Reasons to fall in love with the autumn in Hanoi

1. The cool weather

The first and utmost reason for any foreign tourists to fall in love with the autumn of Hanoi is its weather. The weather these months is of the finest in Hanoi around the year. In contrast with the burning heat of the summer and the hard winter, the autumn brings a fresh and cool atmosphere to Hanoi.

Therefore, it must be convenient for tourists to go on a tour around Hanoi in this season since they do not have to worry about weather issues (for example: hard rain, storm, coldness, etc.) which may prevent them from enjoying their Vietnam customized holidays to the fullest.

Beside the cool atmosphere, the autumn is signaled by the sudden rain, slight breeze and gentle sunlight. The locals say they can sense that the autumn is coming through a change in the wind – it becomes more subtle and brings about slight rain that makes the weather coolers.

The sunlight is bright, it is not as faint as in the winter, neither is it as fierce as in the summer. It is gentle, yet strong enough to light up the city after a night sleep with the delightful scenery.

Autumn brings a very cool atmosphere to Hanoi (photo credit: e.vnexpress.net)

2. The romantic scenery

One more reason to visit Hanoi in the autumn is to witness its romantic beauty – which has become an endless inspiration for poets and musicians in Vietnam. Ask Vietnamese people to name the songs written about the autumn, you will find out that most of them are related to Hanoi.

So what makes the autumn in Hanoi so romantic and memorable? It might be the sight of fallen leaves in the side walk. In this season, the leaves of huge trees gradually turn red, reddish or yellow then slowly fall down and almost repaint the pavements.

Take a walk around Phan Dinh Phung Street and you will see a scenery that is as romantic as a setting in Korean film. The sidewalk is full of yellow leaves, the houses in two sides are built in traditional styles and when the autumn sunlight falls down on this road, it creates a stunning view that should definitely not be missed on a Vietnam private tour.

Beside Phan Dinh Phung Street, West Lake is also among the best places to visit in the autumn. Here you will have the chance to witness a marvelous sunset reflecting on the surface of the lake. Nowhere else in Hanoi can you find a more beautiful sunset view as in West Lake.

On your holidays in Vietnam, you should at least pay a visit to this place and watch the sunset there once to understand why it is a must-visit in the autumn of Hanoi.

Fallen leaves makes Phan Dinh Phung street more romantic in the autumn (photo credit: e.vnexpress.net)

3. The unforgettable scent

The autumn comes with a very familiar scent to Hanoians: The perfume of Milk flowers (Hoa Sữa). Contrary to its pure and fragile beauty, this flower has a strong and sweet fragrance that might leave a strong impression on anyone passing by.

Take a walk around streets where Milk flowers abound - Quang Trung, Nguyen Du, Quan Thanh, Thuy Khue, and Thanh Nien, you will observe a very interesting and contradictory attitude of the locals towards this kind of flower.

While some hate its perfume and even have an allergy to the scent of milk flowers, others are head over hills in love with it. Regardless of their attitude, the scent of milk flowers become so familiar to the locals who live far away from the city that whenever they smell that perfume, the memories of Hanoi inside them are awakened.

That fact is an evidence for how the fragrance of Milk flowers become a symbol of Hanoi’s autumn to the locals who live here and even those who just pass by the city in this season.

Travelling to Hanoi in autumn, you will have the chance to sense the sweet perfume of milk flowers. Whether you like it or not, that scent is not likely to fade away and it will become an unforgettable memory of your Vietnam vacation.

Milk flowers with its sweet fragrance will leave an unforgettable impression on anyone passing by (photo credit: news.zing.vn)

4. The exquisite flavor

Like other seasons in Vietnam, there are unique dishes that are served in the autumn that will captivate any foreign tourists on their trips to Vietnam. One of the most distinctive feature of Hanoi’s autumn is green rice flakes (Cốm).

Cốm is made from premature young rice and typically packed inside lotus leaves as well as packaged by fresh green rice straw around the outside. Its special sweetness and nutty taste mixed with the fragrance of lotus leaf brings about a very unique and exquisite flavor to anyone who has a chance to try.

Beside Com, young Dracontomelon (Quả sấu) also helps create the distinctive flavor of the autumn in Hanoi. In summer, young dracontomelons are used as ingredients for a thirst quenching drink. But in autumn, they are peeled and sugared or salted to make a spectacular dish often sold by street vendors.

The sourness of young dracontomelons added up with a little sugar or salt can easily become an unforgettable flavor to foreign tourists on their Vietnam customized tours.

In autum, Vietnamese people often gather in groups to get a taste of snail dishes because they are at their freshest during this season. Hot steamed snails taken out of shells and dipped into the delicious garlic sauce can captivate anyone with just a taste.

Having a chat with your beloved ones over hot snail dishes can be an interesting thing to try on a cool autumn night. That is why snail dishes should not be missed by any foreign tourists travelling on their Vietnam family tours in the autumn.

Green rice flakes (Cốm) is a specialty of Hanoi's autumn (photo credit: welcome2hanoi.com

Read more:

How to enjoy Mid-autumn festival in Vietnam?

When is the best time to travel to Vietnam?

View tour: Absolute Vietnam Holidays 15 days