Walking Street Hanoi: “As deserted as this street looks, trust me, man, it’s quite a different deal in the evenings. We need to come back here. There are all sorts of things that come to life – Hanoi truly comes alive, and this is where you witness it.”
My friend rambled on as we walked the Hoan Kiem Lake’s stretch under Vietnam’s scorching summer heat after visiting the Ngoc Hon Temple. I half-listened while my other half-conscious, craved for something cold in my mouth.
“Oh sure, we’ll get back here,” I said. All I saw was a busy four-lane road with not a soul on the pavement we walked. Only a few other stupid tourists wandered about in the afternoon. We were to return here later anyhow.
But when that ‘evening’ came a week later, oh boy. I understood his excitement. Who wouldn’t be? Hanoi gathered at the heart of the city – families, bands that put on shows, college kids, first-time dates with disposable coffee cups, street vendors, and the list went on.
Places like Hanoi Train Street or the historical monuments were key attractions to travelers. But this was Hanoi today to witness (Read my full Hanoi Travel Guide here). Here goes my Walking Street Hanoi blog!
Walking Street Hanoi Blog
Walking ‘street’ is an understatement. This spread out over half a dozen streets, thus making it easy to spot. When visiting Hanoi, make sure your Hanoi itinerary covers at least one weekend evening. A Friday evening should do!
When we left our Hanoi Oldtown Backpackers Hostel (a pretty decent stay at 28 Nguyen Sieu St, Hang Buom Ward), the “quiet narrow alley” was now bustling with people. Restaurants already had their plastic small chairs and tables out on the street, and dinner time chatter was loud. We headed out seeking the walking street.
As we gradually moved, no cars were in sight now. Roads were blocked out, and the whole street bustled with crowds. Only at the center of the road was enough pathway for people to walk through past laid out chairs, tables, booming music, and waiters scurrying to attend the continuous orders.
It almost felt like our Hostel (which was in Hoan Kiem, alright) was a part of this walking street! Sorry, let’s not get carried away quickly. First things first:
Where is Walking Street in Hanoi?
The Hoan Kiem Lake Walking Street begins with Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Square (Quảng trường Đông Kinh Nghĩa Thục) and runs along the Dinh Tien Hoang Street by the lake.
Past the Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Square is a handful of other streets where the bustle spreads out to different markets: Hang Dao (P. Hàng Đào) for shopping sprees, Cau Go (P. Cầu Gỗ) for food stall street, Dinh Liet (Đinh Liệt) for local cuisines, which finally ends with the infamous Ta Hien Beer Street (P. Tạ Hiện)!
Another post for you to read: Visiting the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
How to get to the Walking Street?
Head towards the Hoan Kiem Lake (Hồ Hoàn Kiếm) or Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Square either via motorbike, taxi, or bus. You’ll know when you find yourself crossing a barricade blocking out vehicles.
By motorcycle: Thanks to Google Maps, you’d never have to worry about keeping an address in mind. Pfft, we’re doomed. Nonetheless, here are all the streets that are officially blocked out during the weekend.
- Dinh Le (P. Đinh Lễ)
- Nguyen Xi (P. Nguyễn Xí)
- Hang Khay (P. Hàng Khay)
- Le Lai (P. Lê Lai)
- Tran Nguyen Han (P. Trần Nguyên Hãn)
- Lo Su (P. Lò Sũ)
- Bao Khanh (P. Báo Khánh)
- Luong Van Can (P. Lương Văn Can)
There are a half a dozen other little mentions that I skipped out on as they’re closely knit next to one another. But these are the main streets: Paste one on the Maps, preferably the Vietnamese address.
Park your vehicle at the nearest parking and enter the Walking Street to explore the rest of the place on foot. There’s no entrance fee to enter the Hoan Kiem Lake Walking Street.
By Bus: Though a bit of a hassle, there are a number of buses that pass through around. I only took the bus when traveling to Hanoi, but never to Hoan Kiem in particular.
