Getting around Hanoi: transport explained

Every way to move around Hanoi in 2026 — walking, Grab, Xanh SM, the two metro lines, city buses, public bikes and the stations you leave the city from — with real fares, distances and the exact scenario each one wins.

Start with the map: the centre is smaller than it feels

The Old Quarter measures barely a kilometre across, and its 36 guild streets plus Hoan Kiem Lake, Ngoc Son Temple, Dong Xuan market and the Ta Hien beer corner all fall inside a 15-minute walk. That single fact decides most of your transport spending: base in Hoan Kiem and you can go two or three days on foot without paying for a single ride. Hoan Kiem Lake is the pivot everyone navigates from. West Lake and the Tay Ho cafes sit 5-6km north, the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Temple of Literature 2-3km west in Ba Dinh, and Noi Bai airport a full 27km and 40-50 minutes north across the Nhat Tan bridge.

So the rule is simple: walk everything inside the Old Quarter and around the lake, and only reach for a vehicle when you cross a district line. A trip to Tay Ho, the Imperial Citadel or the Long Bien night market is a ride; a hop between two pho shops on Bat Dan and Hang Bo is a two-minute stroll. Google Maps walking directions are reliable here, and pavements — where they exist under the parked motorbikes — are flat. If a route pushes you onto Tran Nhat Duat or the Long Bien approach roads, take a vehicle instead; those arteries carry fast four-lane traffic with no safe verge.

Ride-hailing: Grab is the default, Xanh SM and Be undercut it

Install Grab before you land; it is the app every driver runs on and it kills haggling, wrong turns and meter scams outright. GrabBike (motorbike, green jacket and spare helmet) costs 25,000-45,000 VND — roughly $1-2 — for anything inside Hoan Kiem, 60,000-90,000 VND to West Lake, and 150,000-200,000 VND to the airport. GrabCar runs about double the bike fare. Pay by linked card or cash, and watch the driver rating and plate before you get on. The one weak spot is pickup inside the tightest Old Quarter lanes, where a car cannot reach you — walk to a wider corner like Hang Dao or Cau Go and re-request if it stalls past five minutes.

Two rivals now genuinely undercut Grab. Xanh SM, the VinFast electric fleet launched in 2023, runs silent green cars and bikes that are often 10-20% cheaper on the same route, with fixed app pricing and no fuel-surge nonsense; its cars are newer and cleaner than most GrabCars. Be, a Vietnamese app, is the third option and sometimes the cheapest of all at quiet hours. Keep all three installed and price-check the same trip across them — the gap on a West Lake run can be 30,000 VND. Skip self-drive scooter rental unless you have ridden in this kind of traffic before; Vietnam averages over 20 road deaths a day and the Old Quarter is not where you learn.

The metro: two lines that help commuters, not sightseers

Line 2A, the Cat Linh–Ha Dong line, opened in November 2021 and was Vietnam's first urban metro: 13km and 12 elevated stations running southwest from Cat Linh, near the Temple of Literature, out to Yen Nghia in Ha Dong. Trains come every 6-10 minutes from 5:30am to 10pm, and a single ride is 8,000-15,000 VND by distance with a 30,000 VND all-day pass. It is fast, air-conditioned and floods-proof, and for the commute between the western suburbs and the edge of the centre it beats sitting in a car. For tourists it reaches almost nothing you came to see — Cat Linh is the only station within walking range of a sight.

Line 3, the Nhon–Cau Giay stretch, opened its elevated section in August 2024: 8.5km and 8 stations running east along Xuan Thuy and Cau Giay toward Kim Ma, with fares of 8,000-12,000 VND. The underground extension onward to Hanoi Railway Station is still under construction, so today the line stops short of the centre at Cau Giay. Verdict: ride the metro once for the novelty and the city view from the viaduct, and use Line 2A if your hotel happens to sit on it, but do not plan sightseeing around either. The network will not usefully serve the Old Quarter until the Line 3 tunnel opens.

Buses, public bikes and cyclos: the cheap and the slow

City buses cost 7,000-9,000 VND a ride and cover the whole city, but every sign and announcement is in Vietnamese and the routes crawl in traffic, so they are worth it only for a few clear runs. The big one is airport bus 86, an express between Noi Bai and Hanoi Railway Station via the Old Quarter for 45,000 VND — comfortable, luggage-friendly and a fraction of a Grab. Routes 09 and 14 loop usefully around Hoan Kiem and up toward West Lake. For everything else the fare saving over a GrabBike is a dollar you will pay back in lost time.

