Hanoi Old Citadel - Northern Gate
Hanoi Old Citadel - Northern Gate
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
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4.0
258 reviews
Excellent
65
Very good
106
Average
76
Poor
5
Terrible
6
Tiago M
18 contributions
Nov 2019
Although the pictures make it seem that this place is very beautiful you can tell only the main gate usually appears. Even though it is a place with great historic value, it is poorly maintained and the descriptions are very poor. You can see electric cables everywhere, junkyard and construction debris alongside the buildings... The archaeological site across the street has nothing to see. No explanations anywhere and no one that speaks english.
We wasted our time.
We wasted our time.
Written January 18, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Clevelang
Cleveland, Australia65 contributions
Jul 2022 • Friends
Very fortunate to have some friends in Hanoi take us round the city on their scooters. One of the stops was the citadel.
July in Hanoi is not cool but getting to visit this place with a local is.
Always interesting to learn a little history but the addition of a local perspective added a lot. Vietnam's history is full of other nations trying to impose their will on this beautiful country. Staring at the empty space where ancient buildings were removed by the French. Climbing down into the underground bunker where leaders sheltered from Us bombardment. So many reminders here of a peace and independence achieved at great cost.
July in Hanoi is not cool but getting to visit this place with a local is.
Always interesting to learn a little history but the addition of a local perspective added a lot. Vietnam's history is full of other nations trying to impose their will on this beautiful country. Staring at the empty space where ancient buildings were removed by the French. Climbing down into the underground bunker where leaders sheltered from Us bombardment. So many reminders here of a peace and independence achieved at great cost.
Written July 28, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Michael L
Brisbane, Australia52 contributions
Oct 2024 • Couples
We spent a great morning walking around the Citadel. Took plenty of photos as the whole place is very impressive, especially viewing the archeological diggings. Central area of Hanoi to go onto other attractions
Written October 3, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Heng How N
Singapore, Singapore7,584 contributions
Nov 2018 • Friends
Hanoi ancient citadel is on Phan Dinh Phung Street, Ba Dinh district. The army hotel is just 150m away. The gate is huge with two recess can be seem on the left side of the gate created by the French army during Nguyen dynasty. Even though most of imperial palace can' t be preserved, this gate should maintained.
Written November 19, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Philip L
Hong Kong, China11 contributions
Feb 2015 • Friends
We were delighted to find that we could enter the citadel without admission fees. There are many bonsai displayed inside the citadel boundary. There is a nice view around the gardens around up at the top of one of the gates.
Written February 26, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Clive H
49 contributions
Nov 2014 • Couples
This place is well worth a visit. For an entrance fee of 30,000 Dong (£1.50 at 2014 prices) the visitor gets a glimpse into Vietnam's royal past. The site comprises a splendid gate with three entrances, a number of buildings housing various exhibitions, the command bunker used during the American War and there is also one of the finest collections of bonsai in Vietnam - there are hundreds of them. There are ongoing archaeological digs on the site with finds being displayed in one of the buildings. This is the place to while away two or three hours before facing the mayhem of Hanoi's traffic. The Military Museum is close by - you can see it from the gateway and even photograph some of its hardware through the railings. A definite must.
Written December 12, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Vikas Singh
Ghaziabad, India4,140 contributions
Nov 2013 • Family
The Imperial Citadel of Thang Long was constructed earliest by the Ly dynasty in 1010 and remained the seat of the Vietnamese court until 1810, when Huế became the capital city. The royal palaces and other various structures were largely destroyed by the colonial French in the late 19th century. Some structures remain such as Doan Mon gate and the Flag Tower of Hanoi, as well as the steps of Kinh Thiên Palace and the Hậu Lâu (Princess' Palace).The Vietnamese military command under General Giap, had its headquarters in the citadel in the building known as D67. In 2010 the citadel was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as "The Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long - Hanoi
Written July 11, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Geobar01
Manchester, UK1,494 contributions
Apr 2014 • Couples
The 'Old Citadel' formed part of the old imperial and administrative centre of Hanoi and has a number of interesting, as well as some less frequently publicised features that make it worthy of a visit. If you decide to add it to your itinerary though your first task will be to locate it, which may come as a surprise considering the fairly large area it covers. There are two problems here the first of which is that many guidebooks simply show it in the wrong place! To take one example, before leaving for Vietnam we bought two pocket sized up to date guidebooks one of which was the Marco Polo guide. This included street plans of Hanoi that, like many I've seen in print and online clearly show a large area labeled 'The Citadel'. Technically they are correct but from your point of view as a visitor they can't be more wrong so I'll start by explaining why and the tell you how to find the proper entrance with no problem.
