Backstreet Academy
Backstreet Academy
5
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Monday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Tuesday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Wednesday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Thursday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Friday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Saturday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Sunday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
About
Explore Hanoian culture through our exclusive collection of travel experiences - cook with a family, craft leather products or learn traditional music, the backstreets offer the richest interaction with the culture and people of a place. Immerse yourself in the de facto Hanoian experience where the local backdrop retains its integrity and originality and discover a side of the city you never knew.
Suggested duration
More than 3 hours
Suggest edits to improve what we show.
Improve this listing
Full view
Top ways to experience nearby attractions
The area
Address
Best nearby
Restaurants
3,537 within 5 kms
Attractions
245 within 10 kms
Contribute
Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
5.0
153 reviews
Excellent
133
Very good
13
Average
3
Poor
0
Terrible
4
mikeb61
Thimphu, Bhutan2 contributions
Jan 2020
This is a great way to experience Old Hanoi with a local. Our guide, David, was very knowledgeable and explained thoroughly all the different ingredients and history of the dishes we ate. We visited at least 6 food stalls and everything we had was fantastic. In addition to the food discussion we also talked about many other subjects which gave us an even better understanding of the culture of Vietnam. Thanks David!
Written 19 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Christopher Williams
9 contributions
Jan 2020 • Solo
(I'm leaving my review here seen as the Breakfast Tour, put on by Backstreet Academy, isn't listed separately. It's really good!)
What a way to start the day! This is an excellent way to sample authentic Vietnamese cuisine; dishes (unlike more popular lunch/dinner options) that would otherwise be hard to reach as a tourist. Also, it was wonderful to see parts of the city at that time of day. You'll be in there with the locals.
May is a brilliant guide! She is a fountain of knowledge, is friendly, and has a calm and relaxing way about her. It was only my sister and I for that morning tour but May made us feel like we had all the time in the world. It was lovely. May even threw in a bonus dish as we passed a streetfood vendor :)
And every single dish that we tried was so damn tasty. Simply divine and quite an experience. I'll do it all again if ever I'm back in Hanoi.
Just book yourself in for this tour. You won't regret it!
What a way to start the day! This is an excellent way to sample authentic Vietnamese cuisine; dishes (unlike more popular lunch/dinner options) that would otherwise be hard to reach as a tourist. Also, it was wonderful to see parts of the city at that time of day. You'll be in there with the locals.
May is a brilliant guide! She is a fountain of knowledge, is friendly, and has a calm and relaxing way about her. It was only my sister and I for that morning tour but May made us feel like we had all the time in the world. It was lovely. May even threw in a bonus dish as we passed a streetfood vendor :)
And every single dish that we tried was so damn tasty. Simply divine and quite an experience. I'll do it all again if ever I'm back in Hanoi.
Just book yourself in for this tour. You won't regret it!
Written 9 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Cindy Armstrong
8 contributions
Dec 2019 • Friends
My daughters and I recently attended a workshop and made a small leather wallet. It was a very relaxed and enjoyable workshop with great support from Ngan.
Written 29 December 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
j562016
Singapore, Singapore151 contributions
Dec 2019 • Couples
The guide - a young university undergrad - was sweet and nice. The 4 street food joints + 1 cafe she brought us to were yummy!
But I am giving a one-star for the following reasons:
1. She was more than 10 mins late, the first time I have encountered a late guide in a paid tour
2. She knew very very little about the food or places she brought us to. For every food item, her description was really just “noodles”, “pho”, “street food”. When we tried to ask her more cos’ we really couldn’t tell what we were eating, she was really nice and tried to google for the answers but couldn’t. So I repeat, the guide is really sweet, but she really wasn’t trained. It is weird to be on a food tour where you don’t really know what you are eating. When we tried to ask her about the history of the shop we went to, she could only say “oh it has been here a long time”. At the cafe, she gave zero info about the coffee culture.
3. She didn’t know her way. A couple of times we had to point her in the right direction. That leads me to my final point
4. Out of the five places, we had already gone to one of them on our own. She lost her way- so we crossed the unnecessary heavy traffic twice- and we led her to the cafe.
Overall I felt I could have done even more googling on my own, and could have easily found the other four places she brought us to, and ate on my own without forking out money.
But I am giving a one-star for the following reasons:
1. She was more than 10 mins late, the first time I have encountered a late guide in a paid tour
2. She knew very very little about the food or places she brought us to. For every food item, her description was really just “noodles”, “pho”, “street food”. When we tried to ask her more cos’ we really couldn’t tell what we were eating, she was really nice and tried to google for the answers but couldn’t. So I repeat, the guide is really sweet, but she really wasn’t trained. It is weird to be on a food tour where you don’t really know what you are eating. When we tried to ask her about the history of the shop we went to, she could only say “oh it has been here a long time”. At the cafe, she gave zero info about the coffee culture.
3. She didn’t know her way. A couple of times we had to point her in the right direction. That leads me to my final point
4. Out of the five places, we had already gone to one of them on our own. She lost her way- so we crossed the unnecessary heavy traffic twice- and we led her to the cafe.
Overall I felt I could have done even more googling on my own, and could have easily found the other four places she brought us to, and ate on my own without forking out money.
