The 36 streets of the old quarter
One street per guild since the fifteenth century: tin street, silk street, toy street.
Duration
2 hrs – 3 hrs
Best time
Early morning
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
The quarter was organised by guild in the fifteenth century, each street selling one product, and the names still say so: Hang Bac for silver, Hang Ma for votive paper, Hang Thiec for tin. Some have changed trade, others have not.
The houses are called tube houses: three or four metres of frontage, sometimes sixty deep, because tax was levied on street width. You can still walk through one by stepping into a shop.
Getting there
North of Hoan Kiem lake. Nothing works except on foot: the streets are narrow and the pavements taken up by kitchens and scooters.
What to bring
- International driving permit
Rules on site
You walk in the road, since the pavements are parking and kitchen: keep to the edge and do not change direction suddenly. Cyclo drivers quote a price per trip and then charge per person.
Other places in Hanoi
- Hoan Kiem Lake and Ngoc Son templeThe lake at the heart of the old town, its legendary turtle and the red bridge to the temple.
- Temple of LiteratureVietnam's first university, founded in 1070, and its stelae carried on stone tortoises.
- Train StreetA train that grazes the housefronts twice a day, in a lane three metres wide.
- Ho Chi Minh MausoleumThe embalmed body of the country's founder, watched over by a guard of honour in white.