TripAdvisor announced its 2025 Travelers' Choice Awards on January 9, 2025, and Hanoi placed #7 on the Best of the Best Destinations list — the only Vietnamese city in the global top 10. That's a meaningful signal if you've been on the fence about whether to include Hanoi in a trip, or how much time to allocate there.
But award rankings are only as useful as the methodology behind them. Here's what the #7 placement actually measures, what it doesn't, and how we'd translate the signal into trip-planning decisions.
What the award measures
TripAdvisor's methodology for the 2025 Best of the Best Destinations:
| Factor | Detail |
|---|---|
| Data source | TripAdvisor reviews of accommodations, restaurants, and things to do |
| Review window | October 1, 2023 – September 30, 2024 |
| Scoring | Quality and quantity of reviews (both matter) |
| Subcategories new for 2025 | Solo Travel Destinations; Top Destinations of the Last 25 Years |
The important detail: it's not a jury award, it's not an editorial pick, and it's not based on visitor-count data. It's a review-aggregation index, which means destinations where travelers:
- Leave more reviews
- Leave those reviews at higher ratings
- Review a broader spread of sub-categories (hotel + restaurant + activity, not just one)
…rank higher.
2025 Best of the Best — global top 10
| Rank | Destination |
|---|---|
| 1 | London, UK |
| 2 | Bali, Indonesia |
| 3 | Dubai, UAE |
| 4 | Sicily, Italy |
| 5 | Paris, France |
| 6 | Rome, Italy |
| 7 | Hanoi, Vietnam |
| 8 | Marrakech, Morocco |
| 9 | Crete, Greece |
| 10 | Bangkok, Thailand |
Two of the top 10 are Southeast Asian capitals (Hanoi, Bangkok), and a third is a Southeast Asian island (Bali). That's an unusual concentration at this tier and reflects broader research showing the region's tourism rebound: Vietnam's own 2025 arrivals hit 21.2 million, up 20.4% YoY.
What this means for your trip
1. The award is a strong vote of confidence — but crowd-dependent
High ranking on a review-based index means travelers are having positive enough experiences to post about them. It also means, mechanically, that destinations with high ranking attract more travelers, which feeds back into more reviews, which feeds back into the ranking. Expect Hanoi to be noticeably busier in 2026 at the sights that already attract crowds — Hoan Kiem Lake, the Temple of Literature, Train Street, and the Old Quarter's walking streets.
Our advice: visit the marquee sights in the first 90 minutes after sunrise or after 4 pm. You'll see the same places at half the density.
2. Budget accordingly — mid-range hotel prices are rising
Hanoi's hotel market has been tightening. Boutique 4-star properties in the Old Quarter and French Quarter that were $60/night in 2023 are more often $80–110 in 2026. Reviews don't tell you this; they just tell you that the experience, at whatever you paid, was good. Factor a 25–40% price creep into budgeting for any destination that appears on a list like this.
3. The ranking doesn't replace itinerary research
TripAdvisor's methodology weights short-trip travelers and reviewers who consume mainstream attractions — that's who leaves the most reviews. For:
- First-time Vietnam trip — you'll likely start in Hanoi anyway (most long-haul flights land here), and the #7 ranking is a fair reflection of how most travelers rate the experience.
- Second- or third-time Vietnam visitor — the ranking is less useful. You'll get more out of Ha Giang, Phong Nha, or Mai Chau than retracing the Old Quarter.
4. The Solo Travel subcategory is notable
TripAdvisor added a dedicated Solo Travel Destinations ranking in 2025, and Hanoi did not make the top 10 in that specific category — even though it's regularly recommended as a good solo Southeast Asia base. This reflects a known bias: solo travelers who review on TripAdvisor skew Western and choose Western cities. For Vietnam-specific solo-travel research, see our breakdown of the 2024 Solo Female Travel Report.
Limitations & caveats
- Review-based rankings reward tourism volume as much as quality. A destination that gets 10x the reviews as another with equal average rating will outrank it. Small, high-quality destinations don't show up.
- Quiet or under-reviewed gems are invisible to this methodology. Places like Ha Giang, Phong Nha, and Kon Tum simply don't have the review volume to compete, even if travelers who do visit rate them highly.
- The October 2023–September 2024 window is a one-year slice. If conditions change (overcrowding, a currency shift, a viral TikTok putting a town on the map), the ranking lags by 6–15 months.
- TripAdvisor is a commercial platform. Destinations can invest in their TripAdvisor presence (inviting reviews, encouraging user-generated content), which nudges the ranking upward. This doesn't make the ranking fake — but it's part of why we treat it as one signal among several.
Sources & further reading
- Primary source: TripAdvisor's January 9, 2025 press release — has the full top-10 lists for every subcategory (Best of the Best, Cultures, Nature, Food, Nightlife, Solo Travel, Trending).
- General Statistics Office Vietnam arrivals data — the crowds-are-rising context.
Related on this site:
- Hanoi destination guide — where to stay, how long to spend, what to skip
- 3 days in Hanoi — the most common allocation for first-timers
- Best time to visit Vietnam — shoulder-season strategy for crowd avoidance