Old Quarter to French Quarter, Hanoi: free self-guided walking tour
Quick answer. A free self-guided walking tour from the Old Quarter to the French Quarter in Hanoi: 3 stops, about 1.9 km, about 25 minutes of walking plus about 21 minutes of listening. Start in the Old Quarter, whose guild streets number more than seventy today, among narrow tube houses, and step into Bạch Mã Temple on Hàng Buồm Street, one of the four guardian temples of ancient Thăng Long, built around a frame of ironwood columns. Then walk south to the French Quarter, where the Hanoi Opera House, built between 1901 and 1911, was modelled on the Palais Garnier in Paris.
- Stops:
- 3
- Distance:
- about 1.9 km
- Walking:
- about 25 min
- Listening:
- about 21 min
Old Quarter to French Quarter, Hanoi: how long does the walk take?
About 46 minutes in all: about 25 minutes on foot over about 1.9 km, plus about 21 minutes of audio at the 3 stops. Time inside the sites is extra.
Old Quarter to French Quarter, Hanoi: in what order should you visit the stops?
Follow the stops in this order: Old Quarter, Bạch Mã Temple, and French Quarter. The longest stretch between two stops is about 1.7 km, about 23 min on foot.
Route and map
Navigate with Google Maps, listen with Mappu: the stories keep playing while you follow the route.
Opens Google Maps with walking directions through every stop.
Stop 1
Hanoi egg coffee was invented here, at Cafe Giang, when milk was scarce during the war.
about 7 min of audio
Next stop: Bạch Mã Temple · about 0.1 km, about 2 min on foot
Stop 2
The Temple of the White Horse honours Long Đỗ, described in the sources as the original deity of ancient Hà Nội.
about 7 min of audio
Next stop: French Quarter · about 1.7 km, about 23 min on foot
Stop 3
Charlie Chaplin spent his honeymoon at the Metropole in 1936, and Graham Greene wrote scenes of The Quiet American at its Bamboo Bar.
about 7 min of audio
How does this self-guided walking tour work?
The audio guides on this page stay free: open any stop to listen in your browser.
Walk Mode uses your location to narrate places as you walk. It opens in the Mappu app at the first stop, Old Quarter. Your first walk is free for three stops with a free Mappu account.
Walk Mode: 2 hours for 50 credits (€4.99 Starter pack)
Before you go
- Check opening hours, tickets and access on each site’s official page before you go.
- Distances and times are estimates: the walking route between stops, from OpenStreetMap, at 4.5 km/h. Your route on the street may differ.
Route checked by Mappu on October 20, 2026. Stop descriptions come from each place’s published Mappu audio guide. Mappu is a Fenutech product.