Hanoi doesn’t seduce you with grand views. It works on you through small things: the smell of charcoal and star anise at six in the morning, an old man doing slow exercises by the lake, a woman balancing two baskets of mangosteens on a shoulder pole while the motorbikes part around her like water. I came for three days the first time and stayed for two weeks, mostly sitting on low plastic stools, drinking strong coffee and watching the city go about its business.
These twenty routes begin in the Old Quarter and fan out: to the temples and lakes of the city, to the river caves of Ninh Binh, the bays of Ha Long and Lan Ha, and the mountains of Sa Pa and Ha Giang. Hanoi is the base for all of them. Travel slowly, carry a light jacket in winter, and leave room for the afternoons when you do nothing at all.
