FAQ | Flavors of Hanoi

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Take A Food Tour with Us?

Why take a food tour with us? That’s a really good question!

For starter, we are native Hanoians. We’ve grown up in Hanoi and have been giving tours since 2008. Being food lovers and knowing the best local food places, we thought it would be a great idea to show travelers delicious foods in Hanoi’s most charming neighborhoods.

Buffalo Joe, the owner of Flavors of Hanoi, began his love for food from delicious meals cooked by his grandma, who he grew up with. He’s still showing his love of cooking with her, and taking her to his favorite street foods in the city.

Flavors of Hanoi is a super small-sized tour business that specializes in foodie tours in Hanoi. We won’t show you anything unless we know about, believe in it, and love it! We use old school methods and our personalities with everything we do, this is what makes us the best at what we do. No bells and whistles, just good food, honest people and fun.

Our food tasting tours are led by experienced foodie tour guides. You’ll learn about the history and culture of a neighborhood while enjoying foods served by street vendors, eateries, and family-run restaurants.

Each sit-down tasting takes around 15-20 minutes, allowing you to enjoy the local atmosphere in a relaxed manner. Most of the time, we go in and out of food establishments, walk down interesting streets, and learn about the fascinating history and culture of a neighborhood.

First time Hanoi visitors, street food lovers, foodies, food bloggers, and regular travelers! Our food tours are designed for anyone who loves Vietnamese food, wants to explore Hanoi and get to know its people.

If you are in search of authentic flavors of Hanoi, history, culture, and local architectures, you’ll find them on our food tours. Even if you’ve food restrictions, we welcome you aboard – we’ll make accommodations and make you feel comfortable all along the way.

There are indeed many other food tour companies and individuals offering Hanoi street food tours. These other food tours might know something about Vietnamese food or where to eat some local dishes.

But we’re pretty sure you won’t find anyone that can offer Hanoi foodie tours with high level of cultural interactions and personality like we do. We truly love what we do and we enjoy being good at it. We want to share our professional expertises with you – and let you fall in love with them – just as we have.

Our Food Tours

All of them, eventually!

Each tour exposes flavors of Hanoi in a certain neighborhood, and if you want to get a full view of what available in the city – this might help:

1. Heart & Soul of Hanoi Old Quarter: This tour introduces you in depth about our favorite neighborhood – the Old Quarter, it exposes the flavors of the city’s Old Quarter through the most authentic street foods, and brings you to the home of a local family to learn about how the life of the local here really looks like.

2. Hanoi Street Food Tour: A food tasting tour, walking through Hanoi’s Old Quarter and slightly the French Quarter. We wind through quaint and lively neighborhoods with some great mom-and-pop establishments. All food tastings are Vietnamese and about specialty restaurants – a pho restaurant, a bread shop, a coffee shop, and more… This is the tour that started Flavors of Hanoi.

3. Hanoi Home-Hosted Dinner: Explore the Vietnamese culture by joining a local family for a meal, lunch or dinner, and learn what tight their family members together. Imagine what does a home of the local look like, what must they have, who cook the food and what do they eat.

4. Hanoi Cooking Class: Learn to cook several traditional Vietnamese foods after visiting a local wet market to buy ingredients for the day, then confidently prepare a traditional Vietnamese meal with a hand-on cooking class with our Hanoi chef.

5. Flavors of Hanoi French Quarter: A food tasting tour, in which most of our walking is in the French Quarter. The tour winds through historical sites of Hanoi, exploring both Vietnamese and French fusion foods. Especially, it includes a local home visit! The tour is perfect for those wanting to experience the French Quarter of Hanoi.

6. Day in the Life of Hanoian: This tour exposes you to the daily life of a Hanoian, and you won’t only see the highlights of the city but also experience a typical day of the local. This is one of the best ways to explore and learn about the city and its people.

Who Should Take A Food Tour?

Our food tasting and cultural walking tours have been developed especially for Vietnamese food and the country’s history lovers. We find that some children have a blast on our foodie tours, and if you think yours will, please bring them along. Our tours are great for young history and food lovers, as well as future chefs!

Whether to bring your child is entirely up to you, but please note that ALL CHILDREN ages 6 and above will be charged. We assume that if your child is below the age of 6, they will not be participating in the tasting portion of the tour, or they might be sharing tastings with a parent. Therefore, for children below age 6, they will be FOC.

Whatever you decide, be sure to indicate when you make your reservation whether you are bringing a child on the tour. Please also note that strollers can be a challenge on the tour due to the many narrow sidewalks that we walk on, the full-of-vehicle streets that we walk through, and the very small shops that we visit.

For child pricing – see our FAQ labeled: ARE THERE CHILD PRICES?

