi is a city best seen slightly above street level — the shopfronts, the tangled wiring, the balconies, the traffic moving like water around everything — and the top deck puts you exactly there, with clear sightlines for photographs you cannot get from the pavement.

The upper deck is open, so Hanoi’s sun and its sudden rain both reach you — take a hat, water and something light for a shower. Admission to anything you get off to see is not included. The mausoleum keeps its own hours and closes for a period each year for maintenance, which is decided by the authorities rather than the bus operator.