7 Unique & Aesthetic Cafés in Hanoi City Center [2026]

It seems almost unfair to write a post about the delicious cafés in Hanoi city center: there are simply too many of them, and I know just by writing this post, I will surely leave some out.

However, as a huge coffee fiend who loves to visit specialty cafés everywhere I visit (see my coffee guide to Kuala Lumpur, for example), I simply couldn’t resist the chance to document all the best cafés I went to in Hanoi, and what I think you should try when there.

Some of the cafés I stumbled across; others, I had marked down to try in my notebook before I went to Hanoi. I hope this creates a list of places for you of both tried-and-true beloved Hanoi coffee shops as well as a few lesser-known cafés in Hanoi that are absolutely worthwhile, but not on everyone’s visit.

This guide focuses on cafés in Hanoi’s city center, mostly around the Ba Dinh area as that’s where I spent the majority of this trip. However, it does have a few cafés on the list in the Old Quarter as well as around Truc Bach Lake, as those are some other places I spent time in Hanoi and they are also common places for travelers to visit.

Also, if you’re a major coffee lover and you’re visiting Hanoi, you simply can’t miss taking this excellent coffee workshop [full review here], also located in Ba Dinh. We made six coffees and got recipes for each and learned a lot of the history of said coffees (which was fascinating!).

Without further ado, here are my favorite cafés in downtown Hanoi, as of my March 2026 visit to Vietnam [so this post is extremely recent and relevant, and everything is still open as of time of publishing!]

Best Cafés in Hanoi City Center

Best Cat Café: Oleoleo Coffee Books & Cats

• Address: 63 P. Trúc Bạch, Trúc Bạch, Ba Đình, Hà Nội, Vietnam

• Hours: 8:30 AM to 10:30 PM daily

• Instagram: @oleoleocoffeecats

One of my favorite spots in Hanoi was this quiet little cat café, Oleoleo, right on the perimeter of Truc Bach Lake. Whether you look outward to the lake, or inward towards all the adorable cat friends keeping you company, there’s no shortage of joy in this lovely café.

Plus, you’re surrounded by tons of books, creating the ultimate cozy atmosphere. Coffee + cats + books + lake view? It doesn’t get much better than that, I’d say.

I ordered a typical Vietnamese iced salted coffee and it was absolutely delicious with just the right silky-yet-salty caramel notes! If you haven’t tried salt coffee in Vietnam, you simply must, and here is a great place to do so.

Best for Bookworms: Tranquil Books & Coffee

• Address: 18B Nguyễn Biểu, Quán Thánh, Ba Đình, Hà Nội 100000, Vietnam

• Hours: 8 AM to 10:30 PM daily

• Instagram: @tranquilbookscoffee

There are several branches of this popular coffee shop in Hanoi, but the one I visited was on Nguyễn Biểu Street, close to the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long. There are other locations if this one is not convenient: 8 Nguyễn Quang Bích, 15B Trần Hưng Đạo, and 19C Cao Bá Quát.

This café is a teensy bit hard to find: put in on Google Maps and when you’re close by, look for a small sign that leads you up some stairs. You will find the café on the second floor, up a non-descript stairwell. Inside, it’s mostly locals; I don’t think I saw any other tourists there. The bookish environment definitely seems to make it a favorite for locals studying!

I had a delicious hot coconut coffee, prepared like a cappuccino but with a delicious sweet coconut creamer as the ‘dairy’ instead of your typical milk. I had never had a hot coconut coffee before so this was new to me, but I loved it (and the beautiful pink mug it came in!).

Best for Early Birds: Blackbird Coffee

• Address: 11A P. Đặng Dung, Quán Thánh, Ba Đình, Hà Nội 100000, Vietnam
  (other branches, in the Old Quarter: 63B P. Lãn Ông, Hàng Bồ, Hoàn Kiếm & 5 P. Chân Cầm, Hàng Trống, Hoàn Kiếm)

• Hours: 7 AM to 9 PM

• Instagram: @blackbirdcoffeevn

If you like to get an early morning jolt of caffeine, or if you have an early tour and you want to grab a delicious coffee before an all day day trip (like my trip to Ninh Binh that started at 7:30 AM, for example), Blackbird is excellent because it opens a full hour earlier than most coffee shops in Hanoi.

There are also several branches and it’s a local Vietnamese mini-chain, so you can find the most convenient location for you. It has a distinctive orange aesthetic in all its shops, and a lovely minimalist atmosphere with wooden seating and some books to complete the vibe.

This was one of the first coffee shops in Hanoi that I visited. So naturally, I had to get the egg coffee, as I hadn’t had one in Vietnam yet. It’s one of my absolute favorite styles of Vietnamese coffee, and it’s very hard for me to find back home in Bangkok (there’s just one place I can find that does it properly!)