The Citadel as shown on many street maps is bounded on the East by Phung Hung Road and to the West, variously, by Nguyen Tri Phuong Street or Hoang Dieu Road. Indeed, at the time of writing the current edition of The Marco Polo guide to Vietnam gives directions based on this to take you there. I single this guide out for mention because it highlights the problem well - "Visitors can enter the inner Citadel via the Northern Cu Back gate, the West gate in Phung Hung street or the Dow Mon central gate at the level of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum" (p.45). The first of these doesn't exist and crossing the road from Cu Bac takes you down Nguyen Tri Phu'o'ng, the left side of which will lead to a uniformed challenge because this is where you will find entrances to the ministries of defence and economics. There are a couple of gates to the 'Old Citadel' on the right side as you walk down from Cu Bac but these have been securely padlocked for a long time. Trying to use the second gate mentioned by the author in the guide, on Phung Hung Road, leads to the sentries guarding one of the entrances to the Ministry of Defence rather than the Old Citadel and only the last gives a rough indication of which direction you need to to locate the entrance from.
The only entrance to The Old Citadel is to be found on Hoaing Dieu Road. At the time of writing, if you are walking over from the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum don't try to cut across using Bac So'n because it's closed for construction work. With North at the top, the Old Citadel you are looking for is in the area bounded by Hoang Dieu on the West, Nguyen Tri Phu'o'ng on the East and Phan Dinh Phung to the North.
On passing through the gate head immediately to the Reception building to your right where you will find a long row of ticket counters (admission was 30,000 VND, about £1 on average) with a row of as yet unused ticket barriers at the end. Walk past them and wait for someone to check your ticket before heading up the driveway towards the imposing gate ahead. Take some time on the way to note the collection of bonsai trees that line the road on your left.
Bearing right as you approach you will find the main entrance gate with steps to your left that will take you up the pagoda like structure above with views back down the drive and across to the archaeological excavation, though there is little else up here unless you are interested in the architecture.
The first and largest of the buildings coming up to your left as you walk ahead houses some of the remains uncovered by the archaeologists, most being ornate ridge tiles from the buildings that once stood on the site. These are interesting to look at but unless this is a special interest there is a limit to how many ridge tiles you probably want to look at. Not very well publicised it seems is a feature to be found down steps located at the end of this building, an original command bunker from the war with South Vietnam and the USA. Through double steel doors that probably wouldnt have survived a direct hit from a B52 you will find a small complex of rooms with maps, situation boards, communication booths, an air 'scrubber' and several small displays of photographs and items from the time.
Following a roughy clockwise route around the site, you will next see a very large drum and a stone turtle, both worth taking a few minutes to examine before moving on in part because that 'stone' turtle is described by the sign next to it as consisting of two tones of rough blue sapphire! Proceeding to the smaller building beyond you will find a range of slightly tired looking photographs and site plans detailing different ages of the Citadel but they do give more detali about how the Citadel has developed. As you go, if the ground is at all wet take good care because it's suprisingly slippy around here.
Carrying on beyond this building you will see a series of 'dragon steps' that give some extra feel to what the site must once have been like though you can't ascend here. Instead you will see some steel steps to the left that will take you up to the next group of structures where, in the main building behind the raised courtyard you will find a small temple. Remembering to remove your shoes before entering you will find this follows exactly the layout of temples elsewhere, such as that at Hoan Kiem Lake on the other side of Hanoi.
As you head back outside and make your way around the building to head for the structures at the far end of the site take a moment to consider the open space the you will be crossing beneath which lies another of The Citadel's wartime secrets, bunker 67. First though, the last building ahead holds wartime interest of its own with a command centre once known as D67 belonging to the former North Vietnamese government. This was general Giap's HQ and contains a full conference table complete with name boards many of which will be familiar to serous students of history. There are additional rooms for meetings both formal and informal that add more to the the visitor's sense of that period. Once you have taken these in, head back outside and you will see two concrete entrances each with a long flight of steps leading down to a much deeper bunker. This is both interesting and a little disappointing, interesting because it highlights the concerns about bombing in that time and for anyone who likes things subterranean a bunker is always a bonus, disappointing because all the effort to create it produced little more than a short corridor and a conference room, presumably for the leadership to relocate to in time of air attack. Outwardly it seems a great deal of effort for relatively little purpose though.
