Dong Xuan Market

Dong Xuan Market stands on Dong Xuan Street at the northern edge of the Old Quarter in Hoan Kiem, Hanoi, Vietnam. Founded by the French administration in 1889 and rebuilt after a fire in 1994, it is the largest covered market in the city and functions mainly as a wholesale centre. The hall is a large, multi-level building with a vaulted roof, and its stalls fill three floors and spill into the surrounding lanes.

Inside, the floors sell fabric, clothing, shoes, bags, household goods, cosmetics and dried foodstuffs, mostly in bulk. The atmosphere is commercial rather than curated, with traders more interested in wholesale buyers than casual browsers, so prices are lower than in tourist shops but haggling and bulk quantities are expected. The ground floor is busiest, the upper floors are quieter and mostly sell textiles, and the fresh produce and meat lanes lie behind the main hall. Sellers use loudspeakers, and porters with heavy loads move through the aisles, so visitors should step aside and be aware of their bags.

The food lanes along the market's northern side are the reason many visitors come. The bun cha and bun rieu stalls on Ngo Dong Xuan serve bowls from about 30,000 VND, and lunchtime is the peak. The market is open daily from 06:00 to 18:00, and a Friday to Sunday night market from 18:00 to 23:00 fills the surrounding streets with clothing, souvenirs and snacks. A visit takes 45 minutes to 1.5 hours, and there is no admission charge.

Early morning is the best time, when the wholesale trade is most active and the fresh produce is at its peak. Crowds build through the morning, and the night market is crowded on weekends. Pickpockets are a known risk in dense markets, so valuables should be kept in front pockets. The market is a ten-minute walk north from Hoan Kiem Lake through the Old Quarter and near the Long Bien Bridge.