Best LGBTQ+ Friendly Cafe: Bluebird’s Nest

• Address: 27 Đặng Dung Ngõ 27, P. Đặng Dung/20 Ng. Yên Thành, đối diện, Ba Đình, Hà Nội, Vietnam (tucked in an alley, look for the signs on the main street)

• Hours: 8 AM to 10:30 PM daily

• Instagram: @tochimxanhcafe

Coming from the LGBTQ+ acceptance oasis of Bangkok, I didn’t realize how much I missed designated safe spaces until I saw the queer-friendly welcome stickers on the door at Bluebird’s Nest. (It’s also verified as LGBTQ+ friendly on Google Maps)

While Vietnam in general is safe for queer people, it’s definitely a more under-the-radar, don’t-ask-don’t-tell kind of safety. But Bluebird’s Nest overtly offers a safe space for queer travelers. I read as straight and I was traveling solo, so it didn’t really impact my travels much, but I can imagine this would be a lovely oasis for queer couples who want to breathe a little more freely for a bit.

This Hanoi coffee shop is also just lovely for other reasons: all the books you can borrow and read, and I even spotted some knitting needles and knitting projects you could just pick up and work on if you wanted to give your mind a break for a bit (I would ask the staff before assuming, but I imagine that’s what it’s there for)! There are also a few cats knocking about, and if you stay for long enough, I’m sure one would visit you.

I had a simple black coffee with condensed milk (ca phe sua da) and it was just right. They also have some excellent looking deserts, including a chocolate lava cake and a matcha lava cake, that I would have tried if I wasn’t already totally overdosed on sugar.

Trying as many Hanoi coffee shops as I could in just a few days was already basically a pre-diabetes speed run, so I tried to keep my sugar limited to my coffee drinks… but the dessert list was definitely tempting!

Women-Owned & LGBTQ Friendly: Hidden Gem Café

• Address: 1 Hàng Mắm, Phố cổ Hà Nội, Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội 10000, Vietnam

• Hours: 7 AM to 10 PM daily

• Instagram: @hiddengemcoffeehanoi

Another overtly LGBTQ-friendly space, another perk that Hidden Gem Cafe & Restaurant has going for it is that it’s also women-owned. I love supporting women-owned enterprises and so that is always a secondary goal of mine I look for when I am scouting interesting small businesses to visit. If I can do any small bit to boost their visibility, I almost always will!

However, despite the name, I don’t think this café really needs any help in the “boost their visibility” department… it was incredibly popular when I went! So any “hidden” part of the Hidden Gem name is a bit of a misnomer, but I really enjoyed my visit anyway.

It’s a very eclectic café — with a focus on upcycling junk and turning it into unique seating and café design elements — and I really enjoyed the design of the place. In some seats, defunct motorbikes were even turned into table bases! There are also vines tumbling down from the ceiling, giving everything a very lush, jungle-taking-over aesthetic.

They also have really unique drinks, like the pandan sticky rice blended coffee I had. I love all sorts of sticky rice, and having it with an espresso shot on the side to pour in and add to all the flavors I love (pandan, sticky rice, condensed milk) was absolutely delightful. I’d definitely stop here. Plus, it’s in the Old Quarter, so it’s very centrally located for almost all travelers.

Ultra-Aesthetic Café & Bar: Sphira Coffee Bar

• Address: 5 Ngũ Xã, Trúc Bạch, Ba Đình, Hà Nội

• Hours: 8 AM to midnight

• Instagram: @sphira_05nx

Whether you want an aesthetic place to drink your coffee or to go to in the evening for some expertly crafted cocktails, this charming café-and-bar in Ba Đình (not far from Truc Bach Lake) is an excellent choice.

I don’t drink, but the drinks selection looked really interesting and enticing! I went for a simple hot cafe sua (phin/filter coffee with condensed milk) and it was simple but everything was done just right.

I thought this place was really beautiful and the design elements were very interesting, and if I liked to take photos of myself in coffee shops, this would be a nice spot to do so. It wasn’t very busy when I went either, which is a nice plus, as it’s a bit under-the-radar still for how cute and charming it is.

Lakefront Local Favorite: Two Chairs Coffee Lab

• Address: 34 P. Yên Hoa, Yên Phụ, Tây Hồ, Hà Nội 100000, Vietnam

• Hours: 7 AM to 11 PM

• Instagram: @twochairscoffeelab

With a stunning view of Truc Bach Lake from the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows, you get the best of both worlds at Two Chairs: the comfort of A/C with the view of one of Hanoi’s best nature spots.

This is a bit out of the way for most travelers, right on the edge of West Lake (Tây Hồ). It was mostly populated with locals, but that’s why I liked it so much: it had a quiet, calm vibe and some of the best coffee I had in Hanoi during my entire stay.

I had an iced salt coffee here and it was excellent, one of my favorite cups of my trip! The WiFi was also excellent here and I could see myself plunking down and writing here with a view of the lake if I was staying in Hanoi on a longer trip.

Allison Green

Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016, visiting 75+ countries in total. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. As a former educator, she merges her writing and educational experience to encourage ethical, sustainable travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and TBEX. Her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. When she’s not on the road, she lives in Bangkok, Thailand.