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Three Vietnam locales among world's 'best walking cities'
Hanoi, Hoi An, and Ho Chi Minh City have made the list of the globe's 100 best cities to discover by foot, as ranked by British tour operator GuruWalk.
The capital city of Hanoi ranked 42nd while the old historic port town of Hoi An came in 87th, and HCMC 99th.
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Foreign tourists walk in Hoi An ancient city, 2023. |
The list was based on booking and search data for 800 cities across 120 countries via the GuruWalk website between April 2023 and April 2024.
To compile the list, the company, which specializes in offering free walking tours worldwide, compared the number of bookings and page visits per destination.
Hanoi is well known for its rich history, French colonial architecture, and vibrant markets, all of which are easily experienced by walking. On foot, visitors can explore Thang Long Imperial Citadel, Temple of Literature, Ngoc Son Temple or stroll along the French-built Long Bien bridge.
According to GuruWalk, though many tourists choose to explore the capital by motorcycle, the best way to get a deep insight the city's history and culture is on foot.
"While Hoi An is famous for its old town illuminated by colorful lanterns, unique architecture, and custom tailoring, HCMC offers a mix of French colonial architecture, modern skyscrapers, and historical sites like the War Remnants Museum that are well worth exploring on foot," the site added.
Despite the ranking, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's two largest metropolises, have often received complaints from both locals and tourists about the lack of space for walking, given the encroachment of sidewalk by vehicles and vendors.
According to GuruWalk, Rome is the world’s best walking city, followed by Budapest and Barcelona.
Hanoi, home to a large number of cultural and historical sites and craft villages, is taking measures to develop experiential tourism to attract more visitors to the over-1,000-year-old capital.
The labor ministry wants the government to declare a five-day Reunification Day-Labor Day holiday with people taking April 29 off and working instead on May 4, Saturday.
Online travel platform Agoda has ranked the former imperial city of Hue third in a list of Asia's eight cheapest destinations with average room rates of US$43 a night.
The Vietnam International Travel Mart (VITM) 2024 themed “Vietnam Tourism – Green Transition for Sustainable Development” kicked off in Hanoi on April 11, attracting 700 enterprises across the country and 16 foreign countries and territories.
Source: VnExpress
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