Hà Nội

The capital of Vietnam, Hà Nội retains a layered urban character shaped by over a thousand years as a royal seat, a century of French colonial administration, and decades of post-reunification development. The Old Quarter's 36 guild streets preserve a medieval street pattern where narrow tube houses crowd together around Hoàn Kiếm Lake and the restored Ngọc Sơn Temple on its central island. The Temple of Literature, founded in 1070, is one of the best-preserved examples of traditional Vietnamese architecture in the north.