Haiphong

Opera House afternoon, Lan Ha Bay morning

A day and a half covers Haiphong and its islands. Spend the first afternoon on crab noodles, the 1912 Opera House, the French villas of Dien Bien Phu street and Du Hang Pagoda, then take an early hydrofoil from Ben Binh to Cat Ba the next morning for Lan Ha Bay and the national park.

Catch a morning train from Long Bien and you will be in Haiphong by lunchtime, hungry. Go straight for a bowl of banh da cua at a local stall, then walk to Theatre Square and the cream-coloured Opera House, finished in 1912 and still the grandest building in the city. Follow Dien Bien Phu street, lined with French villas and old banks, to the City Museum on Dinh Tien Hoang, open in the afternoon on most days except Saturday. Late in the day, wander south to Du Hang Pagoda, an old Buddhist temple with carved wooden halls and a quiet courtyard.

Evening is for street snacks. Find a cart selling banh mi que and a stall pouring local draught beer, and sleep early.

On the second morning, take one of the first hydrofoils from Ben Binh to Cat Ba, buying the ticket at the counter. Spend the day on the island: the trails of Cat Ba National Park, the Cannon Fort on its hill above town, or a boat into Lan Ha Bay, whose limestone islets and floating fishing villages see far fewer boats than nearby Ha Long. Kayaks can be hired for the sheltered lagoons. Check the weather forecast the evening before, because storms can cancel sailings without much notice.

Crab noodles, stick baguettes and pomelo Che

Banh da cua, brown rice noodles in a sweet field-crab broth, is the dish Haiphong is known for, and breakfast stalls serve it from dawn. Add banh mi que, the finger-thin baguette sold hot from carts, che buoi for dessert and a glass of Hai Phong beer brewed on Lach Tray street.

The dish that defines the city is banh da cua: flat, chewy brown rice noodles in a sweet, reddish broth made from field crabs, topped with water spinach, crab paste, fried shallots and sometimes slices of pork sausage. Breakfast stalls serve it from dawn, and every one claims its own recipe. Bun tom, a shrimp noodle soup, is the other bowl to look out for.

The local street snack is banh mi que, a baguette no thicker than a finger, split, filled with pork pate and dipped in a sauce of chilli, tomato and garlic. They are sold hot from carts, often by the bag. Banh beo, small steamed rice cakes topped with meat and eaten with dipping sauce, are another snack worth trying.

For dessert, che buoi is a sweet soup made with mung beans and crunchy pieces of pomelo pith, served with coconut milk and a few slices of salted dried coconut. In the evening, groups gather around hotpot (lau) and barbecue (nuong) tables, and the drink is Hai Phong beer, brewed in the city on Lach Tray street and poured by the glass at street corners.

Red flamboyants in May and the Do Son buffalo fights

Spring and autumn are the best times for Haiphong. April brings settled days around 26C, May fills the streets with red flamboyant flowers, and October and November cool to 26C to 29C with little rain. Summer is hot and stormy, and typhoons can cancel boats to Cat Ba.

Winters are cool and grey: January averages highs of about 20C, lows near 14C and light drizzle, and sea mist often hides the islands. Spring warms quickly, with April at about 26C and settled days that suit both the city and boat trips on Lan Ha Bay.

May is the city's own month. The flamboyant trees that line Haiphong's streets burst into red flower, and the city holds a flamboyant flower festival with parades and concerts. Summer is hot, with highs of 32C and rain building to its peak in August, which averages about 350mm. This is also typhoon season, and boats to Cat Ba are cancelled when storms approach; build a spare day into any island plan.

Autumn is the other good window. October and November cool to about 26C to 29C, and rainfall falls sharply, to about 43mm in November. Around the ninth day of the eighth lunar month, usually in September, Do Son holds its buffalo fighting festival, a ritual event with roots in local spirit worship that draws big crowds. Tet, in late January or February, closes many family businesses for several days, though the Tam Bac lakeside flower market is busy in the days before.