Co Loa Citadel

Tickets and tours: all the options

There is no advance ticket for Co Loa. You pay a small fee at the gate of the temple complex in the centre of the village, and the ramparts, moats and lanes around it can be walked freely. Signs are mostly in Vietnamese, so on your own you will see the buildings but miss most of the story.

What is sold online is almost entirely transport plus a guide from Hanoi. The commonest formats are half-day rides on the back of a vintage scooter or a motorbike, half-day or full-day trips in an open jeep, and guided cycling days for fit riders. Many full-day versions add the ceramics village of Bat Trang on the other side of the river, and some include lunch in a local home; a few add a rice-paper village or a second temple. Private tours with a car and guide are also offered and suit families or anyone with limited mobility. Entry fees are usually included, but check the details, as drinks and tips are not.

The sensible choice for most visitors is a half-day guided trip, which gives you the legends and the layout in three or four hours. Travellers already familiar with the history, or with a rented scooter, can manage on their own with a taxi there and back.

A short history

Vietnamese chronicles say that An Duong Vuong, king of Au Lac, built Co Loa after defeating the last Hung king, and that a golden turtle helped him finish the walls and gave him the claw for a magic crossbow. The city fell to Nam Viet, according to the story, after his daughter revealed the secret to her husband. Excavations from 1970 onwards found Dong Son pottery under the walls, dated parts of the inner rampart to around 400 to 350 BC, and in the 1980s uncovered a 72 kg bronze drum filled with some two hundred bronze tools and weapons. In AD 939 Ngo Quyen made Co Loa his capital again, until it was sacked in 965.

Getting there

Co Loa is in Dong Anh district, across the Red River about 17 km north of the Old Quarter. The simplest way is a taxi or a ride-hailing car, which takes 30 to 50 minutes depending on the traffic on the bridges; ask the driver to wait or book the return in the app. City buses from central Hanoi also serve Co Loa, but they are slow and the route numbers change, so check the current timetable. By rented scooter it is an easy run on flat roads once you are clear of the city. Noi Bai airport is less than half an hour away by road, so the site can be fitted in on an arrival or departure day. Parking is available by the temple gate.

Rules and what to bring

These are active places of worship. Cover shoulders and knees, take off your shoes where a mat or sign asks you to, and do not step over the raised thresholds of the sanctuaries carelessly or point your feet at the altars. Ask before photographing people praying. Do not climb on the ramparts where crops are growing, as the banks are farmed. Bring water, sun protection and insect repellent; small cafes and stalls in the village sell drinks and snacks, and toilets are near the temple.

When to go

Hanoi has a hot, wet summer from May to September, with heavy afternoon showers that turn the earth banks to mud, and a cool, often grey winter from December to February. The most comfortable months for walking the ramparts are October to early December and March to April. Go in the morning: the light is softer, it is cooler, and you will share the temples mainly with local worshippers.

The busiest time of the year is the Co Loa festival, held for several days from the sixth day of the first lunar month, usually in February. It brings processions, music and large crowds from all over the region, which is interesting to see but makes the lanes slow going. Weekends are busier than weekdays with Hanoi families. Allow two to three hours for the temples and a short walk on the walls, or half a day if you want to cycle a longer stretch of the outer rampart.