As heard, these are the bus numbers that you’ll need to look out for: 08, 09, 14, 36, 03, 14, 22, 18, 40, 31, 86.
If you’ve traveled by bus here, you’ll notice bus no. 40, 86, 08, and 03 are the most common ones that pass through Old Quarters as well. No. 86 is quite the hotshot for most visitors!
Another post for you to read: Perfect 2 Days Ninh Binh Itinerary
What to do in Hoan Kiem Lake Walking Street?
Walking Street Hanoi: While people who’ve been coming here are anticipating their favorites on the weekend walking street. I suggest getting a taste of everything (or most, if not all). There’s local street food, folk guitar shows, boy group dancers, cheap shopping stalls, events, yada yada yada.
I stood a good while looking at children tripping over with their roller blades. That was fun.
Ahem, so here are the things to do in Hoan Kiem Lake Walking Street:
- Check out Vietnamese Folk Games
- Street Performances
- Go food-hopping at street stalls
- Shop at Hang Dao Street!
- Party at Ta Hien Beer Street
- Hit a massage parlor.
Let’s check these out:
- Check out Vietnamese folk games: Breathe in… and try joining traditional folk games here! There’s rope-jumping, tug-of-war, and the most interesting – shuttlecock kicking (Da Cau) or Jianzi in Chinese. Imagine my surprise when I found that Da Cau was Vietnam’s national sport! And then there’s also the board game ‘O An Quan’.
- Peek into Street Performances: All sorts of talented performances come into light on these evenings. Solo musicians, bands with guitars and cajon, young group dancers, and artists on stages set up by sponsors. I stood on my toetips to peek into a local guitar band show that seemed to rake in the crowd’s voices in harmony.
- Go food-hopping at street stalls: As mentioned before, Cau Go (P. Cầu Gỗ) lane is known for street food stalls! Some things to check out here are the infamous Vietnamese Egg Coffee and the Tran Tien ice cream (Kem Tràng Tiền) with Green Bean flavor being the popular one. Apart from this… I’m terrible at food, so here’s a fair blog on Hanoi’s street food for you instead.
- Shopping! Opposite the lake from Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Square is Hang Dao street that’s no less than a night market. There’s the typical line of souvenir shops, but explore to find some astonishingly cheap stuff. We walked into one with an impressive shoe collection, and for quite affordable prices! (I didn’t buy any, though)
- Dine at Ta Hien Beer Street: This makes quite an impression on Hanoi’s nightlife. I stood at the Ta Hien intersection center and could feel the evening spirits rising in every direction. Busy restaurants with staff running with beer glasses, karaoke machines dragged every corner with the drunk screaming into the mic when handed, colorful helium balloons for children, and solo musicians playing as they strolled. It kept getting busier by the second!
- Hit a massage parlor. This is optional, but when on the Hoan Kiem Lake Walking Street, be sure to try one: Those foot massages are affordable, not to mention dozens of massage spots around Hoan Kiem. While heading back to our hostel, we were reluctant to give it a shot, but it seemed the perfect way to end our day after all the walking. Except I’d partied too much and was too busy looking for water – don’t ask.
Visiting Other Places around Hoan Kiem Lake
As much as I was tempted to add these places to visit to the previous ‘things to do’ list, most attractions here unfortunately close before the Walking Street Hanoi comes to life in the evening.
The only exception is the Water Puppet Theatre show right on the Dinh Tien Hoan street (P. Đinh Tiên Hoàng) with its last show at 9:15 pm. To check out other spots here, get to Hoan Kiem late afternoon. It should give you ample time to visit some attractions and then settle in at the Walking Street Hanoi.
Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre
When in Hanoi, do NOT miss this out. The Water Puppet show is probably the clearest window to understanding local folk culture in Vietnam – and you experience it live from puppeteer masters.
