Best areas to live in Hanoi

There is no best area... What do you want around you? What are your hobbies? What do you want to be near?

After you can answer all of these questions you can figure out what neighborhoods would best fit your needs and hopefully you'll get lucky in finding a great apartment.

Personally I settled in Cong Vi and am super happy.

Hi,

Thank you for the reply, I left the question very vague because I wanted to hear the raw opinion of different areas that where not based on my preference. My taste can be very luxurious at times seeing that I've lived in countries that offer over the top luxury living thats beyond normal Western standards. I feel that if I state what Im looking and people point me in that direction it will get my hopes up to hight and possibly not fit the standard of living that Im accustom to. So I wanted to hear the opinions of others and their experiences with out the influence of my preference to keep an open mind and remain flexible.

Is there a particular reason you're choosing Vietnam, and particularly Hanoi?

Think maybe you should skip Hanoi

laquisha88 wrote:

Hi,

Thank you for the reply, I left the question very vague because I wanted to hear the raw opinion of different areas that where not based on my preference. My taste can be very luxurious at times seeing that I've lived in countries that offer over the top luxury living thats beyond normal Western standards. I feel that if I state what Im looking and people point me in that direction it will get my hopes up to hight and possibly not fit the standard of living that Im accustom to. So I wanted to hear the opinions of others and their experiences with out the influence of my preference to keep an open mind and remain flexible.

Try Da Nang, Hoi an, Nha Trang, Da lat......

I was born and raised in Hanoi and lived here for 30 years. In my opinion, HN is not a good place to live.
But if you choose to live here, I think Ho Tay (West lake) is quite a good option as it is more quiet and cleaner than most of others. A lot of foreigners have been living there so it will not be difficult for you to make friends and hang out sometimes.
But as in #2, there is not really a best place. It all depends on your expectation, job requirements, etc.
Best of luck.

Playstyle my career brung me to Hanoi. I had a choice between Shanghai, Vietnam, and Qatar. I've lived here in Abu Dhabi/Dubai for a few years now so I understand the Arabic life style and culture therefor I passed on Qatar. I picked Vietnam over Shanghai because I wanted to live somewhere that was not Westernized and that would allow me to immerse myself into a new culture. I have heard wonderful things about Vietnam from fellow coworkers and expats so I am hopeful. I have traveled and did 30+ days of volunteer work in different parts of Africa and India so I know every thing is not glitter and gold. Im a Texas girl so I grew up camping, finishing, and hunting. Majority of my solo vacation that Ive loved the most involved a lot of mother nature and hiking. I just need a clean, safe, and friendly environment at the end of the day with a touch of luxury/contemporary/modern living to lay my head at lol. My employer is paying for my housing, I just need to go out and find it.

Wald0 why is that? Is this based on your own personal experience?

Well if you expect luxury in Hanoi sure you can have some but not cheap. Tay ho area if you need other western people company. The thing is even tay ho is not what inwould call luxury I would say try to live close where you work. Unless you like sitting in traffic on rush hours day after day.

Wald0 I don't necessarily need any western company. I see a lot of people talk about Tay Ho as expat central but what about Vinhomes Time City and Royal City...is that a high traffic area or something? I've seen a few lovely flats that I like there but I don't know anything about the area. Ive tried to find a good and simple map of the districts but Ive had very little luck.

Hanoi don’t have districts like Saigon,  roayl city is nice but it is just tall buildings and shopping mall, and sure it is further from Tay Ho l, time city, well lot closer to Tay Ho. Just look google maps. Hoan Kiem lake is the center.

Okay...Royal City and Time City are a lot closer to my job than Tay Ho. I’ve never saw anyone post about them  like they do Tay Ho so I was just curious if it was a “bad” area or not. Thanks.

May I ask where is your job?
I guess, the reason why you dont see Royal City and Times City here because they are high-rise residence areas which probably not the cup of tea of most expats in this group.
They are are quite similar, crowded streets in front, very close to constructing main roads, owned by the same group (meaning the quality, services are exactly the same) They are quite decent if they are near to your job and you want to live in self-sufficient areas (by self-sufficient I mean services, facilities and necessities are all provided).
Google them for images.

My employer is in the Dinh Cong area. Yeah I know it’s high rises which is fine seeing that I currently live in one now. I just don’t care for high traffic.

If so, you might as well live in that area. It is not too crowded or noisy and besides there are a lot of trees and a nice lake there. Finding an apartment to rent would not be difficult for you as there are a bunch of high-rise buildings there.

Time city is a nice place to live, a little far from the city center and not than many expat so far. It is standard apartment, not what I will call luxury but maintained well by Vincom Group (and I live there as expat)

Time city is a very nice place. Lots to do and shopping is OK too. Also many places for dinning. But traffic! You can not excape heavy traffic anywhere in Hanoi.
I wish you the best in your endeavors.

" I just don’t care for high traffic "  - Hanoi is not the place for you.  That said, the area around Dao Tan is reasonable, but Tay Ho is the best spot.

Hungpx thanks for you input...so Ive been able to narrow it down to either Royal City or Time City and at this point its just going to be a matter of comfort.

Frede001 yes, I gave up on luxury some time ago my employer loves me and gave me a  really nice and comfortable budget for housing but they don't love me enough to give out $3,000+ each month for a single person's housing accommodation and Im not willing to make poor investments of  my own coins in another economy when I don't have to. Thank You for your input.

Bruce Jones Thank you for your lovely input.

Andrew Paul Gregory as an adult I've always lived in large cities with high traffic in comparison to more suburban, rural, or remote location but Ive always chose areas that had moving high traffic instead of stand still grid lock high traffic. Living in cities high traffic is a norm but if someone told me they prefer to live in the city but they don't care for high traffic then I would assume they mean anything outside of normal high traffic for that city such as 2 hour stand still traffic when you're only traveling to a 30 minutes destination. So whatever is outside of normal everyday Hanoi city traffic, that is extreme even for Hanoi, is what I would like to avoid. Thank You for your input on Dao Tan and Tay Ho.

Neither Times City nor Royal City is recommended atm if you are gonna work at Dinh Cong area given the main roads from both areas to Dinh Cong is under construction now and in the next 2,3 years. So again, If I were you I would live in a hotel at first, then finding an apartment in Dinh Cong to rent. There are plenty of choices for you.
Best of luck.

So even if on map roayl city look to be close to Dinh Cong area roads to there are really congested like  truong chinh and giai phong at rush hours.. truong chinh even normal hours before they can make that small strech wider.
But hard to say without knowing exact location where you work.

Thanks...yea my employer is putting me in a Hotel for two week when I land so ill figure it out.

Good luck! The main reason I didn't move to Royal City or Times City is because they seem like their own little secluded cities and it just seemed like a bit of a turn off to me.

I hope you find an awesome home! You'll have a lot of flexibility with the budget you have. Take care.

Well, if you want more authentic/ol'skool experience definitely avoid Tay Ho... It's an expat/western bubble... Nice, more quiet but still a bubble 
Personally I like the Truc Bach area ( I live there) and boulevards around Ho Chi Min mausoleum... For me a good mix of modern and traditional, and not too spoiled with western type of things...

Time City and Royal City are, well... more suited for Bangkok or Singapore... Not Ha Noi

Also, have in mind how much time you'll need to reach work... Don't know if you ride a bike or not... It takes me 20-30 min from Truc Bach to Minh Khai every morning... Since I ride a bike it's fun for me... But if I have to rely on someone else to transport ( taxi, bus, grab..) I wouldn't live that far...

But again, everything is subjective, I needed a month and a half to sort of discover and decide where I'd like to live.