Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam and the political and cultural centre of the country's north, a city of roughly 8.5 million people built around a chain of lakes on the Red River delta. Its compact core layers a thousand-year-old market quarter, a French colonial grid of villas and boulevards, and the ceremonial state architecture of Ba Dinh Square within a few kilometres of one another.
Best souvenirs
Authentic items worth bringing home.
Silk scarves and tailored ao dai from Hang Gai or Van Phuc village (scarf 150,000-800,000 VND / USD 5.77-30.77; tailored ao dai 800,000-3,000,000 VND / USD 30.77-115.38)
Bat Trang ceramics — tea sets, rice bowls, hand-painted vases (30,000-1,500,000 VND / USD 1.15-57.69)
Vietnamese robusta coffee with a stainless-steel phin filter (coffee 80,000-300,000 VND / USD 3.08-11.54 per 250-500 g; phin 30,000-80,000 VND / USD 1.15-3.08)
West Lake lotus tea and Thai Nguyen green tea in decorative tins (100,000-800,000 VND / USD 3.85-30.77 per 100-200 g)
Lacquerware with eggshell or mother-of-pearl inlay from Ha Thai village workshops (100,000-2,000,000 VND / USD 3.85-76.92)
Hand-embroidered Hmong and Dao textiles from fair-trade shops such as Craft Link (100,000-1,500,000 VND / USD 3.85-57.69)
Dong Ho folk woodblock prints on do paper (30,000-500,000 VND / USD 1.15-19.23)
Hand-made silver jewellery from Hang Bac (300,000-3,000,000 VND / USD 11.54-115.38)
Non la conical hats and bamboo or rattan baskets and lanterns (40,000-200,000 VND / USD 1.54-7.69)
Painted wooden water puppets and a bamboo flute or dan bau (50,000-1,500,000 VND / USD 1.92-57.69)
Com (green sticky-rice flakes), candied ginger, lotus seeds and banh com from Hang Duong and Hang Than (40,000-300,000 VND / USD 1.54-11.54)
Traditional markets
Where locals shop and travellers find treasures.
Dong Xuan Market
Hanoi's largest covered market, opened by the French administration in 1889 and rebuilt after a catastrophic 1994 fire, with hundreds of stalls across three floors selling fabric by the roll, wholesale clothing, shoes, kitchenware, dried goods and souvenirs. The ground floor is dense with food and household items, the upper floors with textiles and ready-to-wear. A food alley of bun cha and banh ran stalls runs along the northern side.
Where: Northern edge of the Old Quarter, 900 m north of Hoan Kiem Lake
Hours: Daily 06:00-18:00; adjoining weekend night market Fri-Sun 18:00-24:00
Hanoi Weekend Night Market
A three-kilometre pedestrian market that closes Hang Dao, Hang Ngang, Hang Duong and Dong Xuan streets to traffic from Friday to Sunday evening, lined with stalls of t-shirts, phone cases, bags, toys, jewellery and souvenirs, punctuated by street-food carts and impromptu live music. It links directly to the weekend walking streets around Hoan Kiem Lake, so the whole northern Old Quarter becomes walkable after dark.
Where: Old Quarter spine running north from Hoan Kiem Lake to Dong Xuan Market
Hours: Fri-Sun 18:00-24:00; closed Mon-Thu
Hang Gai (Silk Street)
The Old Quarter's silk and tailoring street, historically the home of hemp-rope merchants and now a 400-metre run of silk retailers, embroidery shops, lacquer galleries and made-to-measure tailors. Shops stock scarves, shirts, pyjamas, cushion covers and bolt silk, and most tailors will produce an ao dai, shirt or dress within 24 to 72 hours after one or two fittings.
Where: Old Quarter, northwest corner of Hoan Kiem Lake
Hours: Shops daily 08:00-21:00; many close 12:00-14:00 for a lunch rest
Hang Bac (Silver Street)
Hanoi's silversmithing street, worked since the 15th century when silver casters from Chau Khe village were summoned to the capital to run the royal mint. Workshops still cut, solder and polish at street-front benches, selling rings, bracelets, pendants and traditional bridal jewellery, alongside jade and gemstone dealers and gold shops that double as informal currency exchanges.
Where: Old Quarter, two blocks north of Hoan Kiem Lake
Hours: Shops daily 08:30-20:00
Hang Ma (Votive Paper Street)
The Old Quarter's most photographed street, hung wall to wall with lanterns, paper decorations, wrapping paper and joss goods. Hang Ma sells votive offerings burned for ancestors — paper houses, motorbikes, banknotes and clothing — and switches its window displays wholesale for each festival: red and gold before Tet, lanterns and lion-dance masks before Mid-Autumn, tinsel before Christmas.