TNGo public bikes, rolled out across the centre from 2023, are the quiet surprise: docks ring Hoan Kiem Lake and West Lake, unlock through the app, and cost about 5,000 VND for 30 minutes or a 50,000 VND day pass, with e-bike versions slightly more. They are ideal for the flat 17km West Lake shoreline loop or an early-morning lake circuit before traffic builds. Cyclos, the bicycle rickshaws, are now purely a tourist novelty at 150,000-250,000 VND for a slow 45-minute Old Quarter loop — worth doing once at dusk, but agree the price and route before you sit down or you will be overcharged.

Leaving the city: which station and terminal for which trip

Hanoi Railway Station (Ga Hanoi) at 120 Le Duan is the hub for the Reunification Express south and the overnight sleepers to Lao Cai for Sapa; book Lao Cai berths 3-7 days ahead in peak autumn. Trains to Haiphong and some eastern routes leave from Long Bien and Gia Lam stations across the river, so check your ticket's departure station, not just the city — arriving at Le Duan for a Gia Lam train is a classic and costly mistake. The station is central enough to reach by a 60,000 VND Grab from the Old Quarter in 10-15 minutes outside rush hour.

Long-distance buses split across four terminals by direction, and picking the right one saves an hour of cross-town backtracking. My Dinh, in the west, serves the northwest — Sapa, Ha Giang, Mai Chau and Lao Cai. Giap Bat and Nuoc Ngam, both south of centre, cover Ninh Binh and everywhere down the central coast. Gia Lam, east across the river, handles Ha Long, Cat Ba and Haiphong. For comfort, skip the big terminals entirely and book a limousine van: 9-to-16-seat minibuses that pick you up at your hotel and run door-to-door to Ninh Binh (150,000-200,000 VND), Ha Long or Sapa, usually faster and only a little dearer than the public coach.

Timing, rush hours and crossing the street

Move against the clock and Hanoi opens up. Rush hours run roughly 7-9am and 5-7pm, when the arteries around the lake and the Long Bien and Chuong Duong bridges clog and a GrabCar can take three times as long as the same trip at noon — switch to a GrabBike, which threads the jams, or simply walk. Summer downpours from June to August flood low streets like Phan Boi Chau and the Old Quarter's eastern edge within minutes; the elevated metro and a covered taxi win on those afternoons, while bikes and cyclos stall. Plan museum visits and day-trip departures for mid-morning or early afternoon to dodge both.

Crossing the road is the skill every visitor must learn on day one: step off the kerb at a slow, steady, predictable pace and keep going, letting the motorbikes flow around you — the one fatal move is to freeze or dart back, because riders aim for the gap where you were going to be. Use the lake's traffic lights where they exist, and remember the weekend walking streets: from Friday 7pm to Sunday midnight the roads around Hoan Kiem close to all traffic, turning the whole core into a pedestrian zone. Budget 100,000-200,000 VND a day for transport if you base centrally and walk the Old Quarter, and you will rarely go over it.

Questions, answered

Is the Hanoi metro useful for tourists?

Not really yet. Line 2A (Cat Linh–Ha Dong) and Line 3 (Nhon–Cau Giay) run well and cost 8,000-15,000 VND, but both serve commuter corridors rather than the tourist core. Only Cat Linh station sits near a sight. Ride once for the view, but plan your sightseeing around walking and Grab instead.

What's the cheapest way to get around Hanoi?

Walking, then a mix. Inside the Old Quarter and around Hoan Kiem Lake everything is a 15-minute walk. For longer hops, a GrabBike costs 25,000-45,000 VND and Xanh SM or Be often undercut it. TNGo public bikes at 5,000 VND per 30 minutes are ideal for the flat West Lake loop.

Grab, Xanh SM or Be — which app should I use?

Install all three and price-check each trip. Grab has the most drivers and shortest waits. Xanh SM runs newer electric cars, usually 10-20% cheaper. Be is the Vietnamese option and sometimes cheapest at quiet hours. The fare gap on a West Lake run can reach 30,000 VND, so it pays to compare.

Which station or terminal do I leave Hanoi from?

Sapa sleeper trains and southbound trains leave Hanoi Railway Station on Le Duan; some eastern trains leave Long Bien or Gia Lam, so check your ticket. Buses split by direction: My Dinh for the northwest, Giap Bat and Nuoc Ngam for the south, Gia Lam for Ha Long. Limousine vans pick you up door-to-door.

Should I rent a motorbike to get around Hanoi?

Only if you are already an experienced rider with an International Driving Permit. Hanoi traffic is dense and fast, Vietnam averages over 20 road deaths a day, and the Old Quarter is not where to learn. For nearly every visitor a GrabBike at $1-2 a hop is cheaper, safer and comes with a driver who knows the lanes.