Dong Xuan Market, Hanoi: What to Buy, Floors, Night Market and Tips

This French-era marketplace is the hub for cheap wholesale trade in Hanoi. Traders from across northern Vietnam stock their own shops here before breakfast, so prices are quoted by the dozen and the bolt, and porters push handcarts through aisles barely wider than the cart. Visitors can still buy single pieces, mainly upstairs. Our Vietnam desk checked every price on this page in Vietnamese dong against 2026 sources and converted it at Rs 1 = 270 VND, the rate on 3 November 2026.

On this page: At a glance | History | Floor guide | What to buy | Bargaining | Food | Night market | How to reach | Timings and best time | Nearby | Tips

Dong Xuan Market at a glance

History of Dong Xuan Market

At the end of the 19th century the Old Quarter had two main markets, one on Hang Duong and one on Hang Ma. In 1889 the French administration merged them into one covered market, Dong Xuan. It was among the principal buildings of early French rule in Hanoi, about a decade older than Long Bien Bridge nearby. The hall covered about 6,500 m2 under a corrugated iron roof, and its grand entrance was split into five arches, one for each of the market's five domes.

On 14 February 1947, in the First Indochina War, French troops and Viet Minh fighters fought a fierce battle inside the market. A memorial near the main gate, put up in 2005, remembers it.

In 1994 a fire gutted most of the building and destroyed about USD 4.5 million worth of traders' stock. It was rebuilt, partly in the original style, as the three-storey concrete hall that stands today, and the Dong Xuan Shareholding Company runs it. In the old Dong Xuan ward around it, about half of all households made their living from trade.

Dong Xuan Market floor guide: what is on each floor

The building has three floors in total: the ground floor and two above it. Most first-time visitors wander in at ground level, get lost among fabric bolts, and leave without finding the souvenirs upstairs. Use the stairs on either side of the main hall. Stall sections do shift, and some Vietnamese guides place fabric and children's wear one floor higher, so if a section is not where this guide says, ask any trader which floor (tang) it has moved to.

The back of the ground floor is the wet market. Locals come every day for fruit, vegetables, meat and seafood, and beyond it is a busy corner of pet birds and fish. Tourists do not have much to buy at the rear, but it is the best ten minutes of people-watching in the building.

What to buy at Dong Xuan Market (with prices)

The best buys at Dong Xuan are fabric, cheap everyday clothes, conical hats, small lacquerware, dried fruit and coffee gear. Prices below are what a foreign shopper is quoted in 2026 after a little bargaining. Expect first prices to be up to double for obvious tourists.

Buying wholesale or single items

Ground-floor traders sell mainly to other traders, quote prices per quantity and may shrug at a request for one piece, especially between 5 and 9 am. Go upstairs for single items. If you want ten T-shirts for the family back home, buy them from one first-floor stall and ask for one total. That is where wholesale pricing works in your favour.

What not to buy

Skip anything with a big-brand logo. Branded clothes, shoes and bags on and around Dong Xuan are almost all fakes, and in June 2026 market inspectors seized 2,635 suspected fake Nike, Adidas and The North Face items from a single shop on Hang Dao, the street the night market starts on. Indian customs can seize counterfeit goods. Be wary of cheap electronics too, since nothing carries a warranty you can use in India.

How to bargain at Dong Xuan Market

Bargain on the first and second floors and at the night market. Do not bother on the wholesale ground floor, where prices are already near cost, or at food stalls, where haggling over 5,000 VND marks you as a difficult customer.

1. Walk the row first and ask two or three stalls the price of the same item.

2. Ask "Bao nhieu tien?" (how much?) and let the seller type the figure on a calculator.

3. Counter at 60 to 70 percent of the first price and move up slowly.

4. Buy several pieces from one stall and ask for a single total.

5. Pay in dong with small notes and count your change.

6. Walk away politely if the price will not move. Most sellers call you back.

Food at Dong Xuan Market

You can eat well without leaving the block. Small eateries on the ground floor and in the lanes beside the market serve pho, bun cha (rice noodles with grilled pork), banh cuon (steamed rice rolls) and rice plates to traders and porters from early morning, and Vietnamese coffee is everywhere. On weekend evenings the snack carts of the night market take over the side lanes.

