Customized Hanoi City Tour

We have zeroed down on the following sights for a city tour in Hanoi (We will explore the Hoan Kiem Lake area by ourselves as we are staying closeby):

- Ho Chi Minh Complex ( Mausoleum, Museum, Presidential Palace, Stilt residence)

- Museum of Ethnology

- Hilton Hanoi 鈥楶rison鈥?Museum

Now I had a few queries:

1. Will a half day tour sufficient to cover these three sights (say 8AM 鈥?12:30 PM)?

2. We thought we will be able to join in a city tour but there are hardly any half day city tours with any reputable company that covers all our sights. Could anyone suggest a tour company that has a tour like this ( HALF-DAY only because eof time constraints)

3. As an alternative, we were thinking hiring a car ( with driver) and visit these sights on our own but (i) do drivers double up as guides or (ii) guide is not really needed at these places ( self explanatory) or (iii) are guides available on sights ?

4. Also, any idea how much should a tour of two cost for these sights ( Some travel company quoted me %26gt; US$ 100 for this, which I found as much as full day tour charges and slightly excessive

5. Finally, are we missing out on any must-do sights here (gave conscious miss to Temple of Lit.)

Customized Hanoi City Tour

I hired car + driver for $70 (12 hours) from the hotel. The car is Toyota Inova.

You can skip Mausoleum, I see little point going there. Stilt, Museum and others are interesting.

I%26#39;d visit Temple of Lit, Hanoi Hilton and explore some of the lakes (Ho Tay, Lenin Park, Haon Kiem). You don;t need a guide to visit all of those places.

Customized Hanoi City Tour

Thanks. I was mainly worried about ';need of guide';. There are some sights which one fail to appreciate without proper context.