Hanoi

Hanoi resists the homogenising forces of rapid modernisation and preserves, in its core, the living texture of a millennial city. The Old Quarter (Pho Co) — 36 streets each named after the craft once traded there — is one of the best-preserved historic centres in Southeast Asia: goldsmiths, paper merchants and incense sellers follow one another through a labyrinth of tube houses with colourful façades.

Around Hoan Kiem Lake and its small island temple of Ngoc Son, the city breathes at its own pace: tai chi at dawn, evening strollers, scooters in permanent swarms. The Temple of Literature (Van Mieu, 11th century) is one of the finest preserved monuments in the country — a Confucian university surrounded by pavilions and gardens. Nearby, the Ba Dinh district holds the monuments of the revolutionary era: the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology (one of the best in the region) and the One Pillar Pagoda.

But Hanoi is also lived in the street: bun cha grilling over charcoal braziers, pho bo served at dawn in steaming bowls, crunchy banh mi at any hour, ca phe trung (whipped egg coffee) in old cafés on Dinh Tien Hoang street. The city is the gateway to northern Vietnam and the natural departure point for Ha Long Bay (3 hours by road), the rice terraces of Sapa and the Ha Giang loop.