Street food here is safe by local standards because turnover is fast. Pick stalls busy with locals, eat food cooked in front of you, and skip ice in drinks if your stomach is new to Vietnam.

Vegetarian food for Indian travellers

Vegetarian food is hard to find inside the market itself. Most broths are meat-based and almost every dish gets a splash of fish sauce (nuoc mam). Say "Toi an chay" (I am vegetarian) and "khong nuoc mam" (no fish sauce). Safe picks are che, fresh fruit, sugarcane juice, coconut water (25,000 to 40,000 VND, Rs 95 to Rs 150), and plain sticky rice (xoi) without meat toppings. Shallot toppings are often fried in animal fat, so strict vegetarians should skip them. For a full meal, Hanoi has several Indian restaurants with long vegetarian menus, listed in our guide to Indian restaurants in Vietnam. Tandoor, at 24 Hang Be, is a 10 to 15 minute walk south.

Dong Xuan night market (Friday to Sunday)

The Dong Xuan night market is not every night. It runs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from about 6 pm until 11 pm or midnight, and stalls thin out after 10 pm, earliest on Sundays. It is an open-air street market, separate from the building, which closes at 6 pm.

The route starts on Hang Dao near Hoan Kiem Lake and runs north through Hang Ngang, Hang Duong and Dong Xuan Street to the market gate, about 1 km in all. The streets close to cars and motorbikes during market hours, so Grab drops you at the edge. The night market has been in place since 2003, when it opened for the Southeast Asian Games, and it mainly caters to tourists. Since October 2004 Dong Xuan Street itself has been pedestrian-only every Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening.

Most people eat their way north, and on some weekends there is live Vietnamese music with traditional instruments along the route. Stalls sell T-shirts, elephant pants, phone cases, sandals, conical hats, lacquer bowls and phin filters. Arrive between 6 and 7 pm, when stalls are set up but the crowd has not peaked. By 9 pm the middle stretch moves at a shuffle. For bars and live music after the market, see our Hanoi nightlife guide, and for the night-market stalls alongside the city's other markets, read our shopping in Hanoi guide.

How to reach Dong Xuan Market

Dong Xuan Market is at the north end of the Hanoi Old Quarter, about 900 m north of Hoan Kiem Lake. Most Old Quarter hotels are within a 5 to 20 minute walk. Grab, Be and Xanh SM all work in Hanoi. Uber left Vietnam in 2018.

In Google Maps or Grab, search "Cho Dong Xuan". The main gate faces Dong Xuan Street. O Quan Chuong, the last surviving Old Quarter gate, is a short walk east along Hang Chieu.

Dong Xuan Market timings and best time to visit

The market opens every day from 6 am to 6 pm. Ground-floor wholesale trade runs hardest from 5 to 9 am, upper-floor stalls start packing from about 5:30 pm, and the night market fills the street outside from Friday to Sunday. Many stalls close for a few days around Tet, which falls on 6 February in 2027. Our Dong Xuan Market opening hours page has closing times, holiday hours and the Tet dates.

Go on a weekday between 7 and 9 am to see the real wholesale trade while the air is cool. Weekdays between 1 and 3 pm are quietest for browsing. Avoid Saturday and Sunday afternoons, when the night market sets up and the surrounding streets jam. October to April is the comfortable season. From May to September the upper floors turn into a sauna by noon. Month-by-month weather is in our best time to visit Hanoi guide.

Places to visit near Dong Xuan Market

Dong Xuan sits at a crossroads of short walks, so plan it as part of a morning rather than a trip of its own.

