Hola! From 40 degrees of Andalusian sunshine to the noise and heat of Southeast Asia — our Schengen break this time took us somewhere completely different.
Four days in Hanoi, Vietnam. A city that somehow pulls you in the moment you step off the plane — the scooters, the smells, the colour, the sheer energy of it. It was everything our quiet life on the farm is not, and we loved every single minute of it (right up until a super typhoon had other ideas).
Here’s everything we got up to, and what it actually cost us.
🏛️ Day 1 — Hoa Lo Prison & Spring Roll Lunch
We started with history. Hoa Lo Prison — known to many as the Hanoi Hilton — was our first stop, and it’s one we’d highly recommend to anyone visiting. Tickets were 50,000 Vietnamese dong per adult, and the kids went in free. For a family of four, it came to less than £3 total.
We chose not to film much inside. It’s a place that deserves your full attention, not a camera lens — and it left us with a lot to reflect on quietly as a family. The tree in the courtyard alone is worth the visit.
After that, we wandered Hanoi’s streets and quickly learned the rules: pavements are mostly used as parking for mopeds, so you walk on the road. The traffic never fully stops, even when you cross — scooters simply flow around you. Strangely, it all works. The kids, naturally, treated the whole thing like a parkour playground.
Lunch was in a lovely little restaurant where we wrapped our own Vietnamese spring rolls in rice paper — fresh, full of flavour, and an absolute hit with Hayden and Amaya. Getting them involved in making their own food makes it so much more memorable than just eating.
🏮 Hang Ma Street & Phung Hung Mural Street
In the afternoon we stumbled onto Hang Ma Street — a riot of lanterns, puppets, and people all trying to get the perfect shot. Traffic weaved right through the crowds. It was brilliant but a little overwhelming, so after taking it all in we moved on.
Just around the corner was a discovery we loved even more: Phung Hung Street, Hanoi’s mural-covered thoroughfare. The artwork is stunning, but what makes it special is the story behind it. This street was reportedly one of Hanoi’s first motorbike markets, and the murals — including a beautiful golden Honda motorcycle — bring those memories of trade and city life back to life. One mural in particular made Callum stop and wonder aloud. It’s that kind of street.
✍️ Jem’s Travel Phrase Trick
Whenever we arrive somewhere new, Jem handwrites a few key phrases in the local language and carries the paper with her. It sounds old-fashioned, but it works — locals appreciate the effort every single time, and it opens up conversations that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. Highly recommended. Callum remains unconvinced until it gets us a free dish.
🌳 Lakeside Walks, a Sun Skink & the Botanical Gardens
We spent time strolling around one of Hanoi’s lakes and were struck by how much greener everything felt compared to our last visit to the city back in 2016. The trees planted along the waterfront over the years have made a real difference — it’s calmer and more beautiful than we remembered.
Across the water, the skyline tells a different story. New developments have transformed the horizon significantly since 2016 — the contrast between the green lakeside and the towers rising behind it is one of those only-in-Asia views.
Callum also conducted a very impressive fictional job interview at one of the lakeside cafés. He has a lot to bring to the team, apparently.
By the lake we spotted a common sun skink basking on the rocks — a harmless little lizard that made the nature-loving members of our family very happy (all four of us).
Our next stop was the Botanical Gardens — entry just 2,000 Vietnamese dong, which works out at about 6p. Wandering around a beautiful green space for practically nothing. That’s one of the things we genuinely love about Southeast Asia.
🍜 Lunch for £1.27 a Dish
Later in the day we wandered until we found a little local restaurant that stopped us in our tracks. Every dish was around 45,000 Vietnamese dong — roughly £1.27 — and the food was extraordinary. Fresh, full of flavour, and the kind of meal you’re still thinking about hours later. Finding places like this by just walking and following your nose is one of the great joys of travel.
🏛️ Vietnam Museum of Ethnology
We took a Grab taxi to the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology — one of the best museums we’ve ever visited with kids, full stop. Entry was 40,000 dong per person (around £1.20), and it was completely worth it.
The indoor exhibits are fascinating, but it’s the outdoor area that really steals the show: full-scale traditional houses from different ethnic groups across Vietnam, recreated in detail — and you can wander inside many of them. It’s immersive in a way that a glass-case museum simply can’t be. The kids were climbing up into traditional longhouses and asking questions we hadn’t anticipated. That’s worldschooling at its best.
🚂 Train Street & the Bottle Cap Trick
No Hanoi trip is complete without Train Street — the famous narrow alley where a working railway line runs straight through the middle of people’s front doors.
We made it just in time for a train to pass, and some local kids showed us a trick we immediately loved: put bottle caps on the track, wait for the train, then collect your perfectly flattened souvenirs. Simple, free, and the kind of thing the kids will talk about for years.
🌺 Hoàn Kiếm Lake & the Victory Museum
Hoàn Kiếm Lake is one of Hanoi’s most photographed spots, and for good reason — beautifully maintained, ringed with trees and flowers, and home to the little Red Bridge Temple on the water. We didn’t go inside the temple this time (note to selves: dress appropriately), but we’ve been before and it’s stunning. Even a lap of the lake is worth your time.
We then headed to the Victory Museum — another 40,000 dong entry (~£1.20) and another brilliant find. Tanks, aircraft, historic photographs and documents — it gives you a real insight into Vietnam’s military history and the country’s extraordinary resilience. Highly recommended.
We also visited the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum — one of Hanoi’s most significant and visited sites. A place of real cultural weight, and a reminder that every city has layers you’d never find from a tourist map.
🌪️ Super Typhoon Ragasa — Time to Go
And then the weather intervened.
Super Typhoon Ragasa was heading directly for Hanoi. While we’d been told the city manages these well, with two children and flexibility in our plans, we made the call: we leave early.
That’s one of the unexpected gifts of this lifestyle — when something unexpected happens, we can move. We’re not locked into hotel bookings we can’t change or jobs we can’t leave. We booked flights south and headed to Phu Quoc Island instead of waiting it out. Our Thailand trip was originally five days away, and while we couldn’t reroute the existing flight (it hadn’t been officially cancelled), we cut our losses and headed somewhere sunny and safe.
We’ll see you in Phu Quoc.
💰 Hanoi Cost Highlights
| Activity | Cost |
|---|---|
| Hoa Lo Prison (family of 4) | <£3 |
| Botanical Gardens (each) | ~6p |
| Lunch per dish | ~£1.27 |
| Vietnam Museum of Ethnology (each) | ~£1.20 |
| Victory Museum (each) | ~£1.20 |
| Grab taxi | Minimal |
Hanoi is extraordinarily affordable for families — even the major museums cost less than a coffee back home. It’s one of the reasons we keep coming back to Southeast Asia during our Schengen breaks.
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Have you been to Hanoi? Or weathered a typhoon on your travels? Drop us a comment — we’d love to hear your stories. ¡Hasta la próxima! 🌻