Heading back, the building on the left side as you retrace your steps contains further remains from the archaeological excavation and reconstructions of short sections of drainage channel. Most of the remains again consist of elaborate roof and ridge tiles accompanied by photographs and descriptions in Vietnamese and English of some of the work carried out and the conclusions drawn from it. Unless you have a special interest, if you have already seen enough ridge tiles earlier in your visit then there is likely to be little here to detain you much longer.
To sum up, follow the directions given above, preferably alongside a street map if you want to make your own way to the Old Citadel, ignoring guides that mistakenly give the location of what is now a large government compound. Once their it's probably best if you work your way methodically around the site concentrating on those aspects you find most interesting, though with the modern history of Vietnam in mind along with the importance of reunification to the state you see today, the two bunkers mentioned are worthy of a visit, particularly as a counterpoint to the calm of Ho Chi Minh's house not so far away. There is no restriction on photography and at least when we visited their were no guides though the presence of so many ticket stalls and installation of ticket barriers suggests there are plans to develop the Old Citadel as an attraction. If you want to continue after your visit here concludes you might want to consider the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, where you can expect long queues, a dress code and where photography is prohibited; the nearby presidential palace ( just a view from the driveway); Ho Chi Minh's house (photography permitted), the Ho Chi Minh Museum (some restrictions) and in the opposite direction the Military Museum (photography permitted). Within this area all of these can be comfortably visited on foot within one day given a reasonably early start and bearing in mind the wait you are likely to encounter to enter the Mausoleum. I hope you enjoy your visit to this part of Hanoi a much as we did.
The Citadel as shown on many street maps is bounded on the East by Phung Hung Road and to the West, variously, by Nguyen Tri Phuong Street or Hoang Dieu Road. Indeed, at the time of writing the current edition of The Marco Polo guide to Vietnam gives directions based on this to take you there. I single this guide out for mention because it highlights the problem well - "Visitors can enter the inner Citadel via the Northern Cu Back gate, the West gate in Phung Hung street or the Dow Mon central gate at the level of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum" (p.45). The first of these doesn't exist and crossing the road from Cu Bac takes you down Nguyen Tri Phu'o'ng, the left side of which will lead to a uniformed challenge because this is where you will find entrances to the ministries of defence and economics. There are a couple of gates to the 'Old Citadel' on the right side as you walk down from Cu Bac but these have been securely padlocked for a long time. Trying to use the second gate mentioned by the author in the guide, on Phung Hung Road, leads to the sentries guarding one of the entrances to the Ministry of Defence rather than the Old Citadel and only the last gives a rough indication of which direction you need to to locate the entrance from.
The only entrance to The Old Citadel is to be found on Hoaing Dieu Road. At the time of writing, if you are walking over from the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum don't try to cut across using Bac So'n because it's closed for construction work. With North at the top, the Old Citadel you are looking for is in the area bounded by Hoang Dieu on the West, Nguyen Tri Phu'o'ng on the East and Phan Dinh Phung to the North.
On passing through the gate head immediately to the Reception building to your right where you will find a long row of ticket counters (admission was 30,000 VND, about £1 on average) with a row of as yet unused ticket barriers at the end. Walk past them and wait for someone to check your ticket before heading up the driveway towards the imposing gate ahead. Take some time on the way to note the collection of bonsai trees that line the road on your left.
Bearing right as you approach you will find the main entrance gate with steps to your left that will take you up the pagoda like structure above with views back down the drive and across to the archaeological excavation, though there is little else up here unless you are interested in the architecture.
The first and largest of the buildings coming up to your left as you walk ahead houses some of the remains uncovered by the archaeologists, most being ornate ridge tiles from the buildings that once stood on the site. These are interesting to look at but unless this is a special interest there is a limit to how many ridge tiles you probably want to look at. Not very well publicised it seems is a feature to be found down steps located at the end of this building, an original command bunker from the war with South Vietnam and the USA. Through double steel doors that probably wouldnt have survived a direct hit from a B52 you will find a small complex of rooms with maps, situation boards, communication booths, an air 'scrubber' and several small displays of photographs and items from the time.