• Long Bien Bridge, 10 minutes east on foot. The steel bridge over the Red River was finished in 1902. Walk the pedestrian lane beside the rail track at sunrise.

• Hang Ma street, just south of the market. Paper lanterns and red Tet decorations hang floor to ceiling, and a folding lantern costs from about 30,000 VND (Rs 110).

• O Quan Chuong, the last surviving gate of the old city wall, 5 minutes south-east. Free and open-air.

• Bach Ma Temple, 76 Hang Buom, about 8 minutes south. One of the oldest temples in the Old Quarter, 20,000 VND (Rs 75) entry.

• Hoan Kiem Lake, 15 minutes south, with the weekend walking street around it from Friday evening to Sunday night.

• Ta Hien beer street, 10 minutes south, for bia hoi after the night market. See our Ta Hien Street guide.

The rest of the city is in our things to do in Hanoi guide and our list of places to visit in Hanoi.

Tips for visiting Dong Xuan Market

Most Dong Xuan Market tips come down to five habits. Walk a full row and compare two or three stalls before you buy, counter at 60 to 70 percent of the first price, pay cash in small notes, keep your bag zipped in front, and come early in the morning, or on a Friday to Sunday evening for the night market on the streets outside (the building itself closes at 6 pm). The haggling steps are in how to bargain above, and the full hours, including Tet closures, are on our Dong Xuan Market timings page.

• Carry small notes. Bring 20,000, 50,000 and 100,000 VND notes. Early-morning wholesalers rarely have change for a 500,000 VND note. Keep one small note spare for the toilets, where an attendant may ask for a fee.

• Check before you pay. Look at seams, zips and colour on clothes and fabric in daylight at the stall entrance, and unfold a scarf fully. Stalls do not take returns.

• Bag in front, zipped. Pickpockets work the ground floor on busy weekend afternoons and the night market crowd. Keep your phone in a front pocket.

• Wear shoes with grip. The aisles are narrow and the floors get slippery when it rains. Leave flip-flops at the hotel.

• Ask before photographing a stall. Most vendors do not mind wide shots. Some object to a lens in their face. For a clean shot of the facade, come early, before the street fills with motorbikes.

• Watch the handcarts. Porters do not stop. Step to the side when you hear a shout behind you.

• Cover shoulders and knees if you are going on to Bach Ma Temple or a pagoda afterwards. The market itself has no dress code.

Shopping tips for Indian travellers

• No UPI, no rupees. Indian UPI does not work in Vietnam yet, and the market's QR stalls only take Vietnamese bank apps. Bring US dollars and change them to dong at a gold shop or bank in the Old Quarter, where rates beat the airport. Few Hanoi exchangers will take rupees.

• Do the maths at Rs 1 = 270 VND. Knock off the last three zeros and multiply by about 3.7. So 100,000 VND is roughly Rs 370.

• Sizes run small. Try clothes on, or go one size up from your Indian size.

• Mind the duty-free limit. Indian residents flying home can bring goods worth up to Rs 75,000 duty-free under the Baggage Rules 2026. Keep receipts for anything expensive, and leave fake brands behind.

• Pack food smart. Sealed coffee, tea and dried fruit in personal quantities are fine. Many budget fares from Hanoi include only a 7 kg cabin bag, so buy extra kilos online before a big shop.

• Get your papers sorted first. Indians need a Vietnam e-visa, applied for online. Our Vietnam visa for Indians guide has the steps.

Plan your Hanoi trip

Dong Xuan fits neatly into an Old Quarter morning: the market at 7 am, Long Bien Bridge at 9, and Hoan Kiem Lake by lunch. Our Hanoi tour packages leave room for a free morning in the Old Quarter, and the Hanoi city tour covers the main sights in a day. For Ha Long Bay and Ninh Binh on the same trip, see our Vietnam tour packages.

Edited by TravelTriangle