On a dike of the Duong River , 30 km away from Hanoi lays the But Thap Pagoda.  This tranquil pagoda sits amidst brilliant green rice paddies and hemp fields, its amazing sculptures offset by the stunning landscapes.

But Thap Pagoda is one of the finest pagodas in Northern Vietnam and well known as the first Buddhist centre nationwide. History places its influence beginning in the 13th century and continuing until the Late Le Dynasty 3 centuries later.

Dong Ho village, formally called Mai village, belongs to the Song Ho commune, Thuan Thanh District, Bac Ninh province which is located along the southern bank of Duong River Dyke, 30 km to the East of Hanoi.

 Dong Ho village is famous for an old and special art form called Dong Ho. This art is attractive to the local and foreign people alike. Coming here visitors watch the artisan’s produce pictures using carved boards painted with various colors of ink.

Dong Ky Village is 25 km from Hanoi . It now belongs to Dong Quang commune, Tien Don District, Bac Ninh province. Previously, Dong Ky was popularly known for the fire cracker festival organized on the 4th of January according to the lunar calendar. This was a fire cracker contest where the participants made big cylinder crackers measuring from 0.5 to 0.8 meters across and 3 to 5 meters long made of many small fire crackers. The crackers that exploded all their small fire crackers were the winner. The festival no doubt evolved from ancient religious rites begging for thunder, lightning, and rain.

Located in Cau Giay District, west of Hanoi, the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology opened at the end of 1997. Since then, it has attracted the attention of visitors as well as ethnographers and researchers from all over the world.

 It contains more than 10,000 objects, 15,000 black and white photos and hundreds of video tapes and cassettes which depict all aspects of life, activities, customs, and habits of the 54 ethnic groups of Vietnam.

Vietnam Fine-Arts Museum is a lively historical treasure depicting the origins and evolution of Vietnamese fine arts.

In June 1966, house No. 66 on Nguyen Thai Hoc Street in Ba Dinh District was transformed into the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum. Two-storey building displays the art works.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is an architectural masterpiece built out of the deep affection the Vietnamese people have for their beloved president. After two years of construction, the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum was opened to the public on August 29th, 1975.  The Mausoleum was constructed with the help of many localities throughout the country, also government agencies, military units and the Russian people.

The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum was designed in the shape of a lotus flower representing the noble history of our nation and lofty virtues of our beloved president. “Sen”, in English, lotus, is also the name of the village of his birth, Kim Liên Village (yellow lotus).  It reminds one of the verses in praise of our beloved president: “Thap Muoi is regarded as most beautiful with lotus flowers; Vietnam is regarded as most beautiful with the name Uncle Ho”.

During the Vietnam war many U.S. soldiers became prisoners of war (POWs). Some of those
prisoners ended up in prisons such as the Hoa Lo prison.  The Hoa Lo prison, located in the middle of the city of Hanoi, was nicknamed the Hanoi Hilton.  It got this nickname because the building was formally the old Hotel Metropole. The prison was North Vietnam's main penitentiary, and the Administrative headquarters for the country's entire prison system. There were approximately one hundred and forty Americans without passports or portfolios locked up in Hoa Lo Prison Camp.  Hoa Lo was designed as a prison-makeshift jail.

Hoan Kiem Lake is located in the center of Hanoi. This Lake also called Lake of the Restored Sword. The name Lake of the Restored Sword is derived from a legend.

After ten years of hard fighting (1407-1417), the Lam Son insurrectionists led by Le Loi swept the foreign invaders out of the country of Dai Viet (Great Viet), ending the Ming's 20-year domination over the Viet people. Le Loi became a national hero, proclaiming himself kings, called Le Thai To and establishing his capital in Thang Long.

The Van Mieu is a famous ancient monument consisting of the Temple of Literature and Vietnam's first university. The Temple of Literature was built in 1070 in honor of Confucius, his followers and Chu Van An, a moral figure in Vietnamese education.

Quan Thanh Temple is one of the Four Guards of Old Thang Long. Quan Thanh Temple is an important historical and cultural relic, on a large and beautiful area by West Lake near the northern gate of old Thang Long Capital.

The three ancient Chinese characters at the top of the entrance of Quan Thanh Temple read "Tran Vu Quan", which means that the temple is dedicated to Buddha and his faith­ful disciples. Saint Tran Vu was both a legendary character and a saint who assisted Emperor An Duong Vuong in chasing away ghosts during the construction of Co Loa citadel.

Flowing from China through Vietnam to the South China Sea, the Red River is also known as the Yuan Jiang, which means "Primary River."

The river begins in China's Yunnan province. It flows generally southeast, passing through Dai minority areas before leaving China through Yunnan's Honghe Autonomous Prefecture. It enters Vietnam through Lao Cai province, and eventually passes by the eastern edge of the Vietnamese capital Hanoi. Tonkin is located on the river delta. In colonial days, the French and other powers attempted to establish the Red River as a trading artery with China, with some success. The Black River is the Red River's chief tributary

Tran Quoc Pagoda is one of the oldest pagodas in Vietnam and a cultural symbol of Vietnamese Buddhism.

It is said that, the pagoda was built under the reign of King Ly Nam De (544-548) under its original name of Khai Quoc (National Founder). It was originally built on the bank of the Red River (then West Lake and the Red River met). In the time of King Le Kinh Tong (1600-1618), the pagoda was removed to the Kim Ngu (Golden Fish) Islet due to the river bank crumbling and was renamed Tran Quoc (National Defence).

Van Phuc is situated on the bank of Nhue River, 10km from Hanoi on the southwest motorway. The village is in the centre of Ha Dong Town, Ha Tay Province, and the biggest silk production village in Vietnam. The sound of looms has filled Van Phuc for a thousand years, and is a touching sound to villagers when returning from far away.

The main road is surrounded by greenery and ponds, and colourful bolts of silk drying on the road. In fact, the village's fine silk, commonly known as Ha Dong Silk, has inspired many poets and composers to write about its beauty.

A sizeable lake in inner Hanoi , it covers an area of five hundred hectares. The road fringing the lake is 17 kilometers long. Geographers have shown that West Lake was once a part of the Red River transformed into a lake when the river changed its course. Perhaps, owing to this change of course, many legends have been handed down connected with the lake and its name. For instance, according to the "Ho Tinh" story, the lake was called "Xac Cao" because there was a nine - tailed fox hiding there to cause harm to the people. Long Quan, the God of Waters, raised the level of the waters to destroy the fox’s lair; the cave it occupied collapsed and was turned into a lake.