Written 24 December 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dear Jer and Si Wan,
My name is Mai, operation manager of Backstreet Academy in Hanoi.Thanks for taking time to leave us a very detailed feedback on our TripAdvisor page. On behalf of the team I sincerely apologize for the disappointment on your tour. We make the best efforts to ensure that all our guests have the best possible experience when with us, but at times we do falter and I must admit that I am embarrassed by the way the events unfolded during your time with us.
I have been investigating what went wrong with your booking and have been informed that your booking was given to our facilitator Uyen. She has been working with us for almost a year and has gotten excellent reviews so far. So we were surprised to see this review. After investigating, we found out that Uyen realized that you guys had tried almost all the street food in Hanoi and so she wanted to find out more places where you could try new dishes. But unfortunately she got lost and had to use google maps.
Rest assured, we have now trained our guides to go to alternative food places if guests have already tried the food.
According to our email, we have already processed a full refund for your tour and also sent a discount code which we hope you will use in your future travels with us. :)
We do hope you will give us another opportunity to host you and your friend again in the future and gain your confidence on our experiences at Backstreet Academy
Cheers,
Mai and The Backstreet Team
Written 8 January 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Dominik
3 contributions
Dec 2019 • Couples
Excellent tour, our guide knew a lot about coffee in general and of course even more about the tradition of coffee in Vietnam.
We tasted several different types of coffee.
Highlight for us was the egg-coffee, but all of them were really good. All locations were chosen with a good reason, none were touristic ones.
Greetings Dominik & Katrin
We tasted several different types of coffee.
Highlight for us was the egg-coffee, but all of them were really good. All locations were chosen with a good reason, none were touristic ones.
Greetings Dominik & Katrin
Written 15 December 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Fran
3 contributions
Oct 2019 • Couples
Our guide David was excellent, bringing us to so many authentic restaurants we never would have found or known to go to on our own. The food was delicious and David was so friendly and informative throughout the entire tour. We loved it!
Written 30 October 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
121Maeve23
County Wicklow, Ireland20 contributions
Aug 2019 • Solo
Learned about Chinese painting and picked up some new techniques. But we didn't get to do a finished painting and it was not in a studio but a coffee shop so there were people coming and going. A pleasant afternoon though.
Written 24 September 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Jeff
1 contribution
Jun 2019 • Couples
We enjoyed our tour, but for $19 a person you could buy a significant amount of street food yourself. The guide was somewhat knowledgeable but didn't know too much about the actual preparation or history of the food. I was a little disappointed, but overall not a terrible experience. I would encourage you to explore the city yourself and do a little research. Then, you will likely have a better experience.
Written 9 June 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Kylie_G_W
31 contributions
Apr 2019 • Friends
Do yourself a favour people and book the cocktail tour with Phuong and Mai ! They are lovely girls who really look after you and explain the area, history and the cocktails that you drink. They even take you to try the famous pho cocktail. Nothing is too much trouble, they helped us with good local places to eat and made sure we returned safely to our hotel. They are very professional yet very friendly. I highly recommend these wonderful ladies and the company they work for.
Written 8 April 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Carol Dale
Bribie Island, Australia264 contributions
Apr 2019 • Friends
Wonderful and enjoyable evening - two great bars with wonderful cocktails. Our guides, Phuong and Mia were just enjoyable to be with and we had a wonderful time. Great bars with exceptional cocktails. Highly recommend for something different in Hanoi
Written 8 April 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Svatá L
5 contributions
Hello, I'm interested to do the knife making workshop but can't seem to find a definitive answer online as to whether or not I could post it to the UK legally from Vietnam? Do you know if it's possible?
Mowa
Yogyakarta Region, Indonesia13 contributions
Hi, if you're sending to the UK, it is possible to do so legally. You will be required to 'prove' that it is for kitchen purposes. A form will be provided to state that it is solely for the purpose of use in the kitchen while sending and also while receiving. Hope this helps :)
Isabelle b
Bourail, New Caledonia
Bonjour Laurence très intéressée par le cour d'art martial, dans quel temple avez vous été est ce possible de voir un cours ou participer dans une école sur saigon?? Merci
Mowa
Yogyakarta Region, Indonesia13 contributions
Hi, thank you for your inquiry. This course is only in Hanoi. You can visit our website to see more details (tripadvisor does not allow sharing of links). Or you can email us at our info email address and we will answer all your queries from there.
Is this your Tripadvisor listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim your listingBackstreet Academy (Hanoi) - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos) - Tripadvisor
Frequently Asked Questions about Backstreet Academy
- Backstreet Academy is open:
- Sun - Sat 12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
- Hotels near Backstreet Academy:
- (0.03 km) Viet's Apartment
- (0.04 km) RedDoorz Plus @ Nam Ngu Street
- (0.04 km) Private room nearby Old Quarter, Hoan Kiem lake, Truc Bach lake
- (0.04 km) Friendly House NKH
- (0.05 km) Truc Bach Apartment
- Restaurants near Backstreet Academy:
- (0.03 km) Quan Hong Ky
- (0.04 km) Cua Hang An Uong Mau Dich So 37
- (0.21 km) Aummee Vegetarian Restaurant
- (0.08 km) Pho Cuon 31
- (0.08 km) Pho Cuon Huong Mai