Where: Northwestern Old Quarter, near Dong Xuan Market
Hours: Shops daily 08:00-21:00; stalls stay open later before Tet and Mid-Autumn
Bat Trang Ceramic Village Market
A pottery village on the Red River that has fired ceramics since the 14th century, now a working district of kilns, warehouses and several hundred shops plus a covered ceramic market. Prices run far below Old Quarter shops for the same pieces, and dozens of studios sell hands-on sessions at the wheel and painting benches. The Bat Trang Ceramic Museum, a cluster of spiral kiln-shaped buildings opened in 2021, anchors the village entrance.
Where: 13 km southeast of Hoan Kiem Lake, across the Red River
Hours: Shops and market daily 07:00-18:00
Van Phuc Silk Village
A silk-weaving village on the Nhue River with more than a thousand years of production history, where looms still clatter behind shopfronts along a lantern-hung main lane. Around a hundred shops sell scarves, bolt silk, shirts and ao dai at prices well under Hang Gai, and several workshops let visitors watch the reeling, dyeing and weaving stages. Van Phuc silk (lua Ha Dong) was the cloth of the Nguyen court.
Where: 10 km southwest of Hoan Kiem Lake, on the Nhue River in Ha Dong
Hours: Shops daily 08:00-18:00
Craft Link
A not-for-profit fair-trade shop opposite the Temple of Literature, founded in 1996, selling handicrafts made by ethnic minority artisans, traditional craft villages and disadvantaged producers across northern Vietnam. Every item carries a printed price and a card naming the community that made it, so there is no bargaining and no guesswork about provenance — indigo-dyed Hmong textiles, Dao embroidery, bamboo basketry, lacquer and ceramics.
Where: Dong Da, facing the Temple of Literature
Hours: Daily 09:00-18:00
Tan My Design
A four-floor design store run by a family of embroiderers since 1969, stocking contemporary Vietnamese homeware, lacquer, ceramics, embroidered bed linen, jewellery and clothing from local designers, with a cafe on the upper floor. Prices are fixed and clearly labelled, quality is consistently higher than Old Quarter souvenir shops, and the store packs and ships internationally.
Where: Old Quarter, on Hang Gai near the northwest corner of Hoan Kiem Lake
Hours: Daily 09:00-21:00
Collective Memory
A small curated souvenir shop beside St Joseph's Cathedral stocking goods sourced directly from Vietnamese makers — single-origin coffee and cacao, herbal teas, natural soaps, hand-thrown ceramics, notebooks made with do paper and indigo textiles. Everything is labelled with its maker and its province, prices are fixed, and the selection is deliberately luggage-sized.
Where: Cathedral quarter, 200 m west of Hoan Kiem Lake
Hours: Daily 09:00-20:00
Hom Market (Cho Hom)
A multi-storey local market south of the Old Quarter, best known for its upstairs fabric halls: rolls of cotton, linen, silk, lace and lining sold by the metre, with tailors working on site who will copy a garment or make to measure for a fraction of Hang Gai prices. The ground floor runs to fresh produce, dried goods, coffee, spices and household items, and the market sees far fewer visitors than Dong Xuan.
Where: Hai Ba Trung, 1.5 km south of Hoan Kiem Lake
Hours: Daily 06:00-18:00
Quang Ba Flower Market
Hanoi's wholesale flower market on the West Lake shore, at its most extraordinary between 2AM and 6AM when growers from Tay Tuu and Me Linh arrive with motorbikes stacked shoulder-high with roses, lilies, gladioli, chrysanthemums and orchids, and the city's florists bid under bare bulbs. Retail trade continues through the day at higher prices. Peach blossom and kumquat trees take over the site in the fortnight before Tet.
Where: Tay Ho, on the northeastern shore of West Lake
Hours: Open 24 hours; wholesale trade peaks 02:00-06:00
Long Bien Market
The city's largest wholesale fruit and vegetable market, spread beneath and beside Gustave Eiffel's 1902 Long Bien Bridge. Trucks unload from 11PM and the floor works through the night: porters carrying baskets on shoulder poles, mountains of dragon fruit, lychee and pomelo, and traders weighing by torchlight. It is a photographers' site more than a shoppers' one, and it empties by about 8AM.
