Hanoi Today

Hanoi today is the leading center of scientific study and research in the country and has always been a centre for education and the arts. Retaining much of its older colonial charm, a fairly significant side effect of conflict has been to make Hanoi largely oblivious to modern architecture, except of course in select cases. The Old Quarter is famous for uninterrupted stretches of colonial and pre-colonial architecture, and it trades the commercial boom and modern sprawl of Ho Chi Minh City in the South for a more understated charm, worth enjoying for an extra day or two, and with countless transport options and travel agents, it makes a perfect base for exploration of the North.