Tourists in the Temple of Literature - the first University in Vietnam (Photo: VNA)

The tour, co-organised by the Hanoi Tourist Corporation, the Van Mieu - Quoc Tu Giam Cultural and Scientific Centre, and the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum aims to connect tourist accommodation with other attractions, restaurants and shopping malls, as well as provide other guide services and tourist narratives.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Deputy Director General of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Ha Van Sieu spoke highly of efforts made by organisers in launching the tour. This new tourism product is expected to create more favourable conditions for tourists while discovering the capital city, he added.

The Hanoi Golden Tour includes hotels such as Thang Long Opera Hanoi, Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi, Hotel De L'opera, Hilton Opera Hanoi, Hoa Binh, Melia Hanoi, Movenpick Hotel, Mercure, and Eastin Easy GTC Hanoi.

These hotels will be linked with a number of tourist attractions such as Hanoi Old Quarter, Ngoc Son Temple, the Vietnam History Museum, the Hanoi Opera House; the Vietnam Women’s Museum, Hoa Lo Prison historical relic site, Quan Su Pagoda; the Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam (the Temple of Literature), the Vietnam Fine Art Museum; Ba Dinh Square, One Pillar Pagoda, the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the Ho Chi Minh Museum, the President Ho Chi Minh relic site at the Presidential Palace, and Thang Long Imperial Citadel, among others.

In addition, tourists will be provided with a chance to learn about Vietnam’s traditional fondness of learning through paintings displayed at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum and Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam and through meetings with artisans and painters.

Van Mieu - Quoc Tu Giam is a famous historical and cultural relic consisting of the Temple of Literature and Vietnam’s first university. The Temple of Literature was built in 1070 in honour of Confucius, his followers and Chu Van An, a moral figure in Vietnamese education. Quoc Tu Giam, or Vietnam's first university, was built in 1076. Throughout its hundreds of years of activity in the feudal period, thousands of Vietnamese scholars graduated from this university.

Visitors will also learn how to make handicrafts at Dong Lac communal house at 38 Hang Dao Street, Hanoi.

Hanoi has recently been chosen among most attractive destinations in Asia and the world by prestigious travel magazines and websites, including TripAdvisor.

The capital city welcomed almost 2.65 million foreign visitors in the first nine months of 2017, a year-on-year increase of 27.6%.