Where: Riverbank between the Old Quarter and the Red River
Hours: Overnight, roughly 23:00-08:00; busiest 03:00-07:00
Trang Tien Plaza
Hanoi's landmark department store at the southeast corner of Hoan Kiem Lake, in a French colonial building that opened in 1901 as the Godard store and was rebuilt as a luxury mall. Six floors carry international fashion and beauty houses, Vietnamese designer labels, watches and a top-floor restaurant level. Prices are fixed and the building is one of the coolest refuges in the centre during the summer heat.
Where: French Quarter, southeast corner of Hoan Kiem Lake near the Opera House
Hours: Daily 09:30-22:00
Vincom Center Ba Trieu
A large air-conditioned mall on Ba Trieu with mid-market international and Vietnamese fashion, sportswear, electronics, a supermarket, a CGV cinema and a food court. It is the most practical place in central Hanoi for everyday purchases at fixed prices — luggage, phone accessories, cosmetics, trainers — and for a lunch break away from the pavement heat.
Where: Hai Ba Trung, 2 km south of Hoan Kiem Lake
Hours: Daily 09:30-22:00
Lotte Center Hanoi
The mall and department store occupying the base of the 272-metre Lotte Center tower in Ba Dinh, with Korean and Japanese cosmetics, fashion floors, a large Lotte Mart supermarket in the basement that is the best single source for packaged food gifts, and a glass-floored Sky Walk observation deck on the 65th floor. The Top of Hanoi rooftop bar sits above it.
Where: Ba Dinh, 4 km west of Hoan Kiem Lake
Hours: Mall daily 09:30-22:00; Lotte Mart supermarket 08:00-22:00; Sky Walk observation deck 09:00-23:00
Lotte Mall West Lake Hanoi
Vietnam's largest Lotte complex, opened in 2023 on Vo Chi Cong in Tay Ho, combining a six-floor shopping mall with a Lotte Mart hypermarket, an aquarium, a cinema and an indoor children's zone. The scale, the price tags and the food hall make it the obvious wet-season and hot-season shopping stop for anyone staying around West Lake.
Where: Tay Ho, on the western side of West Lake
Hours: Mall daily 09:30-22:00; hypermarket 08:00-22:00
Aeon Mall Long Bien
A Japanese-anchored mall east of the Red River with an Aeon supermarket, a large Japanese food court, fashion and homeware floors and a cinema. It draws Hanoi families at weekends and is the most reliable source in the city for Japanese groceries, stationery and household goods at fixed prices.
Where: Long Bien, 7 km east of Hoan Kiem Lake across the Red River
Hours: Daily 08:00-22:00
Shopping districts
Neighbourhoods known for retail.
Malls & modern shopping
Air-conditioned, international brands, and food courts.
Bargaining tips
Negotiate like a local.
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Customs & restrictions
What you can and can't take home.
Items:
- Info
- VAT refund for departing non-residents: goods over 2,000,000 VND / USD 76.92 bought on one invoice from a registered tax-refund store can be claimed at Noi Bai International Airport, Terminal 2 international departures; refunds are typically 8-10% of value less a service fee
- Tip
- The shop must issue a combined VAT invoice and tax-refund declaration at the time of purchase, and the goods must be presented unused at the airport before check-in
- Info
- Shop hours: Old Quarter shops open roughly 08:00-21:00 and many close for a lunch rest between 12:00 and 14:00; markets open at dawn and close by 18:00; malls run 09:30-22:00 daily
- Tip
- The pedestrian weekend night market (Fri-Sun 18:00-24:00) is the only reliable late shopping in the Old Quarter
- Info
- Payment: cash in Vietnamese dong dominates in markets and small shops; QR-code bank transfer is near-universal among locals; Visa and Mastercard are accepted in malls, hotels and larger boutiques, usually with a 2-3% surcharge in small shops
- Tip
- ATMs of Vietcombank, BIDV and Techcombank cluster around Hoan Kiem Lake; withdrawal fees run 22,000-66,000 VND / USD 0.85-2.54 per transaction
- Info
- Authenticity checks: real silk creases softly and burns to a fine ash with a singed-hair smell, while polyester melts into a hard bead; silver should carry a hallmark and be weighed in front of the buyer on Hang Bac; good lacquer has an even, bubble-free surface
- Tip
- A silk scarf priced far below 150,000 VND / USD 5.77 is almost certainly a synthetic blend
- Info
- Export restrictions: genuine antiques over 100 years old cannot legally leave Vietnam without a Ministry of Culture permit, and many countries prohibit the import of dried meat, fresh fruit and untreated wood or shell products
- Tip
- Reputable dealers supply a receipt describing the item as a reproduction where relevant; keep it for customs