Over a thousand years ago, water puppeteering or Múa rối nước began among farmers during the rice harvesting festivals. What was once local performances for everyday village folk gradually evolved into a delicate art that became a social status of royalty.
Kings appointed the best puppeteers to entertain their guests, thus preserving the cultural heritage for centuries. While the current day’s puppet shows aren’t on paddy fields, you’ll see how every intricate detail has been paid attention. The puppets, voices, and the water wave movements.
Music Instrumentalists that are nothing short of geniuses, and of course, the brilliant setup and lighting. The only downside to my visit was not picking up an additional English translation headphone. The whole show was in Vietnamese, and I couldn’t figure out the head or tail of the damn folktale!
Anyhow, I found this fascinating blog on the same topic that truly exhibits the vibrance of the culture.
You could book the Water Puppet Show tickets offline, but it does get crowded with visitors quite often. To avoid the hassle, book the tickets online from Klook.com – the prices don’t differ much either way.
Another post for you to read: My 1-Day Halong Bay Blog
Ngoc Son Temple, Hoan Kiem
I didn’t expect a whole deal from another temple in Hanoi. For one, they were super old and had managed to survive periods of war. But that ended most stories. As for the Ngoc Son Temple (Đền Ngọc Sơn), I vividly remember the two turtle specimen preservations.
This interested me more than the actual cultural and religious activities here. While Hanoi boasts this spot for its Gold Turtle God (Kim Quy)’s legend, and sure it does add up to the turtle specimen mystery, it’s the beautiful preservation itself that makes it worth.
As the story goes, the Emperor Le Loi defeats China’s Ming Dynasty and ‘returns the magic sword’ to a golden turtle that emerged from what we call the Hoan Kiem lake today. What’s fascinating is that there are a distinct species of turtles living in this particular lake.
At least they were, as stated on Wikipedia. Some say that it resembles the Yangtze Giant Softshell turtle, while others beg to differ. Until the mid-20th century, no one knew that the gigantic species still lived. Down the timeline, they did discover they existed.
Now those specimens at Ngoc Son Temple are probably the last preserved turtles that lived in the Hoan Kiem Lake, visible to the world. And hell, they are massive creatures weighing over 200kg and with a length of a staggering 1.9 meters!
Make sure to visit the Ngoc Son Temple early, as it closes at 5 pm. The entry tickets are quite low.
St. Joseph Cathedral
Being a bit of a history buff myself, I regret not visiting this spot, not that I had the time. The St. Joseph Cathedral (Nhà thờ Lớn Hà Nội, which translates to Hanoi Cathedral) on Nha Chung Street (P. Nhà Chung) was built almost 140 years ago by the French Missionary at the time of French Indochina forming.
Today, it stands strong as Hanoi’s oldest Church. If you noticed, the architecture is quite similar to that of the Notre Dame of Paris. The magnificent structure boasts Neo-Gothic Architecture that gives off an impression of looming down at you.
It’s free to visit, but keep in mind it’s seldom possible to go inside (open only during the mass at specific times in the evening).
Another post for you to read: Da Nang Travel Guide
Turtle Tower
Apologies, as this is barely an attraction today. It lies on a tiny islet at the center of the lake itself and away from people’s reach. You can see it while walking in the fresh park around the lake.
Nevertheless, it was an amusing find when I discovered the ups and downs of the very ‘Turtle Tower’ (háp Rùa) today. Once, it was merely a comfortable fishing spot. A tower was later built for the emperor’s comfort while fishing. Boom! It was demolished by the next ruler, only to be rebuilt (a different purpose tower though) by the French.
At one time in the late 19th century, the French even built a tinier Statue of Liberty over the three-storey tower! Which again was later removed by the Vietnamese government post-independence. With a race for power, history does get funny, doesn’t it?
Another post for you to read: Planning an itinerary for Halong Bay
Anyway, this finishes my experience on the Hoan Kiem Lake Walking Street! Happy traveling :)