Things to Do in Hanoi With Kids: Ages, Child Prices and Plans

The UK Foreign Office says violent crime against foreigners is rare and that petty theft and pickpocketing occur regularly. It also says compliance with road laws is poor and that visitors should be aware of motorcycles approaching as they walk. For a family that last point is the one to plan around. Cross at a steady pace and never stop halfway, hold a small child's hand on every kerb, and keep the youngest on the building side of the pavement.

Pavements in the Old Quarter are often full of parked bikes, so a pram spends half its time in the road. A carrier works better under two. From the age of about three most children walk the lake path happily, and the lake is the one place where the traffic stops: motor vehicles are banned around it from 19:00 to midnight on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which makes the weekend evening the easiest hour of the week for a toddler. Taxis and ride-hailing cannot reach the lake edge then, so get out a street away.

Heat and Rain

Hanoi's monthly figures matter more with children than with adults. The June mean maximum is 34.9 C, and August has an average of 17.2 rain days. From June to August keep the outdoor part of the day before 11:00 and put the museum or the puppet show after lunch.

December and January average 21.3 C and 20.2 C at the daily peak, which is cool enough for a sweater. The month-by-month page has every month.

Tet and Closed Days

The public-sector Tet holiday for 2027 runs from Thursday 4 February to Wednesday 10 February. Hoa Lo Prison stays open all year and the water puppet theatre says it performs 365 days a year, so a family in Hanoi at Tet still has two indoor options. The Ha Long and Ninh Binh listings carry Lunar New Year surcharges, so read the extras on the listing before you book a trip that week.

The ticket prices below are the standard adult fee at each venue. Where a venue sets a height instead of an age, the height is stated. The water puppet row is our listing, not the theatre's own seat price.

The Night Tour Prices Children by Height

The Temple of Literature's evening programme is the one place where a child pays. A one-show package costs adults $11.62 (VND 299,000) and children $5.79 (VND 149,000). The two-show package costs $15.51 (VND 399,000) and $7.74 (VND 199,000).

Adult means taller than 1.30 m, child means 1.00 to 1.30 m, and children below 1.00 m go in free. The tour runs from 18:30 on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, and a tall nine-year-old pays the adult rate.

Toddlers and Under Fives

Keep each day to one booked thing. The water puppet show is 50 minutes of puppets on water, and children aged 0 to 2 sit free on a parent's lap. Fold the pram first, since the theatre listings say strollers do not fit.

The morning goes on the lake and a snack, and the afternoon on a rest at the hotel. A SIM or eSIM for the parent's phone saves hunting for wifi, and our eSIM listing has an age band for children from 2.

Ages 6 to 12

This is the age the Temple of Literature suits, which is free for them and has room to run. The Hoa Lo Prison visit is also free, but it is a war prison, so decide as a parent whether the cells will upset a nine-year-old. A 4-hour jeep tour such as our Army Jeep listing lists a child band of 4 to 9 and infant seats, which turns the sightseeing into a ride.

Teenagers

Hoa Lo, the Citadel and an evening food walk fit teenagers better than the lake does. A cooking class is the other good fit, though one of our listings is not suitable for children under 4, and the egg coffee class lists ages 8 and over. Our food tour listings state no minimum age, and a street food walk is the easiest group activity for a family with mixed ages.

A family needs a hotel they can return to at 13:00 for a rest, so distance to the lake matters more than the star rating. The Old Quarter puts every sight in this guide within a short walk, and the airport bus 86 passes the lake stop. West Lake is quieter and wider, but a car ride from the puppet theatre. The area comparison lays the four districts out, and the family-room question is one to ask the hotel directly, since the room types are the hotel's own.

Getting From the Airport

Noi Bai is about 28 km from the centre and a car ride takes about 35 to 40 minutes. With luggage and a child a private car is easier than the bus. The airport page compares the options, and a private transfer listing starts at $12 a group. Bus 86 costs $1.94 (VND 50,000) a person and a G7 taxi package from the inner city to the airport is $8.55 (VND 220,000) for a 5-seat car.

A city-only trip needs two days, as the itinerary page explains. The ordering above follows the closed days, which are the mausoleum's Monday and Friday and nothing else.

• Day 1, the lake day. Morning at Hoan Kiem Lake, lunch, a rest, then the water puppet show in the late afternoon. On a Friday, Saturday or Sunday finish with the car-free lake after 19:00.
• Day 2, the culture day. The Temple of Literature at opening and the Imperial Citadel after lunch, both free for children under 16. Skip the mausoleum with under-tens because it is morning only, queued and silent.
• Day 3, the trip. A Ha Long Bay day cruise or a Ninh Binh day trip, both long days by road, so go only if the children manage three hours in a vehicle each way.

Ha Long Bay With Children

Our day cruise listings state the child rules plainly. On one day cruise children aged 4 to 8 pay the child rate for the first child and under 4 are free. A second Ha Long listing prices ages 3 to 7 at 75 percent, lets under 3 go free and bars kayaking for children under 12.

An overnight Ha Long Bay cruise listing lets children aged 1 to 4 stay free in a shared room, with only one free child per two adults. The bay's own day fee is VND 250,000 on the main routes, which is $9.72 (VND 250,000), and the cruise listings say whether it is included.

Ninh Binh With Children

Our day trip listing lets children under 4 go free, and children over 1 metre pay an entrance fee at the destination. The official Trang An ticket is $11.66 (VND 300,000) for adults taller than 1.3 m and $5.83 (VND 150,000) for children from 1 to 1.3 m, and children under 1 m are free. Hang Mua is $5.83 (VND 150,000) for anyone over 1 m.

Do not go onto the railway at Train Street. The Hanoi Department of Tourism told tour operators in March 2025 not to organise tours to the trackside cafes, and the track is a working railway. Skip kayaking for under-twelves where the listing forbids it, and do not rely on a pram in the Old Quarter. Do not book two long days in a row: the drive to Ha Long Bay is about two and a half hours on the listings and Ninh Binh is a similar ride back.

The mausoleum also needs thought. It opens on set mornings and the rules on the youngest admitted age conflict between reports, so decide at the gate rather than from a blog.