In a ranking of “cities with the friendliest service” compiled by the UK price comparison service MoneySuperMarket, Hanoi placed second out of 107 cities, drawing coverage from media around the world since July. Edinburgh took first place at 59.0%, with Hanoi close behind at 58.6%, and Liverpool a close third at 58.3%. Hanoi is the only Southeast Asian city to make the ranking, and no other Vietnamese city shows up near the top. Before visiting Hanoi, travelers often hear the reputation that “staff don't smile” or “you get no response even when you order,” and plenty of Japanese travelers head there braced for that. We dig into why the result was the opposite of that reputation, from the perspective of what travelers actually feel on the ground.
Just 0.4 Points Behind Edinburgh, Hanoi Ranks Second Out of 107 Cities
The survey analyzed more than 100,000 Google Maps reviews of restaurants, bars, and tourist facilities across 107 cities worldwide, and calculated the share of reviews in each city that mentioned “warm staff hospitality.” It covered roughly 1,000 reviews per city, across 30 to 50 venues. Hanoi's score of 58.6% means nearly three out of every five reviews touched on good service. With British cities Edinburgh and Liverpool bracketing the top of the list, the fact that a non-English-speaking Asian city broke into second place was reported with surprise by overseas media too.
| Rank | City | Country | Share of Reviews Rating Service as Friendly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Edinburgh | UK | 59.0% |
| 2 | Hanoi | Vietnam | 58.6% |
| 3 | Liverpool | UK | 58.3% |
| 4 | Paris | France | 57.5% |
| 5 | Dublin | Ireland | 57.3% |
| 6 | Montreal | Canada | 56.8% |
| 7 | Vienna | Austria | 55.6% |
| 8 | Abu Dhabi | UAE | 55.3% |
| 9 | Birmingham | UK | 54.2% |
| 10 | Bristol | UK | 53.7% |
One thing to note is that this isn't a measure of “how friendly the city is overall” — it's strictlythe wording of reviews left for food, drink, and tourism-related venuesthat was tallied up. The chaos typical of Hanoi — traffic jams, honking horns — isn't included in this number. Narrowed down to the impressions travelers get at shops and hotels, though, the rating comes out high.
Where Does the “Unfriendly” Reputation Come From, and Why Is It Being Overturned Now?
The impression that Hanoi's service is cold usually comes less from actual ill will than from cultural differences. Service in northern Vietnam is built on a matter-of-fact style that handles the task at hand, rather than the kind of hospitality that greets you with a smile and warms things up with small talk. Behaviors like not repeating your order back to you, or not saying “thank you” at checkout, can look brusque by the standard of Japanese service. But locally, in most cases, that's not indifference — it's simply a different way of gauging distance.
That foundation has been shifting over the past few years as tourist numbers have grown. Hanoi's city government has been moving to extend how long travelers stay and how much they spend through nighttime dining and entertainment, and that aim also shows up inPolicies Where the City Goes Straight After the Money Travelers Spend at Night. As more visitors come, shops naturally get more used to serving foreigners. There are now cases of Old Quarter eateries making it into the Michelin Guide too, as withThe Case of a Four-Generation, 96-Year Banh Cuon Shop Recognized in the Old Quarter. Chances to be seen from the outside, covering not just taste but how a shop treats customers, have increased. Behind the reputation's turnaround is this rising awareness of “being watched.”
What 100,000 Reviews Actually Praised Wasn't Polish — It Was “How Close People Feel”
When reviews talk about the service, what's being praised isn't polished, by-the-book handling. It's more often an unscripted warmth — “I was lost and the shop owner guided me with gestures,” or “we didn't share a language but they laughed along with me anyway.” Hanoi's strength isn't uniformly polite service; it's how easily a moment of personal closeness can suddenly appear.
The symbol of this is small businesses like street-side banh mi carts. Once before,The Moment a Customer and a Vendor Connected Over Some Changebecame a talking point, and the soil that grows stories like this is close to the real substance of Hanoi's high service rating. Looking at outside voices too, travel forums are full of posts along the lines of “I'd heard people were unfriendly, but the street-vendor lady was the kindest person I met.” On social media, expats living in Hanoi post things like “northerners are just shy — once they warm up to you, they're very caring.” The real temperature of hospitality is better measured in back-alley businesses than in upscale shops.
Where Japanese Visitors Trip Up in the Old Quarter, and Why You Don't Need to Brace Yourself
That said, there are certainly moments that confuse first-time Japanese visitors. The three most common are these.
- You sit down but no staff come over, and the order doesn't start unless you speak up first
- There's no “sorry to keep you waiting”-style word after your food arrives, so it feels like you've been left alone
- At checkout, the amount is shown with a calculator or fingers, which feels businesslike
None of these are corner-cutting — they're just the local standard pace. Speak up and you'll get a proper response, and showing the amount as just a number is actually a rational way to get past the language barrier. The more you brace yourself and wait silently, the more likely you are to walk away remembering “a cold shop,” while a single word from you can change the impression completely. Learning one Vietnamese phrase, like “xin chào” (hello) or “cảm ơn” (thank you), often visibly softens the staff's expression. In the end, not letting the reputation build a wall for you is the best countermeasure there is.
The Times and Types of Shops Most Likely to Show You Hanoi's Warmth
If you want to raise your odds of hitting “friendly Hanoi” during a limited stay, there's room to be a little strategic about which shop and what time. The basic move is to avoid peak crowds — for breakfast pho or banh cuon, right after opening around 7-8 a.m., or around 2 p.m. after the lunch rush, staff have more breathing room and tend to be softer in how they treat you. Small, family-run shops in the Old Quarter are more likely than big shops built for tourists in the new city to give you that “moment of closeness” mentioned earlier.
Small gestures work as conversation starters — pointing at your dish and saying it's delicious, or smiling at a shop's kids if you're with family. Hanoi's hospitality isn't something that comes to you if you just wait — it's the kind that comes back doubled once you meet it halfway. The number two ranking is just outside confirmation of that fit; how it actually feels shifts a lot depending on the traveler's own attitude. Just set the “unfriendly” preconception aside before you go, and the reason this city rates so highly should click naturally.