We do have a solo traveler on our food and culture walking tours, whether they be a traveler or local looking for something fun and different thing to do in Hanoi. We have found that most people who take our tours are adventurous and sociable, excited about trying amazing Vietnamese food, and open to meeting new people! If you are open to meeting new people and having a great time, you’ll have a wonderful time on a food tour with your foodie guide.

The Food

Yes, we can. And please consider the nature of the tour and determine if it’s a good fit for you, then discuss your needs with us when booking a tour. Some locations will be able to make substitutions; others may not. You may elect not to sample some foods that do not meet your needs, in such cases, the signature food items that the tour highlights will not be available to you during the tour.

If you have food allergies, please let us know before booking any of our food tours. Please email us at hello@flavorsofhanoi.com or text us at +84 967 25 8586.

Booking A Tour

We understand that mistakes, illnesses and emergencies happen, and those things can all get in the way of attending and arriving on time for a food tour. So please contact us at +84 967 258586 or hello@flavorsofhanoi.com to discuss situations as early as you become aware of them.

At the same time, we do encourage you to be thoughtful about requesting a last minute change and to save that privilege only for unique situations since your spots on the tour are being held for you.

Additionally, as part of our company philosophy, we always aim to keep a good balance between pleasing you (our customer) and being fair to our tour guides. We’re sure you understand the balance we try to maintain in keeping everyone super satisfied.

If you would like to cancel a booking, the following cancellation fees apply:

Within 2 days before the tour, we’ll charge 100% of total tour price.
Within 3 to 6 days before the tour, we’ll charge 50% of total tour price.
More than 7 days before the tour, we won’t charge a dollar. We’ll issue you a full refund. We hope that you are safe and healthy. And thank you so much for supporting our small business, it means everything!

The Weather in Hanoi

You can get an accurate daily weather forecast at AccuWeahter.com/Hanoi.

Here are some general Weather Conditions in Hanoi month by month:

Weather in January: January in Hanoi is a comfortable winter-spring month, with an average high-temperature of 19.3°C (66.7°F) and an average low-temperature of 13.7°C (56.7°F).

Weather in February: February is another comfortable month in Hanoi, with average temperature ranging between min 15°C (59°F) and max 20°C (68°F).

Weather in March: March is a pleasant month in Hanoi, with temperature in the range of an average low of 19°C (66°F) and an average high of 23°C (74°F).

Weather in April: April in Hanoi is a warm spring month, with average temperature fluctuating between 22°C (72°F) and 27°C (81°F).

Weather in May: May is Hanoi’s first month of summer, so it’s a warm month in Hanoi. The average temperature ranging between max 32°C (90°F) and min 25°C (77°F).

Weather in June: June is the hottest month of the year in Hanoi. The average high-temperature is 33°C (91°F), while the average low-temperature is 26°C (79°F).

Weather in July: July in Hanoi is a bit less hot than June, the average temperature varying between 26°C (79°F) and 33°C (91°F). There may be a typhoon affecting Hanoi in July.

Weather in August: August is the last month of the summer in Hanoi, but it’s still hot with average temperature fluctuating between 26°C (79°F) and 32°C (90°F). There may be a typhoon affecting Hanoi in August.

Weather in September: September is the first month of the autumn in Hanoi, the weather is still warm. The average high-temperature, is 31°C (88°F), while the average low-temperature is 25°C (77°F).

Weather in October: October in Hanoi features pleasant weather, with average temperature fluctuating between 22°C (72°F) and 29°C (84°F).

Weather in November: November in Hanoi is another month with pleasant weather. The average high-temperature, in November, is 25°C (77°F), while the average low-temperature is 19°C (66°F).

Weather in December: December is still a pleasant month in Hanoi, its temperature in the range of an average low of 15°C (59°F) and an average high of 22°C (72°F).

Logistics

Not more than you can handle! The pace is usually good for everyone. We cover enough of a neighborhood to satisfy your curiosity. We’re walking for approximately 3km (1.8mi) to 5km (3mi), and we’re on our feet for approximately 3 hours.

Please note that there are few uneven sidewalks and some stairs that we navigate during the tour. If uneven sidewalk or busy traffic is a problem for you or any of your guests, please indicate that when you book a tour, so we can do our best to accommodate your needs.

Please be informed that many of the narrow streets and hidden alleys we walk, along with the small shops and staircases are not conducive to strollers and wheelchairs. This does not mean that we don’t welcome both, it just means that some tours are going to be better for you than others.

For strollers, we do recommend something small that folds up easily (an umbrella stroller usually works best). Many of our locations are very small and trying to keep children in strollers in the stores can be a struggle, so having something the child can be taken in and out of easily is going to make it a much more pleasant experience for both child and parent.

We want to do our best to accommodate whatever mobility needs you might have, please to contact us directly, so we may find the tour that works best for you!

Still Need Us?

If your question isn’t answered here, you can text or call us via WhatsApp at +84 967 25 8586

or email us at hello@flavorsofhanoi.com, and we’ll be happy to help.