Hanoi tours and day trips all start from the same place, the Old Quarter, and the city is easiest to read by area rather than by landmark. Hanoi is Vietnam's capital and the base for everything in the north. The Old Quarter's 36 trading streets still carry the guild names that made them: Hang Gai for silk, Hang Bac for silver. Ba Dinh holds the Temple of Literature, founded in 1070, and the Imperial Citadel. West Lake is where the city slows down. Ninh Binh is under 2 hours away, Ha Long Bay about 3.5, Sa Pa an overnight train. Booking a tour here is mostly about what is already handled. The street food walking tour picks up and drops off inside the Old Quarter, puts an English-speaking guide with you and covers the food and drinks, from $29 per adult; the motorbike version of the same route is $59. Full-day city sightseeing by limousine is $42 per adult, and the jeep tours run $61 for a half day and $120 for a full day with the countryside added. Day trips work the same way: the Ninh Binh full day at $53 includes the return limousine transfer, entrance fees, the Trang An boat and lunch, which is most of what makes that day awkward to assemble on your own. The choice that actually changes your trip is how many days you give Hanoi and where the spare one goes. Two days covers Hoan Kiem, the Old Quarter, the French Quarter and Ba Dinh on foot, and a guided tour earns its place mainly through the food and the context. Three days is where a day trip fits, and Ninh Binh is the only one that genuinely gets you back by evening. Four days turns Ha Long Bay into an overnight rather than a rushed day cruise. For longer trips, the multi-day routes leaving Hanoi carry the transport between cities too, priced per person by hotel class over six days or more.