Business Class: London or Manchester, UK to Hanoi, Vietnam from £1183

🌍 About hanoi

Hanoi splits cleanly between the chaotic Old Quarter — 36 streets each named for the guild that once worked it (Hàng Bạc for silver, Hàng Mã for paper goods) — and the wide French-colonial boulevards around Hoàn Kiếm Lake. The dish to order is bún chả: smoky grilled pork patties in a bowl of sweet-sour fish-sauce broth, with cold rice noodles and herbs you dunk yourself. It's a Hanoi original, not phở, and lunch is when locals eat it. Then egg coffee — whisked egg yolk and condensed milk over strong robusta, invented in 1946 at Café Giảng during a milk shortage and still served there. Come in autumn, October–November: dry, cool (15–20°C), the city's best weather. Skip June–August, which is hot, sticky and wet — though that's also when fares drop.