Following a roughy clockwise route around the site, you will next see a very large drum and a stone turtle, both worth taking a few minutes to examine before moving on in part because that 'stone' turtle is described by the sign next to it as consisting of two tones of rough blue sapphire! Proceeding to the smaller building beyond you will find a range of slightly tired looking photographs and site plans detailing different ages of the Citadel but they do give more detali about how the Citadel has developed. As you go, if the ground is at all wet take good care because it's suprisingly slippy around here.
Carrying on beyond this building you will see a series of 'dragon steps' that give some extra feel to what the site must once have been like though you can't ascend here. Instead you will see some steel steps to the left that will take you up to the next group of structures where, in the main building behind the raised courtyard you will find a small temple. Remembering to remove your shoes before entering you will find this follows exactly the layout of temples elsewhere, such as that at Hoan Kiem Lake on the other side of Hanoi.
As you head back outside and make your way around the building to head for the structures at the far end of the site take a moment to consider the open space the you will be crossing beneath which lies another of The Citadel's wartime secrets, bunker 67. First though, the last building ahead holds wartime interest of its own with a command centre once known as D67 belonging to the former North Vietnamese government. This was general Giap's HQ and contains a full conference table complete with name boards many of which will be familiar to serous students of history. There are additional rooms for meetings both formal and informal that add more to the the visitor's sense of that period. Once you have taken these in, head back outside and you will see two concrete entrances each with a long flight of steps leading down to a much deeper bunker. This is both interesting and a little disappointing, interesting because it highlights the concerns about bombing in that time and for anyone who likes things subterranean a bunker is always a bonus, disappointing because all the effort to create it produced little more than a short corridor and a conference room, presumably for the leadership to relocate to in time of air attack. Outwardly it seems a great deal of effort for relatively little purpose though.
Heading back, the building on the left side as you retrace your steps contains further remains from the archaeological excavation and reconstructions of short sections of drainage channel. Most of the remains again consist of elaborate roof and ridge tiles accompanied by photographs and descriptions in Vietnamese and English of some of the work carried out and the conclusions drawn from it. Unless you have a special interest, if you have already seen enough ridge tiles earlier in your visit then there is likely to be little here to detain you much longer.
To sum up, follow the directions given above, preferably alongside a street map if you want to make your own way to the Old Citadel, ignoring guides that mistakenly give the location of what is now a large government compound. Once their it's probably best if you work your way methodically around the site concentrating on those aspects you find most interesting, though with the modern history of Vietnam in mind along with the importance of reunification to the state you see today, the two bunkers mentioned are worthy of a visit, particularly as a counterpoint to the calm of Ho Chi Minh's house not so far away. There is no restriction on photography and at least when we visited their were no guides though the presence of so many ticket stalls and installation of ticket barriers suggests there are plans to develop the Old Citadel as an attraction. If you want to continue after your visit here concludes you might want to consider the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, where you can expect long queues, a dress code and where photography is prohibited; the nearby presidential palace ( just a view from the driveway); Ho Chi Minh's house (photography permitted), the Ho Chi Minh Museum (some restrictions) and in the opposite direction the Military Museum (photography permitted). Within this area all of these can be comfortably visited on foot within one day given a reasonably early start and bearing in mind the wait you are likely to encounter to enter the Mausoleum. I hope you enjoy your visit to this part of Hanoi a much as we did.
Written May 26, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Amanda W
Sanctuary Point, Australia29 contributions
Jan 2014 • Family
My group of six spent nearly an hour walking to and almost the entire way around this massive block, trying to find a way in. When we finally did, the other five decided to use their remaining time to go elsewhere but I persisted, and I am very glad I did. I spent a lovely, interesting and peaceful time wandering through the grounds and various exhibits.
So what do we wish someone had told us beforehand? That the entrance is on the west side, just near the south-west corner of the block. If you find your way to the Military Museum and Flag Tower, go left (west) and just around the corner you will find the Citadel entrance.
So what do we wish someone had told us beforehand? That the entrance is on the west side, just near the south-west corner of the block. If you find your way to the Military Museum and Flag Tower, go left (west) and just around the corner you will find the Citadel entrance.
Written January 20, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Abdur Rahman
Kushtia, Bangladesh160 contributions
Nov 2019 • Solo
It's awesome. It is the must see tourist spot for the history seekers. You will see some ruins. Must visit all compound.
Written November 12, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reading the opening hours, I assume it is morning only? Can you get in the grounds and wonder around if the citadel is closed?
Written October 6, 2016
yes..... we did it all with ourselves
Written October 28, 2016
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