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A print of tall, narrow Old Quarter houses side by side: balconies and railings in black line, indigo shutters, red doors, an ochre gable and a green street tree under a tangle of wires.A photograph of tall, narrow Old Quarter houses side by side: balconies and railings in black line, indigo shutters, red doors, an ochre gable and a green street tree under a tangle of wires.

Ba mươi sáu phố phường

Tube housesOchre, Sappan red, Shutter green, Indigo, key blockOld QuarterLine drawn by FLUX.2 [klein] 4B, an image model, after a photograph by Francisco Anzola, Photograph by Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0. Cropped for this site.

Phố Cổ

The Old Quarter

Thirty-six streets, each named for what it sold.

What it is

The Old Quarter is the Hanoi of thirty-six streets, ba mươi sáu phố phường, each named for the guild that worked there. Some names have outlived the trade. Hàng Bạc still sells silver, and Hàng Mã paper houses and paper money to burn for the dead. Hàng Trống stopped selling drums long ago and gave its name to a way of making pictures.

The houses are tube houses: a few metres wide, many deep, with a shop at the front and a courtyard at the back. Walk past one slowly and you can see the length of it.

When to go

Early, before the shutters go up, and after six in the evening, when the stalls come out onto the pavement. The middle of the day is for coffee.

How to behave

Walk with the flow of people rather than against it, and give way to anything with an engine. Do not stop in the middle of a pavement that is also a shopfront. Ask before you photograph someone at work, and stay a little back from the people burning offerings on Hàng Mã.

Things to do

  • The guild streets

    Hàng Bạc for silver, Hàng Mã for paper, Hàng Thiếc for tin, Hàng Trống for the pictures.

  • A tube house

    Walk from the shop at the front to the courtyard at the back.

  • Bạch Mã temple

    A small temple on Hàng Buồm Street, still in use.

  • Đồng Xuân Market

    A covered market that has sold cloth and household goods for generations.

  • A pavement stool

    Sit thirty centimetres off the ground and order whatever the next table has.

Walk it with us

A print of tall, narrow Old Quarter houses side by side: balconies and railings in black line, indigo shutters, red doors, an ochre gable and a green street tree under a tangle of wires.A photograph of tall, narrow Old Quarter houses side by side: balconies and railings in black line, indigo shutters, red doors, an ochre gable and a green street tree under a tangle of wires.

Thirty-six streets

The guild streets, a tube house from the inside, Bạch Mã temple, coffee.

Length
3.5 hours
Starts
08:30 or 15:30
Group
Up to 8
From
USD 49
A print of two ochre wooden cake moulds hung on a plank wall, each carved with a carp with jade fins.A photograph of two ochre wooden cake moulds hung on a plank wall, each carved with a carp with jade fins.

Print the line, paint the colour

A woodblock and hand-colouring workshop with a printmaker. Your print comes home with you.

Length
2.5 hours
Starts
09:30 or 14:00
Group
Up to 6
From
USD 65
A print of three glasses of beer with white heads on a red plastic stool, seen from above, on a deep indigo ground.A photograph of three glasses of beer with white heads on a red plastic stool, seen from above, on a deep indigo ground.

The city eats on stools

Eight stops on an evening walk. Bia hơi included.

Length
3.5 hours
Starts
18:00
Group
Up to 8
From
USD 59

Next neighbourhoodHoàn Kiếm and the French Quarter