Hoan Kiem Lake at dawn

Walk the lake of the returned sword at first light, when half of Hanoi is out dancing, stretching and gossiping before the traffic wakes.

Area

Old Quarter & Hoan Kiem

Start from

Old Quarter

Distance

walking distance, a 1.7 km loop

Time needed

2–3 hours

Best season

All year; spring and autumn mornings are loveliest

Difficulty

Easy

Transport

On foot from anywhere in the Old Quarter

Tickets & rules

The lake is free; small ticket for Ngoc Son Temple; covered shoulders and knees inside the temple

Why go

If you do one thing early in Hanoi, make it this. Between about five and half past six the lake belongs to the city’s own people. Groups of women in matching tracksuits dance to tinny speakers, retired men practise tai chi in slow motion, couples jog in pairs, and someone always plays badminton across an imaginary net. Nobody is performing for visitors. This is simply how a crowded city makes room for itself before the working day.

The loop is short, about 1.7 kilometres, and completely flat. Old trees lean over the water, their roots cracking the paving, and the mist on a winter morning softens the outline of the little Turtle Tower on its islet. As the light comes up, the red lacquered bridge to Ngoc Son Temple begins to glow, and the first coffee sellers set up their stools on the pavement.

It is also the best orientation you can give yourself. The Old Quarter lies just north, the French-built boulevards and the Opera House to the south and east, and almost every walk in this guide starts within ten minutes of the water.

The story

The lake’s name means the Lake of the Returned Sword, and every Hanoian child knows why. In the early fifteenth century Le Loi led a long uprising against Ming occupation, and legend says he fought with a magical sword given to him by the gods. After victory, as he was boating on this lake, a great golden turtle rose from the water and asked for the sword back. Le Loi returned it, the turtle sank with it into the depths, and the lake has carried the name ever since.

The story was not entirely myth. The lake really did shelter a giant softshell turtle, one of the rarest freshwater turtles in the world. Its appearances were treated as omens and reported in the newspapers. The last known individual died in 2016, and a preserved specimen of an earlier turtle, enormous and slightly unsettling, is displayed in a side hall of Ngoc Son Temple.

Ngoc Son, the Temple of the Jade Mountain, sits on a small island at the northern end, reached by the curved red The Huc bridge, whose name is often translated as the bridge of the morning sunlight. The temple honours Tran Hung Dao, the thirteenth-century general who repelled the Mongol invasions, alongside the scholar Van Xuong. The Turtle Tower in the middle of the lake is newer than it looks, built in the 1880s, but it has become the symbol of the city.

At the lake’s edge stand the Pen Tower and the Ink Slab gate, a nod to the scholars who once passed here. Calligraphers still sit on this stretch before Tet, painting characters of good fortune for anyone who asks.

Getting there

Every hotel in the Old Quarter is within a ten- to fifteen-minute walk. Cross roads slowly and steadily; drivers will steer around a predictable pedestrian. If you are staying further out, a Grab motorbike or car will drop you at the northern end by the Ngoc Son gate.

From Friday evening to Sunday night the streets around the lake become pedestrian zones, which makes the evening walk relaxed as well, though crowded.

A suggested plan

1. 5:30Arrive at the northern end and walk anticlockwise while the dancers and tai chi groups are out.
2. 6:15Stop at the eastern shore to watch the light on the Turtle Tower and the red bridge.
3. 7:00Breakfast nearby: a bowl of pho or sticky rice from a pavement seller.
4. 8:00Cross The Huc bridge when Ngoc Son Temple opens and see the preserved turtle.
5. 9:00Coffee in an upstairs café overlooking the lake before the heat builds.

Where to stay

Base yourself in the Old Quarter or the quieter lanes just east of the lake near Hang Be and Ma May. You will want to walk here more than once, and being close means you can come back at dusk without planning it.

Good to know

• Winter mornings from December to February are often grey and misty, which is atmospheric but chilly; bring a layer.
• The weekend walking streets turn the lake into a huge family playground with street games and buskers.
• Upstairs cafés with lake views charge a little more for the view; one coffee buys you an hour at the window.
• Join in if a dance group waves you over. It is meant kindly.